I live in Winnipeg and it is not that cold here. Let that sink in. I feel for everyone in dire straits and newly unhomed, from Pacific Palisades to Gaza. Try to make positive change wherever you can is all I can say.
I share with this sentiment and realization especially this winter in the PNW, Washington state. It’s been ‘chilly’ all season, maybe hit <32 ‘cold’ a couple
of times so far. Last year we saw a late season of snow and ice, like late March and even April snow. It’s very surreal, and makes for an uneasy feeling of what is to come, if anything.
Yep I live in New Hampshire and the snow plows have only had to come to my apartment complex once because we got a couple inches of snow. It has been really cold though. So that’s normal. We usually have snow though.
I have been wondering why these fires hit me so hard - so much harder than other catastrophes. You’ve explained it. It’s the familiarity of LA. Not just because I lived in Sacramento, not because my dad lived in Glendale, nor because I have kids in San Diego. It’s the prevalence of all things Southern California in our collective conscious. The hub of our collective consciousness has been destroyed, the place we look to for explanations and escape.
Yes. It took me awhile to figure it out too. Not that I wouldn't be upset anyway, it's horrifying and I'm scared for the people who live there. But I was reacting very strongly on a personal level and gradually I realized it's because I recognized the places burning down despite having never seen them in real life.
Dylan and Kelly under the stars at Paradise Cove. A box of pizza and Sophie B. Hawkins' "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover" playing. Where our teenage hearts live.
As a native Angeleno I have been mourning the many losses this week. Images of Pacific Palisades today remind me of the streets of Ukraine and Palestine and bring back in a new way those tragedies of war. Then I think of the miserable-cruel Musk-Trump regime about to be unleashed upon the world and fear for all our tomorrows. But, then I hear of communities in the Palisades and Altadena and Pasadena coming together spontaneously to provide food, clothing and other necessities to “anyone in need”, and find hope that, in community, we can overcome the forces of evil, violence, ignorance and greed that threaten our very existence.
this warms my heart....and it does happen after disasters....My closest friends lived in the Palisades and their former home burned to the ground on Wednesday...only a few days after my dear friend died (in Portland). Many cherished memories of love and friendship....our hearts forever entwined
My heart bleeds not for the Hollywood royalty who can well afford to rebuild and have second and third houses to retreat to for now, but for the thousands of Angelinos who have lost everything and will be at the mercy of insurance leeches and the incoming Trump administration to rebuild...and have literally no place to go in the meantime.
Yes. And the homeless people who were already abandoned at the start. I am annoyed by the stereotypes of LA. I wouldn't wish this crisis on anyone, including wealthy celebrities, but there's a misperception that a lot of people in LA have second homes or can get through this easily when most cannot.
Exactly, wealthy people with a second home aren’t going to have that second home down the road from work, and they’re not going to be able to commute from Lake Havasu or from Palm Springs or wherever their second home is.
I mean I’m not crying for rich people I’m just saying that their lives are getting messed up too. Their mementos and family heirlooms can’t be replaced with money.
I’m also oddly worried about Santa Monica, they won’t rebuild those dingbat apartment buildings the way that they are, and I really enjoyed living in those. There was a sense of community but also plenty of privacy. There’s lots of things that are being lost in this fire that can’t be replaced with money. And commuting from Palm Springs to work on a movie set would be ridiculous.
I have been taking time away from social. My mental health is so important to me right now.
Another devastation
I mourn for the harm to the environment and all that make it their home. The animals and birds have no choice, no say. I wonder what this world would look like if they did….
May all that need it have what they need: shelter, care, clothing, support.
If you haven’t read it, I think you’ll love Octavia Butler’s 1993 novel, Parable of the Sower, which is set in an apocalyptic Southern California in 2024. Prescient and terrifying. Your writing reminds me of hers, in the best possible way of course.
I just read it. Next is the Parable of the Talents. I wish she had lived to finish the 3rd in the Series and that her writing wasn't so prophetic. Chilling.
‘Humanity is under assault from so many angles’. Isn’t that the truth? I used to live in Southern Cali, and my tears for the lost memories are mixed in with the sadness from all the other news that I struggle to ignore. Beautiful writing as usual Sarah.
