The View from the Chinese Balloon

Featuring sunlight, moral philosophy, moon facts

Welcome to Dubious Distinctions, the patron-only newsletter for Dubious Analogies.

Yesterday it was 42 degrees, so I read outside for the first time in a long time.

Normally I do not read outside when it is 42 degrees, and actually I find reading outside more theoretically than actually appealing. Whenever I decide to be romantic and read outside I find myself bothered by bugs and wind and passing cars, or it’s a little too hot or a little too cold.

Yesterday it was much too cold for sitting on your back porch in socks and sandals, but I did it anyway, because of the principle of the thing—it was 42 degrees, the snow was melting, it was February, and the sun, which hadn’t shown its face for most of the winter so far, has been shining brilliantly all week. I found myself standing around all day yesterday in slants of light coming through the big windows in my house like I was recharging a long-neglected battery.