Wow! That's crazy! I moved out in 2011 after thieves broke into that house, they came through the small windows in the bedroom. I didn't feel safe anymore and left. It was a beautiful house, very warm and welcoming. I am very very sorry for your loss. I can't even imagine. How do you deal with it? Do you have a place to stay? Can I do something?
Recently, I was re-reading a chapter of a book I read long time ago, actually, when I was living in that casita in Altadena which might not exist anymore. The book is Women who run with wolves, by Clarisa Pinkola Estes, pretty known, you might know it already, but I was reading, advised by a friend, the chapter about the Obscene Goddesses. My book is in Spanish, so I am loosely translating in the fly. But then, I realized, that I, The Nasty Woman, I am one of the Obscene Goddesses. Look at me! Look at my drawing! If that is not obscene, then what! So, I was thinking, yeah, we need the brutality of the obscene to break away from all that politeness and restrictions which makes us afraid to break the mold... Thanks for your comment.
Of course! And I absolutely understand. I am familiar with The Women Who run with the wolves - but that reminds me, I have a friend who could REALLY use it.
But I understand your point. You be the Goddess of the Obscene and I will be The AntiHeroine - all to get our voices heard. The world isn’t pretty. The problems we are fixing aren’t - why should our words to change the world be pretty?
These terrible events have long been forecast and criminally dismissed. Perhaps when a few more major western cities have been destroyed, the powerful and greedy will finally reconsider their position.....
Yes, I share your opinion, but I also shriek thinking about who's going to be next. Will we be flooded this year, or maybe some other city, or what kind of catastrophe and where would it be next?
That this part pf NL is one metre above sea level is of little comfort to me when a third of Europe's ever increasing rainfall flows past my home. Another good reason to spend my Winters on a mountainside....
(Sorry, Elizabeth, I realized that I wrote your reply under another message., so here it goes again) Wow! That's crazy! I moved out in 2011 after thieves broke into that house, they came through the small windows in the bedroom. I didn't feel safe anymore and left. It was a beautiful house, very warm and welcoming. I am very very sorry for your loss. I can't even imagine. How do you deal with it? Do you have a place to stay? Can I do something?
My children both play instruments, guitar, bass, drums and my daughter is artists. This community truly helped shape my children and were forever grateful for that. Also I too read women who run with wolves. Mrs Clarissa Pinkola Estes is amazing. Also grateful for the strong feel writers who’s words and wisdom are helping us through this.
This is such a powerful and heartbreaking reflection. Losing your home, or the memory of it, to something as devastating as this fire is unimaginable. The way you connect personal grief with systemic failures and the broader climate crisis really hits home.
I don't agree with everything you said, but we are at least on the same page, or the same side.
Your call to action is urgent and inspiring but I wonder how effective traditional protesting is, and and extreme protesting, blocking roads, destroying art etc. I think can often have the effect of having people take the opposing view of the protestors, then you have the murder of CEOs at the absolute top of the scale, is that really the answer? (For the avoidance of doubt, no, it's not).
I don't know what is, I know it likely all boils down to money, but I completely agree that we need both words and action, writing to reach hearts and minds might only be preaching to the converted, the same with protests, but they do bring likeminded people together in solidarity, and good things happen when people come together. Change doesn’t come from apathy. But not everyone can play a part in something like this. I'm glad for people like you, because I'm not one of those types of person.
Thank you for sharing this raw and necessary perspective.
Hi Mark, yes, I also “wonder how effective traditional protesting is”, and I even wondered aloud commenting on someone else’s post, I think it was Aya, this one, https://ayauk.substack.com/p/have-you-learnt-nothing-in-a-year?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2, where I agreed with her that protest is sometimes more than a performance than a tool for change. BUT, since I decided to help with and participate in a march this coming Sunday by The Surge (I wrote about it in the article) and meeting with people online and in person in order to do that, I learned that marching and protesting has another purpose, no less useful: it gets people together in person, and for me that is huge.
Because I noticed that, when I only engage with people online, like with you, for example, it has an abstract feeling to it, as if things would have less consequences just because we don’t know each other in the flesh. As if it was less real. And for that reason, I am less committed to that relationship. And also, protesting and marching is cathartic, and when you do it with others, it gives a sense of purpose and an outlet to that pent-up energy coming from the rage trapped inside because it cannot find other ways to express itself. I could start screaming at my partner, or go out to vandalize the streets, or get in a fight with the house manager, for example, and then the rage would be wasted in pettiness and shit.
Instead, if I put my rage to use finding people to work with towards goals we believe in, finding ways to express ourselves and finding ways to change, then, that rage is a good fuel. I do believe though that we have to find better strategies. Protests, blocking traffic, street performances, worked ok for some time, but I think that the only thing that would work now is to stop paying. Stop buying. Stop working and making money. Find alternative ways to live and divorce the state.