Yep I moved away from Southern California 10 years ago last year, and I feeling regret that I wasn’t more of a tourist there. I’ve been to the Pacific Palisades, I’ve driven through them quite a few times, but I never went around trying to find famous people’s houses so I could take pictures, and now I wish I did.
(I do have some really great pictures of famous people’s graves because those cemeteries are SO BEAUTIFUL.)
The place of movie magic is dying, because white people refuse to share space with people different than them. Which is why they have voted for a dysfunctional future. They won’t care if their pockets get robbed by the oligarchs, as long as the people who don’t look like them do badly if not worse than them. America will be used as a parable for what happens if you squander your blessings as a nation.
Except, the place of “movie magic” is generally liberal. California, as a state, is blue. It would be more accurate to write about whites in the South, yes?
I know this is purely anecdotal, but the white people I know in California aren’t bigoted. But also I lived in Torrance and Palos Verdes where it was full of white people so maybe they weren’t bigots because there wasn’t anyone to be icky too?
The people I have spoke to who I would have assumed voted for Democrats tell me they didn’t because the Democrats represent them. I scoffed when I heard that men were saying this, that the Democrats left them behind so they were going to have to go full fascist.
The women I spoke to who I thought would vote blue no matter what really have a problem with trans people. I think we have two trans kids in schools here and I know of one trans woman who ate at the Olive Garden in the 90s so idk if she’s even still around.
But my point is that the people I spoke to don’t have a problem sharing space with different races, they wanted their women spaces to be safe from having to deal with someone with a penis.
One thing that’s come up for me amidst this tragedy is how much the people in power really do seek to divide us, when we’re more alike than different. Some people have been saying that the fires don’t matter because LA is made up of rich people, but it’s communities of color in the region that have been most impacted. And I don’t feel right dismissing the pain of that people of more means may face losing everything.
Even Palestinians being pummeled nonstop by our government are mourning for us and wishing Angelenos well. There is a power in our community and solidarity with others that elites hate so much, but can’t snuff out of us. Thank goodness!
That's really sad. I write about Will Rogers in THE LAST AMERICAN ROAD TRIP because he was such a towering pop culture and political figure who now is nearly forgotten -- though not in Oklahoma, where he is ubiquitous (even though many people aren't sure why) and apparently not in California either. Awful news.
Haven't been able to get your new book yet, but I have read all your others.
I was born in Oklahoma and have lived here most of my life. I managed to escape a few times though. All my formative years were in Brazil, which saved me. My extended family were all segregationists. My mom cheered in my face when MLK was shot. My 6th grade teacher in 1965 was a Black man from S. Africa who made sure we knew what Civil Rights were.
Lived in AZ for 25 years and was a freelance photographer/journalist for some of it. I documented a group of Buffalo Soldier Ee-Enactors and their youth program for 5 years.
The director was a retired marine colonel, who at the time was married to a direct descendent of Geronimo and also hispanic. In 2000, I went back to cover a reunion of all the cultures around the original Ft. Apache on the White Mtn. Apache Reservation for 3 days.
Kareem Abdul Jabbar was the basketball coach for them that year and helped organize it. I was the only journalist invited to cover all 3 days. The tribal newspaper asked me to send them a copy, but due to some controversy that happened the next day, it was never published. Still hasn't.
Sorry to hear that. I was up there a few months ago during a windy dry day thinking, “If there’s a fire, it will be hell.” From the trails there you could see all the way to Malibu. The space between the hills and the ocean was filled with expensive houses. Closer to the ocean, though, the homes were more plebeian. My cultural reference for that area is Jim Rockford’s mobile home in a parking lot on the beach not a Mac mansion in the hills.
Sarah, thanks again for sharing a personal and reflective piece; still haunted by your own climate change experience. We see your call for solidarity and acknowledgement of our shared vulnerabilities. By the way, that photo of your front door with an ocean in front of it is terrifying...
I write more about that flood in my new book THE LAST AMERICAN ROAD TRIP which comes out in April. It was one of the scariest things that ever happened to me, even though I was physically unharmed. It left me permanently ill at ease. Folks who've been through floods and fires elsewhere told me they felt similar.
