Smoke gets in our eyes...

It's been a week now since the fires started in earnest in the North Bay area -- you may have seen something about them in the news. They've been going all week and the number of deaths and structures destroyed now exceeds the 1991 Oakland Hills fire. Monday I got a message from the school President as I was preparing for class saying the smoke rolling in from the North Bay made the air so bad that we could cancel classes if we wished and no students would be required to attend. I did cancel, except I had one student who had arranged a seven-person crew and booked two rooms for an elaborate installation and performance, so I told him I would come for that and ask the rest of the class to come if they thought they would be okay. Most of them showed up and the piece was worth it, although after just an hour and a half my throat was raw and I had a headache from smoke. Those symptoms have pretty much remained steady for the rest of the week as the air in Oakland also filled with smoke. Particulate air masks are sold out almost everywhere -- I made an attempt to get one today but it's going to take a more concerted effort. People in our neighborhood are particularly on edge as many of them lost homes in the 1991 fire -- in addition to the traumatic memories, the current fire danger is of course high here, also. The news about how friends have been affected is trickling in -- the father of a friend lost his home, a colleague at SFAI is safe but doesn't know yet if she has a home to return to, other friends are back in their house after evacuating earlier in the week. At my dentist appointment this morning, my dentist told me he had spent the previous two days in Napa with a medical volunteer group and was going back this afternoon. There are more untrained people (not regular emergency volunteers like my dentist) who want to volunteer than there are people to manage them, and reportedly the National Guard is sending a big contingent this weekend, so we are hunkering down to finish our taxes. There will be a need for people to help out in various ways for a long time to come, I imagine we will find our chance.