California Love

Hi,

The smoke is a five sense experience. You can see it, feel it, smell it, taste it. You can even hear it in the way the Bay Area is moving — or not — this week. The streets are quiet. Everyone is on edge, headache-y, irritable. As we watch the air quality go from unhealthy to very unhealthy, we read endless updates from the center of the wildfire devastation, a town called Paradise about 150 miles away from SF.

The Camp Fire, the deadliest and most destructive fire in California history, burns. In Southern California, they are fighting their own catastrophic wildfires. Because of the communities living in these "wildland-urban interface" areas, these fires disproportionally affect people of color and low income populations. Because here in SF we have thousands living on the streets, including the very old and very young, there are so many vulnerable people who have no choice but to breathe this air. Because climate change is real and serious, the "bizarre and frightening" conditions that lead to these fires are not going away. Because this isn't just about California, a state that can feel very far away from the rest of the country.

This was going to be a newsletter about gratitude and how (are you sensing a theme here?) I've only recently come to fully respect it as something that you can practice. I'm trying to practice it even, especially, despite, the sense of anger and dread about what we have done to this earth. What is happening this week will happen again, just as it happened last year.

Gratitude plays well with other feelings, especially a feeling of responsibility towards conversation and action.

I've been thinking this week about a poem by Mary Oliver, the first line of which reads: My work is loving the world.

I'm grateful to love this world. So grateful. Gratitude, conversation, education, action — let's practice them all. Whether you're in California or not, take care of yourself. Let's keep talking about what this community can do for this world we all love.

How to help victims of the fire: right now, monetary donations are the best way. There will be continued volunteer opportunities and needs for housing in the area (here is where Airbnb is looking for people to open up homes).

More links to read: Our expert herbalist friends at Scarlet Sage suggest herbs and easy suggestions of how to take care of your lungs. "The climate fight is only over if we think it’s over, and I’m not ready to say this is over, not while my state burns." I'm a woman who fought wildfires for 7 years. Follow Lizzie Johnson, an SF Chronicle reporter who has been reporting from on the ground in Paradise and Butte County — including this thread about a community reuniting.

And a final, unrelated, creative inspiration for the week: Demi Adejuyigbe's delightful, quirky talk about his path as a maker, self-conscious person, and comedian going from a Gilmore Girls podcast to TV writing. Treat yourself to this video (there's a clarinet included).

xo,
Molly