resources

Resources for those affected by Los Angeles wildfires

/ Tracy Abell / 10 Comments

My heart goes out to everyone in the Los Angeles area as they deal with multiple wildfires and horrifyingly high winds and dry conditions. I’m going to share resources below and want to first say: MASKS ARE NECESSARY to protect lungs against wildfire smoke! I’ve been ordering from BonaFide Masks for years. High quality and reasonable prices. 25% off orders through January + free ground shipping.

1.14.24 UPDATE: N95 MASKS ARE AVAILABLE AT ALL LOS ANGELES PUBLIC LIBRARY LOCATIONS. Go HERE to find a library near you.

PLEASE AMPLIFY & SHARE THE FOLLOWING INFO:

Kelly Hayes shared the following (plus more info at link):

  • Mutual Aid LA Network is maintaining a spreadsheet of resources for people affected by the fires. The list is being updated continuously with new resources and calls for volunteers and donations. Please consider uplifting this resource on social media. (And if your faith in humanity needs a boost, be sure to have a look at the spreadsheet and appreciate all of the ways people in LA are supporting each other right now.) You can donate to MALAN here.

People vs Fossil Fuels shared the following resources:

This is a climate emergency! We must halt the development of fossil fuels and make a just transition to renewable energy. Our very existence is at stake.

Sunday Confessional: I just unpacked a box from my 1996 move

/ Tracy Abell / 9 Comments

Today I finally, finally cleaned out our storage room. It’s been on my radar for years, but every time I went in to start I’d immediately feel overwhelmed and quit. A huge part of my problem is that it’s SO HARD for me to get rid of perfectly good stuff.

For example, what was in that box from 1996? The label read “Scratch paper.”

An entire box filled with various types of paper: loose-leaf notebook paper, stationary, index cards, note pads, scratch pads, the LOST DOG flyers we made for a friend’s dog who disappeared on our watch, old lesson plans, brand new folders, labels, classroom handouts, etc.

I’d never been able to get rid of it because every time I peeked inside that box I thought about the woman who taught in the room next to mine telling me about traveling to another country where paper was so precious people would smooth out envelopes that arrived in the mail and write letters on the insides. How could I recycle all that perfectly good paper?

Well, today I got tough. Probably not as tough as I should’ve been (because I kept about one-quarter of the paper), but it was a fine start.

And look what gem I uncovered. I love me some vultures and that little pic on the bottom corner of the note pad cracked me up. But is that joke worth a 23-year stay in my basement?