2025 has come for us

I am writing to you from Flores, Guatemala, on a balcony overlooking Lago Petén Itzá. Birdsong and a cool breeze are my companions, and though it’s only 7:30 am here, I have already had too much of the delicious coffee grown in the region. Last night, a bright orange sun set over the lake and an hour later, the nearly full moon guided the path back to my room. Life is abundant, blessed, and yet, my heart is heavy with the devastation in Los Angeles.

Last summer, I finally read Octavia Butler’s remarkably prescient The Parable of the Sower, and today, I am thinking of this quote of hers:

“The world is full of painful stories. Sometimes it seems as though there aren't any other kind and yet I found myself thinking how beautiful that glint of water was through the trees.”

I am quite literally living this quote, and perhaps you are too, if not literally then figuratively. The warmth of family and friends, the last days of a beach vacation, the comfort of a home that is still standing – they are all as powerful as “that glint of water.”

As it happens, Octavia lived in Altadena, which “has long served as a refuge for Black families seeking asylum from systemic racism, a sanctuary where they can thrive. The Great Migration, a movement in the early 20th century, where many African Americans moved west to escape the Jim Crow South.” Several articles are covering this community now, and here’s how you can support Black families displaced by the fire.

The coming days are filled with uncertainty about how much more the Los Angeles area will face, but we know that as always, Black and Brown families will be most affected. Latino immigrants were among those who stepped in to help put out the fires, and immigrants will likely be called on during rebuilding efforts. California prison inmates, 46% of whom are Latino, are also working to fight fires and barely being paid.

Hold on to what you have, friends. Octavia says,

“That’s all anybody can do right now. Live. Hold out. Survive. I don’t know whether good times are coming back again. But I know that won’t matter if we don’t survive these times.”

We will survive these times, I believe. And indeed we will thrive, but it will take all of us believing and fighting and being in community. 2025 is not playing, so look beyond the headlines and gather yourself, your people and all your resources. And let’s do this together.

Sayu