Another surreal aspect of the flood was that it happened around the time Merrick Garland did something that made people believe Trump would be held accountable, and I wasn't online to comment on it. So while I was dealing with the flood, Democrats began threatening me without my knowledge. I came back online to a ton of threats and venom from DNC operatives claiming I was "too scared to comment" on the great Merrick Garland, who was assuredly sending Trump to prison for life (ha!) I explained that there was a record flood and that my neighborhood was a FEMA site. The DNC operatives then turned into "flood truthers" who refused to believe the Weather Channel, insisting that I had invented the whole flood to avoid worshipping Merrick Garland.
That was when I decided the party had completely lost its senses. They were also targeting my representative at that time (Cori Bush) so they may have just had in for St. Louis. Either way, it was utterly deranged behavior.
the dems yesterday and had my voter registration changed back to independent. The vote blue no matter who cult kept saying that if we want real change we have to start local.
Cool, I will. I found that one of our Democrat state reps was proposing a house bill that would prevent medical discrimination.
It’s almost impossible for women to get our tubes tied if we don’t have kids and we don’t have a husband to say it’s OK, because they don’t believe us that we want to be Childfree. The bill was also supposed to prevent them from refusing to treat endometriosis or other reproductive disorders because the treatment would affect our fertility, even after we say we don’t care about that they still refuse to help us.
It was also supposed to prohibit them from performing a sterilization procedure if we are asking for it and we sign informed consent and liability waiver. It simply said they can’t turn us down just because we don’t already have children or we aren’t already married.
I went to the legislative offices to testify in front of the committee with personal medical information, someone brought a film crew it was actually a pretty big deal. I have a nuroimmune disease but since this was important I took off my mask in public to speak. If I had contracted Covid heads would have had to roll.
Anyway, they told her she has to resubmit the bill, this Democrat woman went ahead and rewrote the bill to only include adults who have reproductive diseases. So women with cancer could be denied chemo just because they are a woman and it would affect their fertility. Women who have lupus could be denied that medication because it would prevent a pregnancy from sticking. And women who don’t want babies are going to continue to have to have abortions if birth control fails because we can’t get sterilized if we don’t already have kids.
Dems are fine with that, they don’t care that women are forced to be pregnant when they don’t want to. I was really disillusioned at that committee meeting because we were getting the most support from a libertarian man and the person trying to silence the women testifying was a democrat woman.
I don’t remember who said it, but I was told once that Republicans want women to be private property and Democrats want women to be public property.
I laughed at them when they said it but now I see it. I don’t want to be anybody’s property but if I have to answer to a man I’m going to pick him and there’s just going to be one master. My uterus does not belong to whatever LLC or mega corp wants me to supply them with domestic infants.
My comment cut off. This is the rest: Dems are fine with that, they don’t care that women are forced to be pregnant when they don’t want to. I was really disillusioned at that committee meeting because we were getting the most support from a libertarian man and the person trying to silence the women testifying was a democrat woman.
I don’t remember who said it, but I was told once that Republicans want women to be private property and Democrats want women to be public property.
I laughed at them when they said it but now I see it. I don’t want to be anybody’s property but if I have to answer to a man I’m going to pick him and there’s just going to be one master. My uterus does not belong to whatever LLC or mega corp wants me to supply them with domestic infants.
Several years ago a derecho came through the Washington DC metro area. It took weeks to clean up the trees; over a week to turn back on the lights. People were becoming more angry and disruptive as gas stations ran dry and grocery stores became depleted. I remember thinking "how is this happening here - at the seat of government." I realized just how little the left hand and right hand work together in this country - which leaves so many holes for people to manipulate crises. 9/11, COVID, Katrina -every year so many disasters.-... we are constantly reminded of our vulnerability and powerlessness - and all we really have is the kindness we share to get through it all.
That is utterly horrifying, Sarah! Your writing chills me to my core. Thank you for always telling the absolute truth. I've read two of your books and can't wait for the next one! (signed, a Sarah Lawrence mom)
LA is to me what the Midwest is to you, Sarah: home. I grew up in Pasadena, my best friend's family lived in Altadena, the town next door. Along with being part of our collective consciousness, it's a real place to me. I still remember menudo for breakfast there at Pattie's house on Saturday mornings, the poster of Pancho Villa on her older brother's bedroom door, the backyard where we played endless games under the hot summer sun. I can picture the neighborhoods that are now burned to the ground. My heart breaks.
