The TNT crew looks forward to 2025 with resolve, the audacity of hope, and the energy to create good work and serve our Santa Monica Mountain communities and the natural environment we are so fortunate to inhabit. May all of our wonderful readers, advertisers, contributors, and community find joy in the coming year. Peace on Earth, goodwill to all. Cover illustration, concept and design by Urs Baur
What can be said in New Year rhymes,
That’s not been said a thousand times?
The new years come, the old years go,
We know we dream, we dream we know.
We rise up laughing with the light,
We lie down weeping with the night.
We hug the world until it stings,
We curse it then and sigh for wings.
We live, we love, we woo, we wed,
We wreathe our prides, we sheet our dead.
We laugh, we weep, we hope, we fear,
And that’s the burden of a year.
—Ella Wheeler Wilcox, “The Year”, 1910
“Laugh, weep, hope, fear” was definitely the burden of this year. In Topanga, 2024 began with dangerous flooding and mudslides, and ended in the aftermath of the Franklin fire, which burned more than 4000 acres in the Santa Monica Mountains and destroyed more than 20 structures, including nine homes, but spared the Canyon.
Between those extremes of fire and flood have ranged the entire gamut of events and emotions: births, deaths, joys, sorrows, gains and losses.
In the Asian lunar calendar, 2024 was the year of the dragon, and it brought all of that mythological creature’s powerful energy. 2025 will be the year of the snake—a subtle, intelligent, and contemplative animal that is said to bring stability, introspection, and transformation. That’s a tall order for a snake, even a celestial one, but it sounds like a pleasant change from the constant maelstrom of chaos many experienced in 2024.
We are celebrating the end of this year and the start of the new year with our traditional selection of favorite articles and features—things that deserve a second look. We also have updates on the Franklin fire, which broke out in Malibu Canyon on the night of December 9, and was finally fully contained on December 9, but not before it destroyed and damaged homes and ravaged more than 4000 acres in the heart of the Santa Monica Monica Mountains. This fire was a close call for Topanga. If the winds had not dropped it could easily have swept in over Piuma to Saddlerock and down into Fernwood, despite a truly impressive firefighting effort.
This incident is another reminder that this is a good time for all residents of the local mountains to assess fire preparedness and evacuation plans, and to work on home hardening and brush clearance. This wasn’t the big one, but it could have been, and fire danger remains high.
This winter may be a dry one: a ridge of high pressure is keeping the rain out of Southern California, courtesy of that meteorological phenomenon La Nina, who doesn’t care to get her feet wet—at least here in the West—this temperamental weather pattern often sends heavy snow to the East. Eventually some rain is bound to get through and allay our fire fears, at least temporarily. Other fears, as we enter what could best be described as an unprecedented new chapter of American history, may be more difficult to temper, but whatever the future brings, we will face it together, and as the poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox wisely reminds us, every new year brings good and ill—all the blessings and challenges of the human experience.
Here at TNT we have a lot to be grateful for: friends, family, readers, advertisers, our community, and a lot to look forward to, including the continued opportunity to serve our community and help make a difference. We wish you all a joyful New Year!
Stay safe, be well.