Voila. The rest is just preparation, getting people together, clarifying our ideals, our goals, what is possible, etc. It’s a long shot. This is only the beginning.
PS: I need to think a bit more about what else... I am new to this... I am only the piano teacher :)
People who use “Only” put themselves down, often without realising it, I do it too. “Just” is another one. You’re the sum of your experience and piano is no doubt just a small part of that. But you’ve lived a life, you’ve got experience and you certainly have passion.
Connection is key, but in my experience of riots where I live last summer, they were supposed to be peaceful protests, even a vigil turned into violence where people who turned up, not to support a cause, but purely to smash the town up, set fires and fight the police, spoiled what could have been putting a valuable message across, because all that was on the news was the violence and disorder and the message was lost entirely.
To give credit where it’s due I think the good people involved turned out the coming days to fix damage and tidy up and some good came of it then, but there are always the extremists who want to take things in a dark direction.
Stopping giving money would work, it’s what make’s the world go round after all but at what cost to the individual, some people, like you perhaps are willing to make those decisions, but the majority likely are not, stopping paying their utilities for example leaves families without power, stopping paying taxes, depending where you live might land you in jail. It takes a certain type of person to be willing to go to those lengths.
Stopping buying from companies complicit might be much easier and more accessible to the “everyman”, if people stopped putting money in the pockets of big business and back in the pockets of local shops and businesses that can only be a net positive, the downside is it’s likely more expensive, which is a big thing to families already struggling.
Good luck with the Surge, I hope it goes well and without any of the types of people who want to turn it into something that it’s not for their own purposes.
My heart goes out to all those who lost property and/or loved ones. Blame shifting will always be a hinderance to progress so these politicians need to get their shi together.
Gratitude to the firemen on overrdrive trying to put this out, conspiracy or not, we know if you were over on the other side saving superstars' houses it is because you had orders. Maybe the superstars with no insurance will now lobby for better insurance laws.
But let's not wait for them like we are the small people. Heads have to roll. Unite & organize. Thank you Nasty woman for your heartfelt rage that I hope wakes up the people.
Thank you, too, for reading. Some people get scare of rage, but I think rage is good, rage is fuel for change, rage is a door to another world if we can use it wisely.
Wow! That's crazy! I moved out in 2011 after thieves broke into that house, they came through the small windows in the bedroom. I didn't feel safe anymore and left. It was a beautiful house, very warm and welcoming. I am very very sorry for your loss. I can't even imagine. How do you deal with it? Do you have a place to stay? Can I do something?
I will gladly rage with you, sis. Lead the way.
Recently, I was re-reading a chapter of a book I read long time ago, actually, when I was living in that casita in Altadena which might not exist anymore. The book is Women who run with wolves, by Clarisa Pinkola Estes, pretty known, you might know it already, but I was reading, advised by a friend, the chapter about the Obscene Goddesses. My book is in Spanish, so I am loosely translating in the fly. But then, I realized, that I, The Nasty Woman, I am one of the Obscene Goddesses. Look at me! Look at my drawing! If that is not obscene, then what! So, I was thinking, yeah, we need the brutality of the obscene to break away from all that politeness and restrictions which makes us afraid to break the mold... Thanks for your comment.
Of course! And I absolutely understand. I am familiar with The Women Who run with the wolves - but that reminds me, I have a friend who could REALLY use it.
But I understand your point. You be the Goddess of the Obscene and I will be The AntiHeroine - all to get our voices heard. The world isn’t pretty. The problems we are fixing aren’t - why should our words to change the world be pretty?
I will stand and rage with you any time
These terrible events have long been forecast and criminally dismissed. Perhaps when a few more major western cities have been destroyed, the powerful and greedy will finally reconsider their position.....
Yes, I share your opinion, but I also shriek thinking about who's going to be next. Will we be flooded this year, or maybe some other city, or what kind of catastrophe and where would it be next?
That this part pf NL is one metre above sea level is of little comfort to me when a third of Europe's ever increasing rainfall flows past my home. Another good reason to spend my Winters on a mountainside....
This was our home, we may have moved in after you left and we lost everything. We too built a beautiful home and garden and lived our space.
(Sorry, Elizabeth, I realized that I wrote your reply under another message., so here it goes again) Wow! That's crazy! I moved out in 2011 after thieves broke into that house, they came through the small windows in the bedroom. I didn't feel safe anymore and left. It was a beautiful house, very warm and welcoming. I am very very sorry for your loss. I can't even imagine. How do you deal with it? Do you have a place to stay? Can I do something?
Angel was landlord who also lost his home, business, rental property and his son also lost his home. It’s been devastating.
Also responded on other chat with photos. I enjoyed seeing yours.
I am born and raised in this area, our childhood home miraculously made it thanks to our dad and neighbor putting out fires.