I'm worried the powerful people don't just want us to move on or move away, but want us dead. Or at least don't care if we are. We really only have each other.
I really feel for the people down south. I live in Orangevale CA, just northeast of Sacramento, and I agree with Ronna, when the ferocity and unstoppable power of the elements hits us, we have no place to hide in times like this. Where we live. These fires hit me hard too, although everything here where I live is lovely, for now, it's hard to enjoy it knowing the suffering going on.. Everything is precious, enjoy each moment.
It's been one tragedy after another, man made and natural.. We're living through a bad time. I , think we're in for a bit of a rough patch.. It's time for us to toughen up, pray if you're so inclined, and do whatever it takes that might make a difference in someone's life..
smile, wave, and be of good cheer. everyone needs everyone to be present and willing now
A stunning piece of writing. I uswd to live in Santa Monica. Watching this is absolutely devastating. My whime family m y is still in that entire area. 💔😭
Yep I can’t stop thinking about all those dingbat apartment buildings, if those burned down they won’t be rebuilt the way that they are and they are pretty cool.
I live in Winnipeg and it is not that cold here. Let that sink in. I feel for everyone in dire straits and newly unhomed, from Pacific Palisades to Gaza. Try to make positive change wherever you can is all I can say.
We live in Maine, zero snow, have not plowed. Our lake did not completely freeze til yesterday
I share with this sentiment and realization especially this winter in the PNW, Washington state. It’s been ‘chilly’ all season, maybe hit <32 ‘cold’ a couple
of times so far. Last year we saw a late season of snow and ice, like late March and even April snow. It’s very surreal, and makes for an uneasy feeling of what is to come, if anything.
Yep I live in New Hampshire and the snow plows have only had to come to my apartment complex once because we got a couple inches of snow. It has been really cold though. So that’s normal. We usually have snow though.
I have been wondering why these fires hit me so hard - so much harder than other catastrophes. You’ve explained it. It’s the familiarity of LA. Not just because I lived in Sacramento, not because my dad lived in Glendale, nor because I have kids in San Diego. It’s the prevalence of all things Southern California in our collective conscious. The hub of our collective consciousness has been destroyed, the place we look to for explanations and escape.
Yes. It took me awhile to figure it out too. Not that I wouldn't be upset anyway, it's horrifying and I'm scared for the people who live there. But I was reacting very strongly on a personal level and gradually I realized it's because I recognized the places burning down despite having never seen them in real life.
Dylan and Kelly under the stars at Paradise Cove. A box of pizza and Sophie B. Hawkins' "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover" playing. Where our teenage hearts live.
Yes exactly
As a native Angeleno I have been mourning the many losses this week. Images of Pacific Palisades today remind me of the streets of Ukraine and Palestine and bring back in a new way those tragedies of war. Then I think of the miserable-cruel Musk-Trump regime about to be unleashed upon the world and fear for all our tomorrows. But, then I hear of communities in the Palisades and Altadena and Pasadena coming together spontaneously to provide food, clothing and other necessities to “anyone in need”, and find hope that, in community, we can overcome the forces of evil, violence, ignorance and greed that threaten our very existence.
I'm so sorry you have to endure this, but very glad that people are pulling together.
this warms my heart....and it does happen after disasters....My closest friends lived in the Palisades and their former home burned to the ground on Wednesday...only a few days after my dear friend died (in Portland). Many cherished memories of love and friendship....our hearts forever entwined
Barry: Beautifully stated. Thank you!
My heart bleeds not for the Hollywood royalty who can well afford to rebuild and have second and third houses to retreat to for now, but for the thousands of Angelinos who have lost everything and will be at the mercy of insurance leeches and the incoming Trump administration to rebuild...and have literally no place to go in the meantime.
Yes. And the homeless people who were already abandoned at the start. I am annoyed by the stereotypes of LA. I wouldn't wish this crisis on anyone, including wealthy celebrities, but there's a misperception that a lot of people in LA have second homes or can get through this easily when most cannot.
