Summer Vibe Catalogue
What's your Summer Vibe?
In the famous words of Lena Dunham, “it’s about to be summer!” which means it’s time to choose a summer vibe. If you do not choose a summer vibe, one will be chosen for you, so I think it’s best to go into Memorial Day weekend with a vibe in mind. Think of you on Labor Day, letting out a satisfied sigh that you did the best you could to live up to the expectations of your vibe. You did all the things you wanted to do and even some things you weren’t expecting. It all felt how you wanted it to feel. Now, we all know that isn’t going to happen, but as with every summer before this, and every summer in perpetuity, the best part is imagining how much fun you are going to have later. The disappointment of not properly executing a summer vibe is a problem for August. Right now, it’s all potential and excitement. The best part!
While most of my summer vibes focus on places, as we’ve learned from the internet, a place is just a vibe, and anywhere can be anything. I will do my best to describe these vibes so you can replicate them in your own life or go there in your mind. Assume that all vibes include burgers, beer, hot dogs, an inescapable song of the summer, and late nights.
Precocious Elementary Schooler
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
For some of us, Summer meant time to finally learn about the things we wanted to learn about without our pesky classmates getting in the way. Time should be evenly split between swimming outside and reading in the air-conditioned public library. It’s about building your own curriculum and trying to hit your lofty summer reading goals. It’s about learning about things that are a little too old for your age range, and only learning about what you want to learn about. (No Science.) It’s about watching PBS with your parents and the comforting soundtrack of a Ken Burns Documentary. It’s about wearing enough sunscreen. This is less a vibe that one can bring with them into adulthood, and more a reminder that summer can be a time for nerds. I’m giving you permission to be a nerd, even if you didn’t spend your summers eagerly looking forward to the Tonys just as eagerly as you were waiting for school to end.
Media to set the Mood: Ken Burns’ Civil War. The National Theater Live app. Phineas and Ferb.
Music: A nonfiction audiobook. NPR.
Food: Lunchables, a peanut butter and jelly, popsicles, snacks that they only sell at the co-op (Pirates Booty et al). Vegetables. Fair trade organic dark chocolate, but only once a week.
Euro Summer
