Sunny Side Up
It’s the mysterious season of autumn. Beautiful to many, threatening to some. A season that brings falling leaves, warm sweaters, pumpkin pie, and the foreboding message of winter. It flip-flops back and forth between sunshine and freezing temperatures. Even the name of the season is mysterious: is it autumn, or fall? How wishy-washy can a season get?
Whether you love autumn with its capricious temper or see it only as a dread omen of the winter to come, we can all agree that the season comes with its own entertainment. Who wouldn’t want to pile dead foliage on the ground and bury yourself in it? You can reward yourself for undoing the work of at least half an hour with a sneezing attack afterwards.
It’s the season where people set little pumpkins and gourds outside of their front doors and put scarecrows and haybales out on the lawn. I’m not sure why this is only a fall decorating trend; I would like to see it continued through all the seasons. In summer, we could display cucumbers and tomatoes on the front steps and artistically arrange insect repellent on a bale of grass clippings in the lawn. And enough of this tulips and rain boots nonsense in the spring; we all know that what really grows in South Dakota in April is mud. In spring, people could mold artistic statues out of mud, adorn them with crabapple tree blossoms, and set them on windowsills for the world to see. Everyone enjoys the pretty hues of fall decorating because they reflect the gorgeous colors of maple trees; in the wintertime, glass bowls of slush with a spray of roadside dirt mixed in would reflect the scenery nicely.
The other mysterious thing about autumn is that you never know until you step outside what the weather is going to be like. Every morning girls ransack their closets looking for the perfect layers. It might be sunny with a light breeze when you walk into class and pouring rain when you walk out. You could be hit with snow or sunburn. People who are thrilled to finally wear jeans again sweat through flannel shirts and denim in 80-degree weather, while those who throw on shorts without looking at the forecast shiver throughout the entire day. Even if the weather is nice outside, there are no guarantees for the indoors. You might risk heat stroke in the Kennedy Center only to freeze to death in Beadle Hall.
I see fall as a red herring that’s supposed to distract us from the coming of winter. Fall is an imposter, a fake. Behind its sunny smile, fall is laughing maniacally as we plan bonfires only to have them rained out. But whether you embrace the season or spurn it, fall is here. Take hikes, go to football games, and have bonfires while it lasts. What’s that maniacal laughter I hear?
