Pies don’t always turn out the way we hope, but even when they are burned, or broken, or spoiled, we can still start over with fresh ingredients, tomorrow. There are people and communities all over this country who will keep working to make sure that someday everyone gets a slice of the pie—peacefully, fairly, and lawfully. Topangans have a long history of standing up for what is right and doing the right thing, no matter how big the challenge is. Here at Topanga New Times we are thankful for our amazing readers, advertisers, neighbors, and community. Stay strong. Happy Thanksgiving. Cover concept and design by Urs Baur.
Have you forgotten yet?…
Look down, and swear by the slain of the War that you’ll never forget.
—Siegfried Sassoon, Collected Poems 1908-1956
Veterans Day has become a holiday for bureaucrats and bankers, but it was established in 1954—in the aftermath of the Korean war—to honor the lives of all American military veterans. Veterans Day replaced Armistice Day, the day the First World War—the “war to end all wars”—ended on November 11, 1918. As many as 18 million people were killed in that conflict, including 116,500 American soldiers. British poet Siegfried Sassoon fought in WWI and experienced its horrors first hand. He did not forget, and neither should we.
The election is over, but other battles are being fought this November. The Santa Ana winds do not care who wins elections. They arrived full force right on time for the sixth anniversary of the devastating Woolsey Fire. This time, the winds fueled the 20,500 acre Mountain fire—32 square miles—in Ventura County that resulted in the loss of more than 100 homes. The Ventura County Community Foundation is accepting donations for the victims of the Mountain Fire: https://vccf.org
Smoke from the Mountain fire lent a hellish quality to an already challenging week—the fire was still not fully contained when Topanga New Times went to press. Topanga Canyon Blvd. was shut down as a preventative measure during the recent Red Flag event, but Topanga residents were spared disaster this time and were even able to keep the lights on, despite repeated warnings that the power would be shut down. In Malibu and other parts of the Santa Monica Mountains, SCE’s PSPS—Public Safety Power Shutoff—left more than 50,000 without electricity, traffic lights, or cell communications for two days in some areas, and three in others.
A small fire ignited in Bluffs Park Open Space in Malibu while the power was out on November 6. It burned 50 acres, destroying one house and damaging two more, but it was quickly contained. Except for that incident, the Santa Monica Mountains came through the most recent round of the windstorms unscathed, despite 60+ mph wind speeds in some areas.
TCEP—The Topanga Coalition for Emergency Preparedness—emergency status website is an incredibly helpful resource during fire season: https://tcep.org/emergencystatus. TCEP is a non profit, volunteer-run organizations, and donations are always welcome and will be used to help keep Topanga ready for disaster
The blessings of life in Topanga and throughout the Santa Monica Mountains have always been tempered by the risk of fire. Topanga residents were spared this time. Camarillo residents were not. No one knows what will happen next time the winds blow, but there will be a next time, and another fire. Wildfire is a hazard in every California community situated in the urban-wildland interface, and for the next four years, that’s a problem for a whole new reason.
President elect Donald Trump has already promised to withhold fire aid from the state. “We’re not giving any of that fire money that we send you all the time for all the fire, forest fires that you have,” Mr Trump stated at a pre-election campaign rally. “It’s not hard to do.”
Whether this threat, and threats to eliminate environmental protections and eviscerate federal regulatory agencies on “day one” will be easy to implement or not will depend on a number of factors, but lawsuits will be a key tool for this administration’s opponents. California Governor Gavin Newsom has already called a special legislative session to fund the legal defense against the second Trump Administration’s policies. This is a war that will be fought in courtrooms by environmental and civil rights warriors whose weapons will be words and laws, not weapons or violence.
For those of us on the progressive side of American politics, the prospect of the next four years may seem bleak, but this is a country that has weathered many challenges in its short history. There are still many things that unite us, even when unity seems impossible, not least of which, the sacrifices of the men and women who have died to ensure that we could live free, or at least, to aspire to freedom.
Is all of the preparation here in California and throughout other progressive states a lost cause? Not if those who believe these things are important refuse to let it be. Martin Luther King Junior famously said that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it tends towards justice.” Hope was the one thing left in Pandora’s box, and no matter what, there is much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.
Stay safe, be well. Happy Thanksgiving!