Exactly, wealthy people with a second home aren’t going to have that second home down the road from work, and they’re not going to be able to commute from Lake Havasu or from Palm Springs or wherever their second home is.
I mean I’m not crying for rich people I’m just saying that their lives are getting messed up too. Their mementos and family heirlooms can’t be replaced with money.
I’m also oddly worried about Santa Monica, they won’t rebuild those dingbat apartment buildings the way that they are, and I really enjoyed living in those. There was a sense of community but also plenty of privacy. There’s lots of things that are being lost in this fire that can’t be replaced with money. And commuting from Palm Springs to work on a movie set would be ridiculous.
Bless Joe Biden for locking in as much FEMA assistance as he could for LA before he has to depart the WH.
Absolutely. History will vindicate him. Great man Great President.
I have been taking time away from social. My mental health is so important to me right now.
Another devastation
I mourn for the harm to the environment and all that make it their home. The animals and birds have no choice, no say. I wonder what this world would look like if they did….
May all that need it have what they need: shelter, care, clothing, support.
Understood. Me too.
Yes. I have the same thoughts.
Your writing makes me cry; it’s beautiful and haunting.
Thank you
If you haven’t read it, I think you’ll love Octavia Butler’s 1993 novel, Parable of the Sower, which is set in an apocalyptic Southern California in 2024. Prescient and terrifying. Your writing reminds me of hers, in the best possible way of course.
Thank you! I did read it and thought it was brilliant. But it's been a while and now that we're living it, I'm planning to give it another read.
I just read it. Next is the Parable of the Talents. I wish she had lived to finish the 3rd in the Series and that her writing wasn't so prophetic. Chilling.
‘Humanity is under assault from so many angles’. Isn’t that the truth? I used to live in Southern Cali, and my tears for the lost memories are mixed in with the sadness from all the other news that I struggle to ignore. Beautiful writing as usual Sarah.
Yep I moved away from Southern California 10 years ago last year, and I feeling regret that I wasn’t more of a tourist there. I’ve been to the Pacific Palisades, I’ve driven through them quite a few times, but I never went around trying to find famous people’s houses so I could take pictures, and now I wish I did.
(I do have some really great pictures of famous people’s graves because those cemeteries are SO BEAUTIFUL.)
The place of movie magic is dying, because white people refuse to share space with people different than them. Which is why they have voted for a dysfunctional future. They won’t care if their pockets get robbed by the oligarchs, as long as the people who don’t look like them do badly if not worse than them. America will be used as a parable for what happens if you squander your blessings as a nation.
Somewhat confused by this, as L.A. is only 29% white. And California itself is a majority minority state. Are you talking about the U.S. as a whole?
Except, the place of “movie magic” is generally liberal. California, as a state, is blue. It would be more accurate to write about whites in the South, yes?
I know this is purely anecdotal, but the white people I know in California aren’t bigoted. But also I lived in Torrance and Palos Verdes where it was full of white people so maybe they weren’t bigots because there wasn’t anyone to be icky too?
The people I have spoke to who I would have assumed voted for Democrats tell me they didn’t because the Democrats represent them. I scoffed when I heard that men were saying this, that the Democrats left them behind so they were going to have to go full fascist.
The women I spoke to who I thought would vote blue no matter what really have a problem with trans people. I think we have two trans kids in schools here and I know of one trans woman who ate at the Olive Garden in the 90s so idk if she’s even still around.
But my point is that the people I spoke to don’t have a problem sharing space with different races, they wanted their women spaces to be safe from having to deal with someone with a penis.
One thing that’s come up for me amidst this tragedy is how much the people in power really do seek to divide us, when we’re more alike than different. Some people have been saying that the fires don’t matter because LA is made up of rich people, but it’s communities of color in the region that have been most impacted. And I don’t feel right dismissing the pain of that people of more means may face losing everything.
Even Palestinians being pummeled nonstop by our government are mourning for us and wishing Angelenos well. There is a power in our community and solidarity with others that elites hate so much, but can’t snuff out of us. Thank goodness!
Agree wholeheartedly
Will Rogers' Museum and home are also gone now.
