Helen ZhangMouth Off the Month is a monthly article in which our Opinion Editor reviews the previous month and decides whether it was good, bad, or somewhere in between. What will she decide this month? Keep reading to find out!
“The day and time itself: late afternoon in early February, was there a moment of the year better suited for despair?” There are a lot of quotes out there about the dreary slog that is February, but none so melodramatic as this, spoken by Alice McDermott. And indeed, is there any part of the year suited to despair more perfectly than a February afternoon?
February is a time for catching up, for restarting. The first of the pack are dropping their New Year’s resolutions and eating bread again, or slowly attending fewer and fewer of those yoga classes they promised they were going to all year. Is it a time for giving up? No, but perhaps a time for realism and acceptance. That’s what February felt like this year: acceptance.
February, incidentally, is also a time for love. Valentine’s Day falls smack in the middle of the month — but it can be bittersweet without a boo. If you don’t get too down on yourself about it, you can learn to enjoy the light, flirtatious atmosphere of the month. If you can free yourself of the bonds of expectation, pig out on discounted chocolate, and — most importantly — stop overvaluing your relationship status, you can make the most of it.
Despite all the good, February always feels like a filler month. Todd Stocker said that “February feel[s] like one big Tuesday,” and I think that’s true. It’s right after January, and the whole year seems to stretch out in front of you. With everything going on in the world, this seems daunting lately. However, we can’t discount the nice weather this year, or the early return of the birds on campus.
Thank you February, for teaching us to stick it out when things get difficult, and for giving us nicer weather than you ever had to. See you next year.
