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September 11, 2020
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Sallow skies
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This week
"What's burning now?" asked a headline on the L.A. Times homepage yesterday. "What isn't burning now?" I thought.
But the headline was, of course, quite literal. It linked to a map of the millions of Western acres aflame. Here in Los Angeles, the sky has turned yellow. Everything is covered in a layer of ash and cast a sickly sepia that does not photograph dramatically enough to feature on the news in cities far away. But I, forever an L.A. partisan, have decided that these sallow skies feel somehow more appropriate to the moment than blazing red or alarmist orange. They reflect a jaundiced world, a kind of cowardice. These skies don't scream, "Run! Now!" They whisper, "Well this is unsettling, isn't it?" and "Sit with what you've ignored."
I canceled a walk with a friend yesterday when the air-quality index hit 112. Instead I went only as far as my front steps, where I angled my phone toward the sky, half expecting the yellow tint to not even show up in the photo. But there it was. And while I did not post this evidence of our collective environmental failure to instagram, here I am sharing it with all of you. Asking you, I guess, to feel the discomfort with me.
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I'm reading
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Pie chart
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I’m looking & listening
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GIFspiration
The Western U.S. sky gradient.
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I endorse
- Making some calls on behalf of candidates that support the Green New Deal and donating to one of many local groups helping wildfire victims.
- Signing up to be a poll worker on election day.
- Checking out the list of demands that #TheShowMustBePaused activists have made of companies that operate in the world of Black music. These accountability questions apply beyond the music industry, and I'll be asking them of businesses that I work and shop with.
- Joining one of GiveEssential's labor month events in support of essential workers. They're offering cooking and exercise classes in exchange for a donation, hosting a 5k run, and more.
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Testimonials
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This newsletter's gender is yellow.
Forward it to someone who shares your discomfort.
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