My children both play instruments, guitar, bass, drums and my daughter is artists. This community truly helped shape my children and were forever grateful for that. Also I too read women who run with wolves. Mrs Clarissa Pinkola Estes is amazing. Also grateful for the strong feel writers who’s words and wisdom are helping us through this.
Thanks for this heartfelt call to action. The democracy now piece was good to watch. Sending hugs 🫶🏻
This is such a powerful and heartbreaking reflection. Losing your home, or the memory of it, to something as devastating as this fire is unimaginable. The way you connect personal grief with systemic failures and the broader climate crisis really hits home.
I don't agree with everything you said, but we are at least on the same page, or the same side.
Your call to action is urgent and inspiring but I wonder how effective traditional protesting is, and and extreme protesting, blocking roads, destroying art etc. I think can often have the effect of having people take the opposing view of the protestors, then you have the murder of CEOs at the absolute top of the scale, is that really the answer? (For the avoidance of doubt, no, it's not).
I don't know what is, I know it likely all boils down to money, but I completely agree that we need both words and action, writing to reach hearts and minds might only be preaching to the converted, the same with protests, but they do bring likeminded people together in solidarity, and good things happen when people come together. Change doesn’t come from apathy. But not everyone can play a part in something like this. I'm glad for people like you, because I'm not one of those types of person.
Thank you for sharing this raw and necessary perspective.
Hi Mark, yes, I also “wonder how effective traditional protesting is”, and I even wondered aloud commenting on someone else’s post, I think it was Aya, this one, https://ayauk.substack.com/p/have-you-learnt-nothing-in-a-year?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2, where I agreed with her that protest is sometimes more than a performance than a tool for change. BUT, since I decided to help with and participate in a march this coming Sunday by The Surge (I wrote about it in the article) and meeting with people online and in person in order to do that, I learned that marching and protesting has another purpose, no less useful: it gets people together in person, and for me that is huge.
Because I noticed that, when I only engage with people online, like with you, for example, it has an abstract feeling to it, as if things would have less consequences just because we don’t know each other in the flesh. As if it was less real. And for that reason, I am less committed to that relationship. And also, protesting and marching is cathartic, and when you do it with others, it gives a sense of purpose and an outlet to that pent-up energy coming from the rage trapped inside because it cannot find other ways to express itself. I could start screaming at my partner, or go out to vandalize the streets, or get in a fight with the house manager, for example, and then the rage would be wasted in pettiness and shit.
Instead, if I put my rage to use finding people to work with towards goals we believe in, finding ways to express ourselves and finding ways to change, then, that rage is a good fuel. I do believe though that we have to find better strategies. Protests, blocking traffic, street performances, worked ok for some time, but I think that the only thing that would work now is to stop paying. Stop buying. Stop working and making money. Find alternative ways to live and divorce the state.
Voila. The rest is just preparation, getting people together, clarifying our ideals, our goals, what is possible, etc. It’s a long shot. This is only the beginning.
PS: I need to think a bit more about what else... I am new to this... I am only the piano teacher :)
People who use “Only” put themselves down, often without realising it, I do it too. “Just” is another one. You’re the sum of your experience and piano is no doubt just a small part of that. But you’ve lived a life, you’ve got experience and you certainly have passion.
Connection is key, but in my experience of riots where I live last summer, they were supposed to be peaceful protests, even a vigil turned into violence where people who turned up, not to support a cause, but purely to smash the town up, set fires and fight the police, spoiled what could have been putting a valuable message across, because all that was on the news was the violence and disorder and the message was lost entirely.
To give credit where it’s due I think the good people involved turned out the coming days to fix damage and tidy up and some good came of it then, but there are always the extremists who want to take things in a dark direction.
Stopping giving money would work, it’s what make’s the world go round after all but at what cost to the individual, some people, like you perhaps are willing to make those decisions, but the majority likely are not, stopping paying their utilities for example leaves families without power, stopping paying taxes, depending where you live might land you in jail. It takes a certain type of person to be willing to go to those lengths.
Stopping buying from companies complicit might be much easier and more accessible to the “everyman”, if people stopped putting money in the pockets of big business and back in the pockets of local shops and businesses that can only be a net positive, the downside is it’s likely more expensive, which is a big thing to families already struggling.
Good luck with the Surge, I hope it goes well and without any of the types of people who want to turn it into something that it’s not for their own purposes.
My heart goes out to all those who lost property and/or loved ones. Blame shifting will always be a hinderance to progress so these politicians need to get their shi together.
Gratitude to the firemen on overrdrive trying to put this out, conspiracy or not, we know if you were over on the other side saving superstars' houses it is because you had orders. Maybe the superstars with no insurance will now lobby for better insurance laws.
But let's not wait for them like we are the small people. Heads have to roll. Unite & organize. Thank you Nasty woman for your heartfelt rage that I hope wakes up the people.
Thank you, too, for reading. Some people get scare of rage, but I think rage is good, rage is fuel for change, rage is a door to another world if we can use it wisely.
More fuel please!