Chasing Away Winter Blues

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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. For our last 15 minutes today, okay, 14 minutes, we're going to open the phones on the question how do you beat the midwinter blues? We're going to talk to a journalist who actually wrote about this topic. Maybe there are some annual traditions that you follow this time of year. We're in deepest, darkest February here, and are there ways in the middle of winter that you are able to, I don't know, gather with friends and family and participate in some kind of group activity or something like that or is it something you do on your own to beat the midwinter blues if you get them?

212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. The context, of course, is that yesterday morning, Americans celebrated, if that's the right word, Groundhog Day, waiting for some celebrity animals to decide whether we will experience another six weeks of freezing winter or if spring would arrive early. The results, if you haven't heard, were mixed. Punxsutawney Phil, maybe the most famous groundhog, predicted another grueling six weeks of winter to a crowd of boos.

Dan McGinley: There's a shadow up here. Get ready for six more weeks of winter this year.

Brian Lehrer: That was Vice President Dan McGinley of a Groundhog Day organization somewhere in Pennsylvania. However, hometown hero Staten Island Chuck said spring would come early. For what it's worth, chuck has an 85% accuracy rate, the most accurate of all groundhogs according to federal statistics. Phil ranks second to last. That is the Pennsylvania Punxsutawney Phil ranked second to last out of 18 groundhogs who make their local media to predict how quick warm weather is going to come.

Now, this segment on how you beat the midwinter blues was inspired by an article in Slate that highlights one writer's annual tradition. Joining us now is Hannah Docter-Loeb, homepage editor for Slate and a freelance writer. Hi, Hannah. Welcome to WNYC.

Hannah Docter-Loeb: Hi, Brian. Thank you so much for having me.

Brian Lehrer: You beat back the winter blues with an annual tradition. Want to tell us about it?

Hannah Docter-Loeb: Of course. The tradition that I celebrated this past weekend was Ice Cream for Breakfast Day. It is exactly what it sounds like. [chuckles]

Brian Lehrer: You acknowledge that it sounds a bit made up, but you write that this tradition actually started in Rochester, New York, in the 1960s.

Hannah Docter-Loeb: Yes. It was started by a woman named Florence Rappaport who during a snowstorm decided to feed her kids ice cream for breakfast on the first Saturday in February, and they continued that tradition on and carried it on. That's how it eventually came to my family through a friend of a friend.

Brian Lehrer: How widely is this holiday actually observed?

Hannah Docter-Loeb: It's kind of unclear. Full disclosure, my dad used to manage a website that would keep track of all the celebrations across the world. However, I do feel like it's pretty well celebrated considering that a lot of places when you search Ice Cream for Breakfast Day all over the country, they were hosting, whether they were opening early, having promotions, just all these ice cream stores were celebrating. I feel like it's more widely observed than I originally thought.

Brian Lehrer: Is there a type of ice cream that you have for Ice Cream for Breakfast Day in the middle of winter?

Hannah Docter-Loeb: It doesn't really matter. I had half baked and a bunch of other tubs with a group, not just by myself, but you can do anything. My mom just got an ice cream sandwich in Guam, so can really celebrate any way.

Brian Lehrer: For Groundhog's Day this year, it could have been a Sunday.

Hannah Docter-Loeb: Yes.

Brian Lehrer: You do this in a group. That's part of the thing, right?

Hannah Docter-Loeb: Absolutely. I mean, it doesn't have to be. I think that's one of the best things about it, is you can still do it by yourself, but for me, the group is really the important part. I love bringing people together and I love bringing people together in the service of something honestly silly. It's kind of a perfect thing, especially when the weather is bad, people have seasonal depression, and you're able to just come together at 11:00 AM on a Saturday and just eat a bunch of ice cream.

Brian Lehrer: All right. You want to hang around and listen to how some of our listeners beat the midwinter blues?

Hannah Docter-Loeb: Absolutely.

Brian Lehrer: Davida in Jackson Heights, you're on WNYC. Hi, Davida.

Davida: Good morning. I love your show. February 21st will mark my husband and my 60th wedding anniversary,-

Brian Lehrer: 60?

Davida: - not including-- [crosstalk] 6-0. Yes. Not including three years engaged. We are overcoming the midwinter blues by every weekend taking out family or friends, and we hope that this stretches from last week all the way through the winter, so we always have something to look forward to until mid-spring.

Brian Lehrer: That's fabulous. Thank you very much. Paul in Washington Heights, you're-- By the way, congratulations. Wow, 60 years. Paul in Washington Heights, you're on WNYC. Hi, Paul.

Paul: Oh, hello, Brian. Well, we fight the midwinter blues by dancing with Country Dance New York. You can see our website@cdny.org, and we have special winter dances. We had a Twelfth Night celebration with a fabulous band called Alchemy. We always dance to live music, and it's open to people of all ages and abilities and so forth. You don't need a partner. That's our up experience for a down winter.

Brian Lehrer: Country dancing. You know what? Tulis in Harlem is not buying the whole concept of midwinter blues, at least not for her. Right, Tulis? Hi. You're on WNYC.

Tulis: [laughs] Yes. I mean, there's this old pagan tradition. It's called imbolc, and it symbolizes the halfway point between the solstice and the equinox, so the light is coming back. You want to beat the blues, just watch the light at night. It's. It's coming back. It's just amazing. Yes, I don't get over the blues. Just go look at the light.

