For the Love of Fall… and Democracy

and why I don’t want the fall OF democracy

(photos by me… approximately .00001% of the photos I’ve taken during my favorite season)

I harbor crazy-mad passion for late-stage autumn.

The crunchy music of sidewalks littered with leaves… how the air thins with the crisp, damp scent of seasonal decay. How sunlight oozes through foliage and bakes the last threads of chlorophyll before we’re left to inhale only “left-over” oxygen for winter.

Fall makes me also lose any shits I might’ve once had to hide my over-zealous enthusiasm for the season’s fleeting aesthetic. I’ll be the one geeking out under a fancy tree as afternoon light turns a rooted network of branches into fractalized art.

Standing in awe is the closest thing I know to prayer.

there I go staring into the sky… again

I become pensive in fall (more than usual). Curious. Grateful. Nostalgic.

And, particularly in the throes of late fall, my love of the democratic process spills over with what I can honestly say is: love of country. Admiration for what we — the increasing majority, despite what gerrymandering and electoral college results may produce — aspire to be.