That's really sad. I write about Will Rogers in THE LAST AMERICAN ROAD TRIP because he was such a towering pop culture and political figure who now is nearly forgotten -- though not in Oklahoma, where he is ubiquitous (even though many people aren't sure why) and apparently not in California either. Awful news.
Haven't been able to get your new book yet, but I have read all your others.
I was born in Oklahoma and have lived here most of my life. I managed to escape a few times though. All my formative years were in Brazil, which saved me. My extended family were all segregationists. My mom cheered in my face when MLK was shot. My 6th grade teacher in 1965 was a Black man from S. Africa who made sure we knew what Civil Rights were.
Lived in AZ for 25 years and was a freelance photographer/journalist for some of it. I documented a group of Buffalo Soldier Ee-Enactors and their youth program for 5 years.
The director was a retired marine colonel, who at the time was married to a direct descendent of Geronimo and also hispanic. In 2000, I went back to cover a reunion of all the cultures around the original Ft. Apache on the White Mtn. Apache Reservation for 3 days.
Kareem Abdul Jabbar was the basketball coach for them that year and helped organize it. I was the only journalist invited to cover all 3 days. The tribal newspaper asked me to send them a copy, but due to some controversy that happened the next day, it was never published. Still hasn't.
I'll find it and email it to you.
Sorry to hear that. I was up there a few months ago during a windy dry day thinking, “If there’s a fire, it will be hell.” From the trails there you could see all the way to Malibu. The space between the hills and the ocean was filled with expensive houses. Closer to the ocean, though, the homes were more plebeian. My cultural reference for that area is Jim Rockford’s mobile home in a parking lot on the beach not a Mac mansion in the hills.
Oh no! so many picnics there with my young children, including birthday parties.....precious place in my heart....
Sarah, thanks again for sharing a personal and reflective piece; still haunted by your own climate change experience. We see your call for solidarity and acknowledgement of our shared vulnerabilities. By the way, that photo of your front door with an ocean in front of it is terrifying...
I write more about that flood in my new book THE LAST AMERICAN ROAD TRIP which comes out in April. It was one of the scariest things that ever happened to me, even though I was physically unharmed. It left me permanently ill at ease. Folks who've been through floods and fires elsewhere told me they felt similar.
Another surreal aspect of the flood was that it happened around the time Merrick Garland did something that made people believe Trump would be held accountable, and I wasn't online to comment on it. So while I was dealing with the flood, Democrats began threatening me without my knowledge. I came back online to a ton of threats and venom from DNC operatives claiming I was "too scared to comment" on the great Merrick Garland, who was assuredly sending Trump to prison for life (ha!) I explained that there was a record flood and that my neighborhood was a FEMA site. The DNC operatives then turned into "flood truthers" who refused to believe the Weather Channel, insisting that I had invented the whole flood to avoid worshipping Merrick Garland.
That was when I decided the party had completely lost its senses. They were also targeting my representative at that time (Cori Bush) so they may have just had in for St. Louis. Either way, it was utterly deranged behavior.
Thank you for always speaking truth.
Yep I walked away from
the dems yesterday and had my voter registration changed back to independent. The vote blue no matter who cult kept saying that if we want real change we have to start local.
Cool, I will. I found that one of our Democrat state reps was proposing a house bill that would prevent medical discrimination.
It’s almost impossible for women to get our tubes tied if we don’t have kids and we don’t have a husband to say it’s OK, because they don’t believe us that we want to be Childfree. The bill was also supposed to prevent them from refusing to treat endometriosis or other reproductive disorders because the treatment would affect our fertility, even after we say we don’t care about that they still refuse to help us.
It was also supposed to prohibit them from performing a sterilization procedure if we are asking for it and we sign informed consent and liability waiver. It simply said they can’t turn us down just because we don’t already have children or we aren’t already married.
I went to the legislative offices to testify in front of the committee with personal medical information, someone brought a film crew it was actually a pretty big deal. I have a nuroimmune disease but since this was important I took off my mask in public to speak. If I had contracted Covid heads would have had to roll.
