Weekly: This month aka Emotional Whiplash

This month… I won’t lie, the emotional whiplash has been a lot. I can spare you the politics (not good, not good) but I, of course, cannot ignore what has happened to my beautiful LA County. As I mentioned before, the way that almost all of LA came together, overrunning donation centers with supplies, donating to fundraisers, opening their homes at a moment’s notice–that is what I am going hold onto from these last few weeks. The rest, well…I’m protecting my peace. I’m focusing on community, on what I can do in times like these. I can hardly fathom times like these…

The winds did pack up again since the Palisades and Eaton fires. All was safe in my little LA enclave, but I was crossing fingers and toes as the Santa Anas raged back up again. In 2022, there came a violent overnight windstorm that felled several large trees in my neighborhood, including two giant pines into my neighbors’ yard. Some post-storm photos below.

I wasn’t about to go anywhere near the fires, nor the destroyed homes. Props to the photographers who did rush literally into the fire to document what happened. That was not me. There is also plenty of concern about the air quality here, particularly with toxic compounds lingering in the air. I’m taking as many reasonable precautions as I can.

After what felt like the absolute longest week, I am finally crawling back to the myriad of small projects I have going as the year charges on. Work slows down quite a bit for me now, which is good for a sense of balance for this freelancer. That is, until about the end of February where I begin to question why I got myself into this career. Then, the moment March begins, the client calls being to come in and my mood vastly improves.

My work, along with a crew of very talented photographers, was featured on BizBash here. This was for the annual Candlelight Concert at Segerstrom Center for the Arts, which raised over $19 million for arts programming and education.

Currently reading:

100 Years of Solitude by the Gabriel Garcia Marquez – it’s been on my TBR shelf for years, and with the Netflix series out I figured now was as good a time as any to read the renowned classic. My copy is a Harper Perennial Edition with deckle edges. In the age of booktok and sprayed edges (aka “spredges”) this is more the aesthetics of reading I enjoy. There is not much more I can add to the discourse around this book. It is not an easy read, and thankfully this edition includes a family tree of all the main characters, but it is captivating. I’m glad to have read it before watching the series.

The Paris Review – longtime reader, ever behind at least one issue.

Miscellany:

In contrast to last year’s wet and soggy SoCal winter, this one has so far been dry and disconcertingly warm. Despite that, I plan my spring gardening right around now because it does sneak up. I receive catalogs from Baker Creek (the popular kid), John Scheepers (old and reliable), and Strictly Medicinal (a delightful and quirky catalog to peruse), and I also browse the many offerings at Renee’s Garden.

I’ve had the same 2-quart slow cooker (Crock-Pot brand) for over 10 years now. It had been sitting in my cabinets unused until sometime last fall when I pulled it out and started using it again. I’m happy to say, it is possibly one of the best kitchen gadgets for a two-person household like mine. I’ve stuck to mostly chilis, stews, and soups, as well as a pot of mulled cider for the holidays. I’ve recently purchased this cookbook, which has a number of recipes ideas that work for just me or two people. I’ll have to put some of my successful slow-cooks here as I go.

Hands in the earth

Hands in the earth.

Feeling for healing, what my homeland must be reeling from. Giving some TLC to some stressed outside and inside plants. I drove home from the desert into an ominous brown cloud of smoke from the wildfires hanging over my hometown here in SoCal. The sky looks clear. The Air Quality Index says it’s safe, but there’s no telling what else might be in the air.

All of this was so bad. I don’t think I can add more than what has already been said, seen, shown…lost. I personally know of three families who lost everything in a single night. I knew, as the Palisades fire broke out while the wind forecast looked incredibly dire, that it was going to be a long and horrible night.

That will forever be known as the day LA burned. Like so many, my heart broke as I could only watch from afar. I could only check the Watch Duty app over and over again, post and send resources on social media. Since I live in a fire-prone area, I’ve been through this so many times myself. So I did everything I could to tell friends what I know from experience. To anticipate the evacuation orders. To be ready. To help those who need the most help as much as you can. I got maybe three hours of sleep that night.

What was no help at all was the barrage of misinformation coming not just from strangers online, but from people I know. One so-called friend who insisted this was the best time to rain down f-bombs and critiques of politicians at me, along with some bizarre rants and misinformation. This was echoing much of the lack of empathy people were seeing online, as if Angelenos somehow deserved this. No one deserved this.

Being from here and having lived through many fires, I can sense some of what is coming. The winds will persist, hopefully not causing any more catastrophe. The containment lines will hopefully hold. The fires will still burn, though much of LA will move on towards business as usual. It will take years for people to rebuild. We will hopefully get one good rain, but then comes the danger of landslides.

So many here need healing. But I have been seeing just how much this giant, sprawling city that’s more than one city has come together. People have opened their homes at a moment’s notice. People have opened their pantries, their hearts, their wallets to help. Donation centers are overrun with supplies. And still people want to help.

This is the real LA. The rest of the country labels us as a town of fakes and phonies, but this is who we really are. It is no shock to me just how much people have come together. There is still so much to do.

Hands in the earth. Feet on the ground.

April 7-13, 2024

This has been one of the busier weeks of the year for me. Event photography is my main business and it tends to be seasonal, so now is when many spring gatherings and galas tend to be underway. Starting out there was the California State Thespian Festival, an annual gathering of high school theatre students from across the state. There are competitions in acting, singing, dance, and technical theatre. There are dozens of workshops, performances, and leadership opportunities within the California State Thespians.

This was a favorite festival of mine back in high school. In fact, my theatre teacher has since retired but is still highly involved in the Educational Theatre Association, which helps theatre educators continue to provide good programs to their students. She is one of the several familiar faces I got to see there. I saw many more friends and colleagues who were teaching workshops during day two of the festival.

Anyone who knows me knows that my background is in theatre. All my artistic endeavors seem to start there. And I can’t emphasize enough just how important arts education–particularly theatre arts education–is for young people. This isn’t just a chance for kids to express excess energy. This is hands-on learning skills that apply across all career fields, including those elusive “soft” skills that are so hard to teach (empathy, listening, being present, etc.). A particular bonus is all the technical skills learned in the theatre arts. It truly is a head start in a rapidly changing world.

There was that little eclipse thing. There wasn’t much excitement here in SoCal. I noted the little crescent moon shadows in during peak eclipse time, then watched the live coverage on TV. I agree with many others that there is something nice about thousands of people coming to view such a major event.

The rest of this week has been essentially a marathon of photo days. (I resist the term “shoot” more and more as I continue working in this profession.) I could say more, but out of respect for my clients, I try to keep quiet until I’m done editing photos and delivering them. There are so, so many to edit and process. Thankfully, I’m pretty fast in that department.

This has been such a change of pace from the first few months of the year when all is essentially dead. When I seriously begin to doubt my choices while the days are still short and spring still seems far away. It’s definitely a good reminder of the seasonality of life. Right now is more of a harvesting season, as I see the fruits of several years’ work of planting seeds, nurturing relationships, developing best practices, and following through. Come summer, the harvest will slow and I’ll have to embrace a new season.