Can you believe summer is almost over? I know NYC public schools don’t start for another few weeks, but I head back into the classroom next week and it’s time to dust the sand off my feet and get focused.
As summer comes to a close, there is still time to have a little summer fun. If you didn’t make time to head out to one of New York’s many beaches, there is still time. I didn’t make it to a NYC beach yet this summer, but I must. There is nothing like putting your feet in the sand that first time and enjoying the slight breeze that comes off the water, sharing space with fellow New Yorkers, reveling in the fact that most of us live on an island.
Only the Bronx is attached to mainland America, so the vast majority of us are island folk. I love thinking of my identity as a New Yorker who is an island girl. We may not have palm trees, but we have sun, sand, birds, good food, and so much more. I can even get a fresh-cut coconut in my neighborhood to make my experience complete.
I did not read much this summer and I need to rectify that as well. There are so many good novels out there, just waiting to be opened. I’ll never forget what Sidik Fofana, author of “Stories from the Tenants Downstairs,” once said as he accepted his Gotham Book Prize award in 2023. He thanked everyone for opening his book and remarked about how the resting place of a book is closed, almost uninviting, and he appreciated people taking the time to open and explore. I have never forgotten that declaration of gratitude, and I think of it each time I open a new book. It is my hope to read the new-ish novel “Kin” by Tayari Jones before the summer comes to a close.
How will you spend the waning days of summer? I hope some folks will find time to rest before the school year begins, and will make it a priority to visit a museum, read something for pleasure, or explore a park you’ve never visited. I am going to make a list of things I would like to do and see in the next few weeks. We live in a remarkable city and I should take advantage of it. Here’s to a productive and relaxing end of summer.
Christina Greer, PhD, is a professor at Fordham University; author of the books “How to Build a Democracy: From Fannie Lou Hamer and Barbara Jordan to Stacey Abrams” and “Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream”; and co-host of the podcast FAQ-NYC.
