I have been living in Long Beach CA since the USN moved me out here in 1985. On Saturday, I drove some donations up to Burbank and met with a friend who had lost her home. There is so much sadness right now, you can almost wade through it, but man are Angelinos stepping up. Many donation drop-off sites are having difficulty keeping up with the sheer number of things people are giving. It can make you cry, and often does. California isn't perfect but it is the home of the Beach Boys, Disneyland, Hollywood, etc. And we are not going anywhere. We will help anyone if we can, even those ignorant asshats that continually vote against doing ANYTHING to address the growing climate crisis.
This might be the most hope-filled post I have read in some while. Thank you. I needed to read that today. I'm sick of the bastards trying to score points from misery. Cheers again!
I spoke with a volunteer firefighter in LA last night, an older retiree so he's the one they leave to keep watch at the station, and he said the donations to the station were beyond overwhelming, it was more water, food, and toiletries than anyone could ever use, and not enough people were even showing up to claim them.
(He then said it would be more productive to give to Red Cross or other chrities that can put the money to specific use as needed rather than donating material things that may or may not be needed, claimed, and used. Fyi to anyone wanting to help out - it's best to give money to individual GoFundMes and/or groups who can distribute it as specific needs arise!)
But the resilience here won't buckle from these environmental disasters. It *has* buckled somewhat due to cost of living and job insecurity. But it actually feels natural that California once again has a lower population than the entirety of Canada. Before 2023 we had more, and I think that was always going to prove unsustaniable.
Thanks for the information. It was the same with the 2017 Sonoma fires, and everybody rallying with goods - pet food and diapers proved the most needed thing then! My neighbor drove a truckload of goods to one of the larger sites that we had all contributed to, only to be kept waiting while the volunteer aid workers got massages in the still-standing town hall - one of the most California things I think I've ever heard! Amazingly, though, you'd never know there had been fires at all there now. There is resilience. The saddest thing will be the people who cannot afford to rebuild, and who will be forced to move on. In Oakland there ended up being a whole village of displaced people from the 2018 Paradise fire who had nowhere to go, and no means of rebuilding their lives. They became homeless nomads, shunted from one site to another that didn't want them.
I loved reading this Liam. It reminded me of all the reasons I love California, and why there are few places in the world where I would rather live. And also why I worry about its future. Or more pointedly, about my children's future living here.
I have been living in Long Beach CA since the USN moved me out here in 1985. On Saturday, I drove some donations up to Burbank and met with a friend who had lost her home. There is so much sadness right now, you can almost wade through it, but man are Angelinos stepping up. Many donation drop-off sites are having difficulty keeping up with the sheer number of things people are giving. It can make you cry, and often does. California isn't perfect but it is the home of the Beach Boys, Disneyland, Hollywood, etc. And we are not going anywhere. We will help anyone if we can, even those ignorant asshats that continually vote against doing ANYTHING to address the growing climate crisis.
This might be the most hope-filled post I have read in some while. Thank you. I needed to read that today. I'm sick of the bastards trying to score points from misery. Cheers again!
I spoke with a volunteer firefighter in LA last night, an older retiree so he's the one they leave to keep watch at the station, and he said the donations to the station were beyond overwhelming, it was more water, food, and toiletries than anyone could ever use, and not enough people were even showing up to claim them.
(He then said it would be more productive to give to Red Cross or other chrities that can put the money to specific use as needed rather than donating material things that may or may not be needed, claimed, and used. Fyi to anyone wanting to help out - it's best to give money to individual GoFundMes and/or groups who can distribute it as specific needs arise!)
But the resilience here won't buckle from these environmental disasters. It *has* buckled somewhat due to cost of living and job insecurity. But it actually feels natural that California once again has a lower population than the entirety of Canada. Before 2023 we had more, and I think that was always going to prove unsustaniable.
Thanks for the information. It was the same with the 2017 Sonoma fires, and everybody rallying with goods - pet food and diapers proved the most needed thing then! My neighbor drove a truckload of goods to one of the larger sites that we had all contributed to, only to be kept waiting while the volunteer aid workers got massages in the still-standing town hall - one of the most California things I think I've ever heard! Amazingly, though, you'd never know there had been fires at all there now. There is resilience. The saddest thing will be the people who cannot afford to rebuild, and who will be forced to move on. In Oakland there ended up being a whole village of displaced people from the 2018 Paradise fire who had nowhere to go, and no means of rebuilding their lives. They became homeless nomads, shunted from one site to another that didn't want them.
I loved reading this Liam. It reminded me of all the reasons I love California, and why there are few places in the world where I would rather live. And also why I worry about its future. Or more pointedly, about my children's future living here.
Good to hear from you, Chad! Hope you’re well. And yes indeed, it’s a very special place, but I worried about the same things. Take care!
As a Californian since coming out to attend college in 1982, thank you.
You’re welcome. Cheers Scott.
Excellent essay, Doc. [A typo: "And all of California is a forrest"]
Not so much a typo as just my bad spelling. I always get forest wrong. Will go fix!
That was both beautiful and incredibly insightful.
Appreciated, though that feels wrong at that point in time somehow. But thank you.