Fire Update
not short, not sweet
Hi everyone,
This is just a quick note because many of you have reached out to check in. I feel a bit disoriented right now, so please bear with me if I’m not making sense.
I live in an area of Los Angeles called Highland Park. As of right now, I am walking distance from the evacuation zone.
My front yard is covered in ash, and my hands are shaking from the air quality (I think, though maybe it’s nerves).
The entire city is surrounded by fire.
Last night on my drive home from campus, all the way across town, there were several huge trees fallen across the freeways. Traffic was awful.
I know many people personally who have lost their homes. Lost everything they had. A new fire just broke out in West Hollywood, near the home of one of my closest friends.
The fire near my house is called the Eaton fire. In fact, it’s based in Eaton canyon.
Those of you who attended my Summer Solstice Retreat will recognize Eaton Canyon as the place where we went on the hike and blessed each other with the creek water.
I’m not sure what, if anything, of that area survived.
From what I understand, Nature Friends, the place where we held the retreat, was surrounded by fire when last I heard.
I’m gathering my things in case I need to evacuate. Many people who are not under evacuation orders are evacuating anyway because of the air quality, but I haven’t got to that point yet.
It’s a surreal scene. I went to the supermarket and the entire area was out of power. The parking lot was pitch dark. But the super market was open.
Right now I’m feeling… in some ways I’m feeling numb. Like, a little confused, a little blank.
But beneath that, I can’t explain to you the rage I feel.
The f*cking c*nt mayor withdrew 22 million dollars of funding from the fire department in LA last year to give to the police department so that they could persecute homeless people and buy their tanks from Israel.
When the fire fighters tried to fight the Palisades fire they ran out of water because of the horrific state of the infrastructure here (even in the Palisades which is the wealthiest neighborhood in LA).
Rich people sucking water for their lawns and golf courses, and entire regions in central California dedicated to factory farming and fracking. Even though they know perfectly well what the consequences will be.
Wealth isn’t protecting anyone now.
They haven’t been able to use helicopters or air support because of the high winds. And besides, there aren’t enough fire fighters to meet the demand.
Whole neighborhoods are going up in flames and people who are escaping with their lives are saying that there wasn’t a fire fighter in sight. There’s just too many fires.
Many of the Fire Fighters, 30% I believe, are incarcerated people who the gov’t pays like $2 a day or an hour or something like that. Slave wages basically - they are incarcerated after all (maybe for being homeless). Then, when they get out they are prohibited from getting jobs in the fire department and reclaiming their lives because of their criminal records.
Although all of the newspapers are talking about the fires, because it gets them clicks, they’re not making the connection to climate change, fossil fuels, colonialism, capitalism, or the corruption of our leadership, which is the sole source of these fires.
Sometimes I just want to shake everyone and say don’t you get it??? They don’t care about us. They are literally killing us. THEY ARE KILLING US.
People are losing their homes. Animals are thirsty and terrified.
At UCLA they pointed guns at the students heads! They put snipers on them! On us! On me. They are poisoning our water. There are five fires raging around Los Angeles right now and all the people in power can think to do is send billions of dollars to Israel, or get tanks for the police department to fight against us, the people who wish to resist them.
I’m so angry.
Normally I try to find a way to connect what I share here to our magical practice and to re-enchanting the world. Here’s my effort now:
Re-enchantment is the practice of recognizing and the interconnectedness of all life, and the threads of imagination that weave it all together.
I only want to dedicate my life to the beings who recognize this. To stand in solidarity with the life force, with indigenous sovereignty, with the oceans, with the deer, with the people resisting empire, with the poets, the witches, and the wind who is blowing so hard now, trying to get through to us finally.
May we all stand together, may we unite.
Grateful for all of you.
Still planning on having the Full Moon ceremony on Sunday if my house is still standing.
Until then, sending love.
Amanda
