Equinox

Today, September twenty-second, is the autumnal equinox. Fall has officially started as of 6:31 AM in the western United States. The sun is sitting over the earth’s equator. Day and night are roughly equal. It’s a good reminder that our planet is still revolving on a tilted axis. We circle the sun once a year and get four seasons for every trip. This much, at least, is still reliable.

Our particular year is another story. 2020, so far, has been a wild ride. Over 200,000 Americans have died from a virus the response to which has divided us. Protests are pitting one extreme against another. Fires have raged up and down the Pacific Coast, destroying entire towns. No sooner had we lost a Supreme Court Justice than politicians were scrambling to fill her vacant seat (weeks ahead of a presidential election). The parties are polarized. Their beliefs are almost tribal. It’s only getting worse. Our best hope is that 2021 will restore a little sanity.

As for me, I had nearly forgotten that I had a blog. With our area burning, we kept a close eye on evacuation levels. During that time, I failed to make a post. Now, with our home intact (unlike a lot of our neighbors’), I wonder what I should write.

I joined WordPress to start a website to catalog my art and novels. A blog feature came with the package. The enormous amount of digital information floating around in cyberspace already comprises a virtual galaxy of words. Why add to it? What do I have to say? I’m an artist who’s losing his motor control due to a movement disorder. Maybe I should chronicle my decline. For whom, exactly, is another question. It may be me. The risk of dementia is greater with my condition. At fifty years old, I don’t feel mentally impaired yet. Who knows, however, what my future holds? Is it possible that a kind of a diary online now will later benefit me the most?

Originally, I didn’t want to get too personal with these entries. As an introvert, I avoid talking about myself. The world is a crazy place, though. Competing opinions about it aren’t what anybody needs. I am my only field of expertise. For my contribution to be of any consequence, wherever my focus, I should acknowledge that I’ve filtered reality through my own, very biased eyes (which may seem obvious until you notice how people speak in absolutes). Even while enjoying the new season and the sight of the leaves beginning to fall, we each rely on our own experience.