Dearest Unravelers and Unravelers-to-Be –
My heart is BROKEN for the city of Los Angeles. 💔
This is the only thing I can possibly write about today… as this is now my home.
It’s one thing to see these images on TV or as you’re scrolling on Instagram… but it’s quite another to live here. To feel the foreboding energy of the city, to watch the ash fall from the sky like snowflakes, to lose count of how many friends have lost everything. It looks like a bomb went off here. What’s that going to be like to live in… in the weeks, months, years to come? Remember the smouldering of Ground Zero after 9/11 and New Yorkers walking around in a daze? Back then you’d wander into a restaurant and lock eyes with someone, not knowing if that person lost a loved one too. Here it’s that look of: “Did you also lose everything?” There’s no comparison in terms of loss of human life — but there is a similar sense of uncertainty, fear and compassion.
Livelihoods — leveled.
Nervous systems — fried.
I’ve been a reporter my whole life. I’ve covered hurricanes and tornadoes that have leveled entire towns. I have witnessed utter destruction firsthand. I have experienced the generosity of humankind in the midst of chaos and loss. Yet this… this is different because we have no idea when it’s going to end. These fires are far from contained.
To my friends who don’t live here — and I’ve been thinking a lot about you because I was you this time last year, not (yet) living in LA. I had a rough sense intellectually of how destructive the wildfires out west could be. I’d reported on them in the past. I’d been to LA enough and talked to friends about the times they’ve had to evacuate during previous fires, what “sacred items” they’d choose to pack up, which neighbor sleeps without hearing aids so they’d need to pound on his door to help him get out. Like, I’d heard these stories. But perhaps like you, I had no understanding of what that really meant in actuality, in my body, in my bones. What it’s like to get everyone’s phone number in your neighborhood — to really know thy neighbor — when the evacuation orders roll in again. For my non-Angelenos, a text to a loved one or friend here goes a long way right now because… to put it simply: our city is burning. You could text someone something as simple as: “No need to write back. I’m thinking and praying for you and your family and your home and your nervous system.” Or some version of: “I am so sorry this is happening. How are you today? How can I help you?” Trust me. These texts go a long way.
To the firefighters and first responders — GOD BLESS YOU.
To the helpers (donation centers, humane societies, babysitters) — THANK YOU.
(I’ve included some links above where we’ve given — perhaps you’d like to too.)
Speaking of helpers, we must talk about our younger generation. I’ve got two kids in my home at the moment (Peter’s high school senior daughter and son home from college) who flung into action when the fires broke out. I’ve been in close contact with my man’s 17 year old daughter who’s been sending me photos of her progress. She’s at her school handing out clothes as I type. Talk about a leader who is doing this because this is what she does. This is who she is. What an honor it is to truly really see her, see how she shows up. She asked that I don’t share her name — but she is letting me share this photo (below). She and her high school friends have been driving around LA where it’s safe, and picking up bags and bags of donations. When she texted me this photo the other night, she wrote, “that’s only half of it.” Y’all, these are KIDS. Helping kids. And friends. And complete strangers.
I honor them. May this youngest generation save us all.✨
And these wildfires. Do you think Mother Nature gives a shit about socioeconomic status? Whether this was someone’s second home perched on the Pacific or a modest space where a person was struggling to cover rent — y’all, a loss is a loss is a loss.
Some perspective: more acres have burned in the Palisades fire alone than the total number of acreage on the ENTIRE island of Manhattan. Let that sink in.
The stories are endless. But the one that stopped me today was that of Walt Butler. He lost his home of 30 years in the Eaton fire. Talk about an Unraveling. He owned a sporting goods store in town and was beloved in his community. Walt’s story — as shared by Big Talk and Karina Silverman on IG — broke my heart:
Bless you Walt. And your community in Altadena. (His Go Fund Me has tripled thanks to so many generous souls.)
Y’all, this is going to take years, likely decades to rebuild. If we can just for a minute put aside politics and climate change and the water issues (all massive concerns) — I think we’re about to see a lot of moving trucks leaving LA this next year. Understandably, people here, especially those who’ve lost everything, are going to leave. Why risk rebuilding just to lose it all again? And then there will be those who will choose to stay, who will choose to double down on Los Angeles, who will choose to somehow, somehow, find joy in this forever changed City of Angels. And then we will need you, our friends, to come visit and join us in doing the exact same thing. Take vacations here. Spend money here.
And we’re going to need to go to the movies more than ever before. Before the fires, Hollywood as an industry had already been pummeled, so many people still suffering because of the strikes. This is an opportunity for America to SHOW UP for these storytellers, SHOW UP for these brilliant creatives and artists — many of whom have lost everything in these fires. I have no doubt they will find ways to show up for one another. BUT WE MUST SHOW UP FOR THEM.
I’ll leave us with these wise words from my friend Debby, who I turn to in times like these: “What do we do when surrounded by darkness? We find the light. By any means necessary. If you are following that way of life, you are never turning your back on, rather turning inward to keep your light alive. Which is literally the only way to add positive energy to the constantly unraveling and reinventing world.”
Thank you Debby. ❤️
Let’s find our light.
In LA and beyond.
Sending you so much love in this time of heartbreak.
xoBB
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