Fire in my "backyard"

Griffith Park is the largest urban park in the US, and I am lucky enough to live within walking distance. Last night it turned into a mass of fire and smoke. I spent the evening walking around outside talking to my neighbors and hoping the wind would continue to blow away from my house. Since there was no power, I could not turn on the tv to see what was going on, so I walked to the corner where a tv news truck was parked. The news reporter had very little information himself but that didn't stop him from getting on tv and questioning some of my neighbors who also had very little information to give. He interviewed one woman on camera who talked about how long she had lived in the community and how much she liked it. The reporter asked her how scared or nervous she now was about the fire. Now there may be some truth to the idea that here was a beautiful community threatened by a big, scary fire, but from what I saw, the message the tv reporter was trying to project was exactly the opposite from what was occurring. In fact, in our daily lives, neighbors generally have little contact with one another, because we tend to stay inside and watch tv, and when we go out, we get directly into our cars, continuing to isolate ourselves. It took a fire to get people outside and talking together as a community. I met some of my neighbors for the first time, and talked to others to whom I had not spoken in months. And while the fire was scary, the truth was that the firefighters had the situation well in hand, and were doing a great job containing it. We really didn't have that much to worry about. And the park will survive. In fact, the park probably needs periodic fires to survive. It seems that television encourages us to stay "safe" inside while projecting images of a big, scary world out there. The solution is probably to watch less television.

This morning I took a couple of pictures of Los Feliz Boulevard without cars, a sight you never see on a weekday morning. It was quiet and beautiful.