Is Reading the San Francisco Chronicle Like Walking through Samuel Johnson's London?

 Here's what I was telling a friend in a letter today:

I usually go to NYC in September, so since I couldn't do that this year, my son and I read and discussed Vivian Gornick's Odd Woman and the City, and I almost felt that I was there.  I liked one passage about Samuel Johnson, which I relate to our times.  

"In the 1740's, Samuel Johnson walked the streets of London to cure himself of chronic depression...open sewers, disease, poverty; destitution; lit by smoking torches; men cutting each other's throats in deserted alleys at midnight.  It was of this city that Johnson said, "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life."

Specifically, I relate this to reading the SF Chronicle.

SURREAL SKIES, SURREAL YEAR...Explosive Butte County fire kills 3...Revelation Trump downplayed virus nothing new to most voters...Virus toll passes grim mark...UC Berkeley admissions under fire/Connections, wealth aided underqualified, audit finds...Smoke-taint quandary has wineries in chaos...Flip-flop on Supreme Court...Burglars switch to homes in lieu of tourists' cars...It feels like the end of the world...Evacuatlion scofflaws endanger emergency worker...Census workers in S.F. report delays, chaos...No charges in killing; 2 cops shot in protests...Trump won't commit to peaceful transfer of power...

When a woman is tired of the SF Chronicle, she is tired of life.

San Francisco at Noon on a Smoke-Choked Day

 

View from my front window at noon on a smoke-choked day.

Contacted Governor Newsom for a Response to Wildfires as Described on The San Francisco Experience

Episode Description

11,000 dry lightning strikes hit the Golden State overnight August 16 and 17, igniting 347 wildfires. Here in Wine Country, 50 miles North of San Francisco, the fires continue to burn two weeks later, sending massive columns of smoke and ash South to San Francisco and the Bay Area. 2020 marks the fourth straight year the Wine Country has suffered the consequences of massive wildfires. Governor Gavin Newsom says this is what climate change looks like. But is that a cop out ? Mismanagement of California's 33 million acres of forestland has been going on for years. At the same time, our population has mushroomed to 40 million but infrastructure has not kept pace and wildfire management is but one more example.

 California does not even have a Strategic Plan to deal with the wildfire threat, according to the non-partisan Legislative Analyst Office (LAO). So what does the future hold for mitigating the threat of wildfires in the Golden State ? 

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4IYiJ5anyJjrvFByouEdg0

Open Letter about Forest Fires and a Podcast to the Governor about

 Contact the Governor

---

Position:

Con Pro *

Write your message:

6000 characters maximum.