a prelude for december (scenes from an apocalypse, cont'd)

December always makes me think of what it was like being a kid, and how interminable the wait for Christmas seemed. Weeks, months, days--it hardly mattered, it seemed like the day would never come. Now, the months go by so quickly, and December just means the end of the year will be here soon.

And yet, this is only the beginning of winter, and winter always feels like it will last forever. Here in Seattle, the autumn colors are fading, though you can still find the odd bright yellow leaves dancing in the wind; the cold has settled in and isn't going anywhere, and it's important to check the weather before going out because you never know when the rain is going to come and refuse to let up. I think the seemingly endless winters come from the fact that you never really know when it's going to end: some years winter ends early, some years it ends late, and all you can do is count down the weeks and hope that it's not too bad this time around.

The pandemic continues to worsen; the state has issued new restrictions that are too little, too late to stop or even contain this spike, which continues to set records day by day. Downtown feels unchanged after the new restrictions went in place, and they're set to expire before Christmas. It feels inevitable that our numbers in the state and county will reach the atrocious levels they have elsewhere in the country, and unconscionable that our leaders have almost no interest in preventing that.

And the election . . . happened. Biden is the apparent winner, and Trump and the GOP are doing their level best to invalidate the election results. The ongoing coup attempt appears to be petering out but until the electoral college meets the uncertainty remains that enough GOP loyalists will be willing to destroy democracy so they can get four more years in the presidency. Continuing to pretend that this is a democracy rather than an oligarchy with vestigial democratic elements feels extremely silly.

For the new year, for the end of winter, or for the fall of the empire, nothing to do but wait. This month's theme--the final theme of the year, and who knows if I'll keep doing this next year--is waiting.