Campus; rainbow flags; a faint hint of mist in the air. Oh, wait - that's not mist, but air that's full of tiny particles from the Getty Fire: not burning towards campus, but making everything there just a little bit hazy and smoke-smelling.
If this is the new normal, it's terrifying. This morning - receiving emails, as chair, from colleagues who've had to evacuate, or can't make a meeting because they're standing in elsewhere for someone who was woken up at 3.30 a.m. and told to leave, immediately, or hearing from dear friends who, likewise, had to displace at speed in the middle of the night. I've now signed up for every possible emergency alert, hoping that this might help me sleep, and not wake up every twenty minutes or so looking for red glows in the sky, sniffing for smoke. The Getty Fire is some twenty miles east of us, but the beautiful views from our house come with the downside of backing onto Griffith Park and all the dry, dry fuel that it contains. And there's such a fine line between being sensibly prepared and alert, and neurosis. All I want, please, is still air (the Santa Anas are back tomorrow), and some rain - soon.
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