It’s impossible not to think of this summer without referencing the weather. Though it’s barely September, I’m already thinking about it in the past tense and hoping it’s behind us. I’m not sure that I can think up the proper adjectives to do it justice. Unbearable? Sweltering? Roasting? Broiling? Oppressive? When I look back at my June photos I was still wearing jeans, even boots in the cool, damp, early summer rain. In July things suddenly changed to full-on summer; the fickle spring weather replaced by two months of broiling sun. I thought perhaps I was being over-sensitive. I was, after all, accustomed to the temperate Pacific Northwest climate and recently, the even temperatures of the Guatemalan highlands. Apparently, however, many others felt the same. While the subtropical summer of Shanghai is famously unpleasant, this year
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