It occurs to me I'd better get this done before all the "What September 11 Means to Me" posts start! Wayne asked a whole bunch of folks what it means to them, and got a fair number of responses, and mine's just showing up a little later because I've been otherwise preoccupied and exhausted this past week.
I know I should be PC and say it's the workers' holiday and, yes, it is (except it was really co-opting MayDay which the rest of the world celebrates but, you know, it's a century old already so give it a rest), but I have to be honest and say that's not the first thing that springs to my mind when I think about the holiday. Maybe it used to be a big barbecue day when I was a kid, I wouldn't be surprised, but I've lived away from my parents longer now than I lived with them, so that "tradition" doesn't really hold any personal significance either.
I know I should be PC and say it's the workers' holiday and, yes, it is (except it was really co-opting MayDay which the rest of the world celebrates but, you know, it's a century old already so give it a rest), but I have to be honest and say that's not the first thing that springs to my mind when I think about the holiday. Maybe it used to be a big barbecue day when I was a kid, I wouldn't be surprised, but I've lived away from my parents longer now than I lived with them, so that "tradition" doesn't really hold any personal significance either.
But here's what does: Ever since I was a kid, Labor Day was the demarcation line between summer and school, and I eagerly heralded its coming. Possibly because the High Holidays (including Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year) occur quite often in September, this month has always symbolized renewal for me, the chance for a brand-new start. I do my best writing in September (I started this blog on September 7, 2002), I breathe the most easily, I smile more readily, I just seem to have more energy. July and August drain me; September has the promise of crisper weather, the hint of the autumnal beauty to come, the culmination of the baseball season. It's all about gleeful anticipation. Everything bears fruit in September, which is followed by October with Hallowe'en and November with Thanksgiving and December with my birthday and I'm getting ahead of myself but I don't care, that's what September makes me think of.
And Labor Day, for me, is the trumpet of September.
[It's also Kitsch Catch-Up Day, when I tune in occasionally to the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon to see what the schtickoscenti have been up to; and this year it was RenFaire Day as well, but that's another post... to come, I promise!]
Other Labor Day musings I liked include Ezra Klein, who had a bit of history and another group of LD links; Greg Palast, in his last post prior to facing Homeland Security charges; Pessimist of the Left Coaster, who imagines LD circa 2016; and Kathy Flake, who riffed on a local sign.
And Labor Day, for me, is the trumpet of September.
[It's also Kitsch Catch-Up Day, when I tune in occasionally to the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon to see what the schtickoscenti have been up to; and this year it was RenFaire Day as well, but that's another post... to come, I promise!]
Other Labor Day musings I liked include Ezra Klein, who had a bit of history and another group of LD links; Greg Palast, in his last post prior to facing Homeland Security charges; Pessimist of the Left Coaster, who imagines LD circa 2016; and Kathy Flake, who riffed on a local sign.
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