Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/686925
6 P E R S P E C T I V E | J U LY / AU G U S T 2 0 1 6 editorial SUMMER IS COMING by Michael Baugh, Editor It is early summer here on the farm in Central California where I live (and where PERSPECTIVE is actually born). There's something magical about summertime here. It's not just the heat of the day giving way to deliciously chill nights by the fire pit. It's not just working up a sweat outside, then going to the beach or napping in the hammock on the front porch. And it's not just the wonderful variety of fruits and vegetables—and wine grapes—that grow from the carefully tended soil. There's something else. Even working on films, that most hectic of occupations, the pace slows down in the summer. The weather warms up, there are enough daylight hours that you don't drive to work (and home again) in the dark, and the crews begin to wear shorts and Hawaiian shirts. There is more smiling, more laughter, more of the "Relax, it's just a movie" attitude. Somehow, working in the summertime—especially if it's outdoors—reminds us of our childhood when summer days were long and lazy, when school was a distant memory and the biggest concern was what would we play today. Making movies is a form of play. It is no accident that scripts are called screenplays and we use expressions like "That rocking chair will play on the front porch." We have found an enchanted occupation where hard work is continually transformed into play, where imagination is more important than repetition. If you are very lucky, you get to work this time of year in some "summer" location: by a lake in the mountains, at the beach, or the streets of some lovely city that normal people work all year in order to visit for two weeks. Even if it rains some days (and if it does, you are clearly not in California), the rain is warm and refreshing and just makes everything crisper and more beautiful. If your job sticks you indoors, in front of a monitor, summer still brings lots of ways to lighten up your life. Get up and get out early to enjoy the added hours of morning sunlight (when the risk of sunburn is lowest). Take a break from Photoshop ® and go outdoors for a few minutes to enjoy some form of meditation or exercise. Face the sun and inhale its warmth with each breath. Take sun breaks for coffee or lunch. The vitamin D will do you good. Here on the farm, as I finish this issue of PERSPECTIVE and send it off to the printer, I stretch my shoulders and roll my neck from side to side, pondering what I will place on the barbecue grill for tonight's dinner. The lovely summer evening, with its seemingly endless sunset, reminds me that work should always be play. No matter how hard, it should bring us pleasure, exhilaration, peace... And joy that, even in the dead of winter, summer is always coming.