To me, Labor Day Weekend is the symbolic New Year: The start
of the academic year, the return of everybody from the beach and
the Hamptons (a deeply uninteresting scene to me, FYI), the new
fashion/TV/car/serious-movie/serious-book season, and
the time when everyone in the business world gets back in gear. Time
for your opera or theatre subscription to start, time to bring
out the Shetland sweaters, time to open the windows at night instead
of closing them to the hermetic airconditioning, time to bring
back blazers, blue jeans, and to look forward to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s
timeless observation of "football weather," time, finally, to
watch the dogs frisk in the swirling leaves.
Time, that is, to renew.
Happy New Year, dear reader.