What’s that in the sky? Could it be the daystar? Usually around Rochester that’s a rare sight, unless it heralds the onset of Spring. Nights are warm and days are warmer. Comfortable gusts of temperate wind have replaced the typical frigid winter blasts that annoy and chill the students of RIT for five months out of the school year. I feel as though it is safe to put away my heavy coat and perhaps even tentatively hang up my hoodie.
But for all that is good about this change, there is always something bad that accompanies it. When Spring arrives, the vegetation takes notice. It hears Mother Nature’s song of renewal; the trees, flowers, grass, and other foliage release the most toxic substance to those of us with hayfever: pollen
The only annoyance pollen causes the ordinary person comes in the form of a yellow scummy coating over their car’s windshield in the morning. This isn’t enough to keep them from enjoying its supposedly sweet, sweet smell; that’s the kind of aroma that inspires cliché lines like “stop and smell the roses.”
People with hayfever can’t enjoy this in the same way. We must take pills, injections, and sprays to prepare ourselves to be in the presence of flowers and apple blossoms. And though I hear a freshly-cut lawn is a delight for the senses, after I finish mowing the grass all I can think about is how soon I can get indoors to stand over the cool, clean, filtered air-conditioned air vent.
Apparently—if my poor biology background doesn’t fail me—pollen is like sperm for vegetation. That’s a relief: at least my body doesn’t like to inhale plant sperm like the rest of the world.
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