Paradise No More

My ties to Northern California are strong, and the foothills and mountains north of Sacramento on towards Oregon to the north and Nevada to the east occupy a space in the deepest portions of my heart.

When the city of Paradise was mostly wiped away from California by fire recently I found myself more rapt in a strange desire to dive into the stories and detritus of the natural disaster than I ever find myself otherwise.

The stories are harrowing and the photos are outrageous. But the following photo is one I couldn't ever dislodge from my shocked understanding, probably because it was taken by NASA, and space exploration lives in that same room in my heart, the combination of dry NorCal mountains and the desire to be an astronaut being two essential building blocks for who I am today:

I've driven 70 to the Cabin. I haven't spent nearly as much time in Chico as Norm or, obviously, another erstwhile Westwood Park alum Shannon, who lives in Chico, but still, I feel a connection.

And in this picture we can see the outline of small mountain hamlet completely swallowed up by fire, devoured in the course of a few hours one October morning.

The words...my words...will only flail around helplessly as families regroup in tents in parking lots...