Brian Lehrer: Personally, I'm with you. As someone who doesn't like winter, I find it much more depressing to be in the middle of November and December when the light is getting shorter, the days are getting colder, and by this time, I can see spring around the corner and it getting lighter. I've been aware of it, just as you say. For me, winter blues are actually starting to lift at this time of year. You think Tulis and I, Hannah, are like the two oddballs in the world, or do you think there are other people like us?

Hannah Docter-Loeb: Absolutely, there's other people.

Brian Lehrer: Emily in Saranac Lake, way up in the Adirondacks, where it's like midwinter half the year, Emily, right?

Emily: Our winter goes forever, Brian, so this is the fun part of winter where there's actually snow. When we first moved here, they told me winter went to the end of April and I started crying. In Saranac Lake, they celebrate winter in a lot of different ways, but what's going on this week is the 128th winter carnival. This started 128 years ago, but really to distract tuberculosis patients from the boredom and isolation of winter and is inspired by more Acadian, French Canadian winter carnivals, which are related to Mardi Gras.

They build an ice palace. They work on this for a whole month. It's just community members coming together. It's an entire village of volunteers. They nominate the best volunteer in town to become the king and queen. There's different kids' sports, there's different costumes. There's an art parade. It's definitely folk art. It's place based. It's environmental. They're sad when it's not freezing cold, like it was negative 21 yesterday morning, because then they can't build the ice palace and they can't go out in the river or the lake and harvest ice.

It's a really interesting thing that definitely is still completely community made and an interesting climate story as well.

Brian Lehrer: Yes, and it's like, hey, we're in Saranac Lake, we can't fight winter, so let's get out and run toward it and find a way to celebrate it in the middle of it. Right?

Emily: There is absolutely no way to beat it, so you might as well join it, and people have a great time.

Brian Lehrer: By the way, here's a text from a listener who celebrates winter or tries to beat the midwinter blues by going even north of you. Listener writes, "We've decided to embrace winter by visiting Quebec. This coming weekend, there's a winter festival going on there with ice skating, toboggan riding, and ice canoe racing." It says, "We also plan to visit but not sleep at the ice hotel, planning to pack lots of layers to wear." There's that.

I will say one more thing to you as a Saranac Lake person. Oh, is she gone? She's gone. Too bad. I was going to ask her, Hannah, if even in Saranac Lake they have Ice Cream for Breakfast Day in the middle of the winter, but I guess we'll never know.

Hannah Docter-Loeb: We'll never know.

Brian Lehrer: Vincent in Warren, New Jersey has a whole other approach to the midwinter blues. Vincent, you're on WNYC. Hello.

Vincent: Hey. Good morning, Brian. How are you?

Brian Lehrer: Good. What you got?

Vincent: I always keep a picture of Waikiki beach and Diamond Head on Oahu on all my devices, so every time I turn on a phone, my computer, I'm automatically transported to the beach.

Brian Lehrer: Very good. Just keep that summer wallpaper on your screens. How about Iman in Brooklyn? You're on WNYC. Hi, Iman.

Iman: Hi, Brian. One thing I do, we teach nature classes to kids, and one thing I always suggest kids do in the middle of winter when it's really hard and really cold to be outside is to adopt our very invisible neighbors, which are our city trees, and to go out and care for them in winter, check on them, make sure they're okay, nulch them if you need to, even just stroke the bark, make sure that they know that we are aware of them, that they are not invisible to us.

Brian Lehrer: Nice one. Thank you very much. Good thing to do. Here's a funny text, Hannah. Listener writes, "In grad school, a friend of mine started summer winter day where we would crank up the heat, put on swimsuits or other summer clothes, have a barbecue, and decorate our apartment for a summer party. This year, my wife and I will continue the tradition with our two-year-old daughter. That takes Ice Cream for Breakfast Day to a whole other level, doesn't it?

Hannah Docter-Loeb: Absolutely.

Brian Lehrer: Another person writes in a text, "I put up twinkly lights on timers inside so when I get home in the dark it looks cozy and magical. Also love lighting candles of different scents." That's really nice, and I guess leads to another thing that I notice around now, which is different buildings or different houses tend to keep their Christmas lights up for different lengths of time into January. Some of them still have them up. I wonder if that's kind of a way to beat the winter blues because it extends the festive part of what winter is for a lot of people.

Just tell us any tips and tricks before you go and we end the segment as to anyone looking to host their own Ice Cream for Breakfast party.

Hannah Docter-Loeb: Yes. I mean, I think the best thing about it is just inviting as many people as you want. Just to save the date, it's on the first Saturday in February, which will be February 7th, 2026. Also, I feel like if you celebrated it next weekend, it wouldn't be the end of the world.

Brian Lehrer: You can cheat and stretch it. After all, they moved half the holidays to the Xth Monday of the month, so why not extend Ice Cream for Breakfast Day to the second Saturday in February and call it the first? We leave it there with Hannah Docter-Loeb, homepage editor for Slate and a freelance writer who wrote about Ice Cream for Breakfast Day as a way to beat the winter blues. Thanks for joining us.

Hannah Docter-Loeb: Thank you so much, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: That's The Brian Lehrer Show for today, produced by Mary Croke, Lisa Allison, Amina Serna, Carl Boisrond, and Esperanza Rosenbaum. We have Juliana Fonda and Milton Ruiz at the audio controls. Stay tuned for All Of It.

 

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