a contradictory cliché.

Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself”, Complete Poems

Continuing my series about the recent wildfires that turned our sky red. I noticed in my past posts a lot of people think this is caused by stupid gender reveal parties. Gender reveal caused 1 fire, but the other 650 fires were caused by an unprecedented dry thunderstorm.

I’ve lived in CA for over 20 years and I’ve never seen thunderstorms in August during drought season. Unlike other parts of the world, the normal climate in CA doesn’t get storms until winter. This storm is the remains of Tropical Storm Fausto which caused over 11,000 lightning strikes resulting in over 2 million acres burned, turning our sky red like the apocalypse.  

This is what climate change looks like. Not some stupid gender reveal caused by the mistakes of a few, but the collective consequences of us all failing to protect the only home we have. The least we can do is accept reality instead of living in denial. No matter how bad it is now, it will get even worse if we continue to do nothing. 

Disclaimer: this probably isn’t a very good recipe but it’s mine. Also, details of the recipe can be found in the tapas link below (if you wanna try it).

Okay looking good.

Okay we’re ready

Holy Shit

“Oh my uber is here”

Be mindful of the content you’re putting on your social media accounts. Stop retweeting/reposting violent images and videos of black people dying. Know that content like this, even with trigger warnings included, can be very emotionally disturbing/distressing and yes, even traumatic, for black people navigating the internet right now.

Report any images and videos you see where protestors’ faces are visible/unblurred, particularly in content surrounding the lootings. Don’t retweet or repost these images and videos. This can be a death sentence. 

DONATE, PARTICULARLY TO MINNESOTA-BASED BLACK YOUTH MOVEMENTS / MUTUAL AID FUNDS WHO ARE DOING WORK ON THE GROUND. FOLLOW/BOOST IF YOU CAN’T.

• The Minnesota Freedom Fund, a mutual aid group fighting back against the unjust MN bail system, is taking donations. (Twitter)

• The Black Visions Collective, a Minnesota-based freedom fighter organization creating campaigns for justice, is taking donations. (Twitter)

• Reclaim the Block, a coalition to demand that Minneapolis divest from policing, is taking donations. (Twitter)

• Crowdfunding for black trans people in need thread.