Q: How have you been affected by the LA fires?
"Sadly, with yet another disaster upon us, there are yet more experiences to share and to listen to."
Welcome to our weekend conversation!
Like many, I have been trying to wrap my brain around the recent and ongoing fires in LA. The destruction and devastation is truly unfathomable.
Last I saw, there have been 10,000 buildings destroyed, over 100,000 people displaced, and 27 known fatalities. Many remain missing. These buildings include homes, schools, businesses and historical structures.
Just one example of a tragic loss of a historical structure:
Many in the literary world have lost their homes.
In Mourning Our Dream Home in the Pacific Palisades Karl Taro Greenfield shares a photo of his home:
The examples go on.
Many have also stepped up to offer assistance.
Five South, a lit mag based in LA, has created this audio note for people looking to help. The magazine is waiving submission fees for SoCal residents through January. All this months’ fees collected from other submissions will go to a charity for displaced families.
The Authors Guild has shared this list of Emergency Aid for Creators Affected by the Los Angeles Fires.
Erika Dreifus has compiled a list of Emergency Grants & Resources for Writers.
Here is another list of resources for LA writers, which includes help for bookstores.
Meanwhile, AWP has announced that its conference will continue, as planned, for LA this March.
All this is just a tiny fraction of what is out there, in terms of recording the devastation, the toll on people in the literary world specifically, as well as resources for writers and small and large efforts undertaken by lit mag editors to offer help.
Now, this weekend, I want to turn it over to all of you. When Hurricane Helene ravaged North Carolina and surrounding states, it was great to hear from Lit Mag News contributor Polly Hansen about her first-hand experience:
I want to remember the lessons of Helene—to get my face out of my screen, to look up and see the person I am facing, to be curious about the stranger before me, a possible friend if I take time to notice, to be present to my community instead of passing through it glued to my phone.
Sadly, with yet another disaster upon us, there are more experiences to share and to listen to. This weekend, I would love to hear how all this has affected you and, if applicable, ways you have gotten involved to be of service.
Please tell us.
Have you been personally impacted by the fires in LA?
If you are a lit mag editor, has your journal responded in a way that you care to share with us?
Are there other resources you’d like to let us know about?
Even if you’re not directly affected, have you been writing about these various recent crises? Finding yourself distracted by them? Fretting over them? Making poetry from them?
My nephew Michael LoSchiavo and his young family (wife, children under age 5, cats, a dog) are based in the Highland Park area of L.A. (very near the totally devastated Altadena) and were forced to evacuate. Fortunately, his wife has relatives in Santa Monica and they were able to shelter there. And, most fortunately, they returned to a house still standing - - unlike many of their colleagues, coworkers, and friends. Due to L.A. power outages, etc., my brother and I were often cut off from communicating with them and we were pretty frantic during these news black-outs.
Even for residents whose homes were spared, toxic smoke got into everything. Another problem.
As a native New Yorker who lives in a fire-proof building made of steel and reinforced concrete, I found it astonishing to see multi-million dollar mansions disintegrate like dollhouses.
What were these flimsy McMansions made of anyway?
And will L.A. subsequently establish a city-wide building code on par with New York?
The terrifying newspaper images from Los Angeles will stay with me for a long time.
What a heartbreaking conflagration. Condolences to all who were affected.
Thank you, Becky, for all. Thank you, Erika Dreifus, for the list of Emergency Grants and Resources for Writers! Very helpful.