Summer break starts now

See ya in June!

Phoenix summers can be miserable in many ways, but they’re not all bad. Many of us hunker down like others do for winter, dusting off board games and puzzles and video games we’ve been meaning to try so that we can spend quality time with our loved ones in the city’s near-ubiquitous air conditioning. We haunt the city at night, going for walks after sunset—cold beers in our hands and cooling towels around our necks—or watching in awe as hundreds of bats depart from an urban “cave” in the evenings. Best of all, those of us with steady access to a swimming pool have an excuse to spend as much time in it as we wish.

It is a privilege to enjoy Phoenix summers even a little as our heat island expands and poor communities (often consisting largely of Hispanic residents) suffer the worst effects of the region’s high temperatures. Still, I’m determined to continue appreciating the season amid repetitive thinkpieces about how “unlivable” Phoenix is becoming. That’s why I’ve made this little list of things I’m looking forward to this summer:

• Snowbirds leaving town, making traffic lighter

• Getting together with my friends to make summer bucket lists

• Building a bit of muscle as I exercise at the gym more than I do outside

• Challenging myself to a writing sprint or two

• Feeling a blanket of warmth envelop me whenever I walk out of a frigid building

• Seeing more wildlife during sunset walks/hikes since there are fewer people on the trails

• Exploring more of southern Arizona, since it’s a bit cooler there

• Seeing cacti bloom

• Reading more nonfiction (I don’t know why I’m into fiction during the winter and nonfiction during the summer, but it’s always been that way for me)

• Celebrating my cats’ birthdays

• Celebrating the fruit of the summer¹

I’ll have a bit of extra time to enjoy these things because, for the second time, Creativity Under Capitalism is going on summer break. I tried this last year—stepping away from the newsletter for a month to avoid burnout and focus on some personal projects—and it worked well, so I’m doing it again. That means the next issue of Creativity Under Capitalism will be in your inbox on Friday, June 13.

I hope you have some stuff to look forward to this summer, whether it’s a weekend getaway or extra time with your kids or the opportunity to get creative outside for a change. (If you’re excited about anything in particular, let me know below—I love to hear what other people are stoked about!)

See ya in June!

1. Every year I declare a “fruit of the summer,” and my friends and I spend the season celebrating by making and enjoying meals, desserts, drinks etc with that fruit. In 2017 (the inaugural year) it was peaches, since I’d just turned 21 and really only enjoyed alcoholic beverages if they contained peach juice. In 2021 it was strawberries, because I happened to realize for the first time how delicious those little red gems really are, especially with a dollop of homemade whipped cream. (I stubbornly refused to eat most fruits as a kid, so enjoying them at all is, both embarrassingly and wonderfully, kind of new for me.) This year it’s blueberries, and there are about a zillion recipes I want to try. In fact, I’m eating a fresh-baked blueberry biscuit as I write this.