Burning Down the House

The end of summer has always felt downright magical to me. When I was a kid, we actually had three months of summer vacation, and those days of late August bleeding into September were heavenly. The air seemed thicker, the cicadas louder, days spent in the neighbor’s pool more frequent. There was the anticipation of new teachers and classmates, shopping for clothes and school supplies, and a birthday cake right there, in the center of it all.

I've always loved to learn, though there were some subjects I was better at than others. These days, “school” is working with a financial adviser to face my bad monetary self in the mirror. It’s not been easy for me. It’s like taking economics and bookkeeping, both of which I blissfully managed to skirt during my formal education. But still – progress.

It’s also birthday time over here. Well, it will be shortly. For me, it’s not about candles (wait, that's a lie - I love candles), or even about age. It's my personal New Year’s Day, and it’s kind of sacred. This year, it feels even more so. Whatever your feelings on astrological juju, this past Monday was the new moon in Virgo: a period of reckoning and new beginnings, if you’re into that sort of thing (I’m not particularly, but if the moon can affect tides and my mood, I may as well use it to my advantage). I sussed out my top goals for the year to come, and decided how it is that I want to feel every day. (How important is that, you ask? Really damned important.)

And in keeping with the theme of new beginnings and clearing the decks, tonight marks the 90^th anniversary of the burning of Zozobra in Santa Fe. If you’re not familiar, Zozobra is a 50-or-so-foot-tall effigy of “Old Man Gloom” that gets burned to the ground. (Lest anyone think this is a rip off of Burning Man, Burning Man started in 1986, and is all sound and fury, but no soul, sort of like Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome –1985, thank you very much – with all the great costumes, but sadly without Tina Turner. Sorry, Nevada; you lose.) 

I can’t be in my native high desert tonight – indeed, vacations are off the table for a while until I get these checks and balances in order – but through the glory of the Internet, I can live vicariously. SantaFe.com will be live streaming the event, and I've got some piñon and sage incense around here somewhere. Good things are coming. Out with the old.