through the fire

mixed berry pie with homemade whipped cream

These last two weeks have been quite eventful.

Last week, a fire hurricane threatened to displace me and my entire household, but we were some of the lucky ones. I’m thankful for that.

I am also saddened by all the loss and destruction I see in my city.

I am a Los Angeles native, and I love L.A.

The emphasis is all mine.

Through it all though, I truly believe my city is going to rise like a phoenix from these ashes. The community is coming together to rebuild, and it is a beautiful thing to behold.

doing the work

the best ice cream you have ever had is at this black-owned shop in leimert park

I spent most of Tuesday and Wednesday conducting interviews for two stories I’m working on.

I am going to be able to do the type of storytelling that made me want to be a journalist in the first place following these conversations.

I have had heartfelt, tearful, and emotional conversations about the Eaton and the Palisades fires.

I have had entertaining, engaging, and insightful conversations about the death of social media.

I have found inspiration for even more stories during those conversations, and this is how I have always wanted it to be for me as a journalist. I want to find the stories inside of stories, pulling threads and weaving them into something meaningful and beautiful.

I am both thankful to and humbled by the people who have trusted me with their stories.

speaking of interviews …

Photo by Eric Rothermel on Unsplash

My remaining interview schedule (so far) includes two today, one Friday, one next Tuesday, and one next Wednesday.

I discovered Tuesday that doing more than two interviews a day leaves me with no brain power or bandwidth to do anything else, so I’ve adjusted my booking pages on Google Calendar to reflect that, and yesterday and today have been much better in that regard.

Instituting a buffer period between appointments is also a big help.

Truly an introvert with extrovert tendencies, I require downtime in between talking to people. It’s necessary.

Additionally, I have blocked Mondays off as a day when I won’t take any meetings, appointments, or interviews unless it is an absolute necessity/emergency. Otherwise, that’s my time, and I’m keeping it.

You can’t get time back.

Writing things down in my bullet journal and using Google Calendar to put them on my schedule and block out the time is doing wonders for my brain, my peace of mind, and my soul, and it makes me wonder why I wasn’t doing this all along.

books!

image credit: shvonnelatrice via instagram

I believe I mentioned I am currently rereading Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler.

I stopped reading it the day the fire hurricane started. I’ve since picked it back up, but in that short break, I read the latest installment of the Crenshaw Kings series, Save Room For Us.

This is the seventh book in the series, and it was this book that made me take note of the formula the author seems to stick with throughout all the books in the series.

I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who may be planning to read these (urban fiction girlies, please tap in!), and I don’t want to give the impression that I didn’t enjoy the book because I did, and I eagerly await the final two books in the series.

There were parts of the book I felt the author spent too much time on and others where I didn’t feel we got enough, but overall, the book did not disappoint.

I’m back to reading Parable now, and book two is already in my holds on Libby waiting to be delivered to me.

speaking of Libby…

I thought I was doing good with my two little library cards (Los Angeles City and Los Angeles County public libraries) in my Libby account, and then I found out from all the book girlies I follow on Threads that you can sign up for digital library cards from libraries in different cities throughout California if you are a resident of the state.

Let me tell you how fast my holds are coming up now that I have cards from seven different libraries registered on Libby. This is called winning, baby. Get into it.

let her cook

I made chili on Tuesday. I froze half of it, and from the other half, I had dinner on Tuesday, yesterday, and today. It was flavorful and delicious, if I must say so myself, and I do.

Miscellany

• I’m still looking to speak with people either impacted by the Eaton and Palisades fires or involved in the rebuilding and community-uplifting work in the aftermath. If that is you, or if you know someone who would be a fit, please contact me at monique (at) thejournalista dot com.

• RIP, David Lynch. Eraserhead still creeps me the fuck out, so thanks for a core memory that will haunt me forever.

• What the fuck is an “Ambassador to Hollywood,” and what purpose do they serve?

• My phone’s so-called protective case is broken in so many places, I’m sure it’s not protecting shit at this point. Is it bad that I don’t want to spend money replacing it?

  • I feel like everything related to cellular phones is some type of scam to keep us replacing things every year or every other year, and I’m getting tired of it.

• While I was taking my break from reading Parable of the Sower, I watched Ripley on Netflix, and it was phenomenal.

  • I’m a huge fan of the movie The Talented Mr. Ripley, and believe me when I tell you the series is a thousand times better.

  • Please don’t be thrown off by the series being in black and white. Trust me when I tell you that makes it even more immersive and enjoyable given the period in which the story takes place.

• My fingers automatically capitalized the “B” in black in that last sentence.

• Me, babby daddy, and one of his super-intelligent progeny did a Wordle challenge today where we all used the same start word to see how quickly we could solve the puzzle.

  • We all got it in 4 guesses.

  • We’re doing it again tomorrow.

• I have a lot of transcribing and writing to do for the stories I’m working on. I know what my weekend is looking like.

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Love. Peace. Soul.