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DISASTERS | USA | PALESTINE
I Won’t Cry For You, Los Angeles
Gaza’s disasters are not natural, but man-made, or to be precise, “Made in USA”
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When fire engulfed Lahaina in Aug. 2023, I cried for days. Though I had only visited Maui once, it was heartbreaking to see places I vividly and happily remembered left smoldering.
Here we go again, another fire, more places I happily and vividly remember, ones I had visited numerous times, and loved: the Getty Museum in Malibu; Westwood and the UCLA campus; Pasadena, where I have friends; Santa Clarita, where my cousin lives.
Yet strangely, I’m hard-pressed for tears. Perhaps it’s the shock of seeing places vaporized so suddenly, leaving no trace of what used to be. Homes disappearing, whole neighborhoods flattened.
So surreal, except … wait!
I had spent the entire last year watching homes disappear and neighborhoods flattened. I saw apocalyptic landscapes aplenty. I saw a whole nation crying, not only over the loss of property, but the loss of…