but i certainly hope salon did not actually pay her for this.

...exists in the summer too. It sounds like the author might have it. I know I do. It's not just physical discomfort (with which I sympathize) but mental misery. Summer makes me shut down, saps all my energy, makes me want to crawl under a (very lightweight) sheet in a dark, air conditioned room and never leave. And there are no special lamps you can buy to ease the symptoms of SAD in summer, as there are for the more common winter version; as far as I know, all you can do is get air conditioning, take lots of tepid showers, and wait for the season to end.

At least NYC summers are relatively short, and the days of truly unbearable heat relatively few. But it's true that a subway platform on a 95-degree day (like the one I stood on last week before getting into an unairconditioned subway car in which the seats were actually warm to the touch) is as hellish as the heat can get.

Here in the lower half of the midwest, our miserable muggy weather doesn't really end until mid-October. At least, the mornings and evenings are cooler by October...during the day, it might still be in the 80s, at least. I usually still have the air on at Halloween. Last November, we had 80-degree days; by mid-December, we were in the midst of a major ice storm that left tens of thousands without power for over a week in 35-degree weather.

I hate hot weather, too (and I also have DDs, though I'd never get them reduced no matter how hot it gets under here), but when our hot and humid weather starts in late April and doesn't end until mid-October--and I'm not even in the South!--then I say you can quit your bitching. Stay in air-conditioned indoors during the day. Don't leave unless absolutely necessary. (I am, however, always surprised to hear of homeowners in America who do not have central air. I cannot even imagine such a thing; it is not an option here. At least I have an extremely long growing season here, but I still have to go outside in the heat and pick today's ripe veggies.)

Incidentally, I am currently dripping with sweat from walking the dog...which I did at 7:15 this morning.

What a miserable person. I'm surprised she gets phone calls in any season.

I live in NYC, and I LOVE summer. I love it love it. Most people I know prefer summer to winter so this is an interesting perspective. For me, if NY had summer all year round it would be a paradise. January and February are like the pit of hell and depression for me, when all I can do is count the weeks until at least April.

But...you do know that there are literally dozens of places outside of the city you can get to by just getting on a bus or a train, right?

And hey, window airconditioners are cheap these days, by the way.

... if this was intended as satire -- fail! -- but if it wasn't, Rachel Shukert is one of the most unpleasant people I've come across in a while. Sounds like she'll complain about anything anyone can come up with.

Sometimes it feels like Salon's essays have melted together in the heat of summer to become a great gray soup of navel-gazing.

As a child, the author hates something, experiences something, or has something happen to him/her. Then he/she grows up and moves to New York City to become a writer, only to find that whatever helped define his/her childhood still exists and affects his/her life (despite being a New York City writer and having New York City friends and a perfectly uncomfortable New York City apartment, all while living in New York City!).

The Salontards who write in suggestions about keeping cool as if the author dropped in from Neptune and doesn't know how things work on this planet.

Move to Florida. Everything is air conditioned and people just do not go outside from May to November except to run from the house to the car to another air conditioned place. No one expects you to go outside to have a good time because it is miserable outside. We watch movies and read and socialize inside.

It's actually quite pleasant.

It starts with Memorial Day, when the talking heads on the local news beam a live report from some mudhole and babble on about the "unofficial start of summer". And it continues through the whole summer long... The weather people are the worst. Rain in the forecast, God forbid??? They tiptoe around it, they swear there will be NO downpour, that it will be the very briefest of showers, and then we can all go about having our fun fun fun fun fun. Caper about on the lawn in the bright sunshine! Strut about in bikinis or speedos! March in a parade! Go jogging in the 98 degree 80% humidity! ... And here I sit in front of a fan, practically comatose from heat, a rash peeling the skin off my body under my breasts, smelling to high heaven despite three showers a day. (No air conditioner in the living room because the cheap bastard I live with won't pay for it.)... I swear someday I'm going to go postal on those weather idiots. "Get out there and enjoy it!" they chirp. I'd like to see THEM wedge THEIR fat asses into thongs and jump into a packed city swimming pool! I'd like to see THEM sticking to the plastic seat on a hot city bus. They must be nudist sun worshippers, the way they carry on.

You could live in Mississippi, where the heat index goes three figures most days from July until the end of September. The only good thing about summer is not having to drive the kids to school. Then again, there is the sweet corn from the farmers' market. Make that two things.