Anyway, they told her she has to resubmit the bill, this Democrat woman went ahead and rewrote the bill to only include adults who have reproductive diseases. So women with cancer could be denied chemo just because they are a woman and it would affect their fertility. Women who have lupus could be denied that medication because it would prevent a pregnancy from sticking. And women who don’t want babies are going to continue to have to have abortions if birth control fails because we can’t get sterilized if we don’t already have kids.
Dems are fine with that, they don’t care that women are forced to be pregnant when they don’t want to. I was really disillusioned at that committee meeting because we were getting the most support from a libertarian man and the person trying to silence the women testifying was a democrat woman.
I don’t remember who said it, but I was told once that Republicans want women to be private property and Democrats want women to be public property.
I laughed at them when they said it but now I see it. I don’t want to be anybody’s property but if I have to answer to a man I’m going to pick him and there’s just going to be one master. My uterus does not belong to whatever LLC or mega corp wants me to supply them with domestic infants.
My comment cut off. This is the rest: Dems are fine with that, they don’t care that women are forced to be pregnant when they don’t want to. I was really disillusioned at that committee meeting because we were getting the most support from a libertarian man and the person trying to silence the women testifying was a democrat woman.
I don’t remember who said it, but I was told once that Republicans want women to be private property and Democrats want women to be public property.
I laughed at them when they said it but now I see it. I don’t want to be anybody’s property but if I have to answer to a man I’m going to pick him and there’s just going to be one master. My uterus does not belong to whatever LLC or mega corp wants me to supply them with domestic infants.
That is shocking and terrifying. I hate that you had to experience that!
Several years ago a derecho came through the Washington DC metro area. It took weeks to clean up the trees; over a week to turn back on the lights. People were becoming more angry and disruptive as gas stations ran dry and grocery stores became depleted. I remember thinking "how is this happening here - at the seat of government." I realized just how little the left hand and right hand work together in this country - which leaves so many holes for people to manipulate crises. 9/11, COVID, Katrina -every year so many disasters.-... we are constantly reminded of our vulnerability and powerlessness - and all we really have is the kindness we share to get through it all.
Holy shit. I mean just fucking holy shit. Holy shit Sarah. That is so fucked up. I just don't even know what to say. ❤️🩹🫂
That is utterly horrifying, Sarah! Your writing chills me to my core. Thank you for always telling the absolute truth. I've read two of your books and can't wait for the next one! (signed, a Sarah Lawrence mom)
LA is to me what the Midwest is to you, Sarah: home. I grew up in Pasadena, my best friend's family lived in Altadena, the town next door. Along with being part of our collective consciousness, it's a real place to me. I still remember menudo for breakfast there at Pattie's house on Saturday mornings, the poster of Pancho Villa on her older brother's bedroom door, the backyard where we played endless games under the hot summer sun. I can picture the neighborhoods that are now burned to the ground. My heart breaks.
I'm worried the powerful people don't just want us to move on or move away, but want us dead. Or at least don't care if we are. We really only have each other.
I really feel for the people down south. I live in Orangevale CA, just northeast of Sacramento, and I agree with Ronna, when the ferocity and unstoppable power of the elements hits us, we have no place to hide in times like this. Where we live. These fires hit me hard too, although everything here where I live is lovely, for now, it's hard to enjoy it knowing the suffering going on.. Everything is precious, enjoy each moment.
It's been one tragedy after another, man made and natural.. We're living through a bad time. I , think we're in for a bit of a rough patch.. It's time for us to toughen up, pray if you're so inclined, and do whatever it takes that might make a difference in someone's life..
smile, wave, and be of good cheer. everyone needs everyone to be present and willing now
Thank you for your ever sensitive and heartfelt writing.
“California.” Just saying it feels good. Such an amazing, wonderful state.
But look what have we done. The horror of it - the extinctions, the tipping points, the ruination.
And as Trump lurches into this moment. So many horrible humans who don’t care about all we keep losing.
If only they did.
A stunning piece of writing. I uswd to live in Santa Monica. Watching this is absolutely devastating. My whime family m y is still in that entire area. 💔😭
Thank you and I'm so sorry to hear about your family
Yep I can’t stop thinking about all those dingbat apartment buildings, if those burned down they won’t be rebuilt the way that they are and they are pretty cool.