3 minute read
Editor’s Note
Sometimes you have to throw away your best-laid plans and follow where the story leads.
IDON’T KNOW ABOUT you, but I’m ready for 2018. For me, this year has felt like a paintball game where I’m not padded or protected. Personal losses aside, the natural disasters presented through our various screens have been relentless. From images of Hurricane Harvey floods to that surreal morning in October when we all awoke to pungent smoke — fires, high winds, earthquakes — Mother Nature has indeed been shaking her tail feathers.
And we weren’t imagining it. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, our country has seen 15 separate calamities this year that have each caused at least a billion dollars in damage. However, when the wine country fires took over the airwaves, even those with the most severe disaster fatigue rallied, with stalwart citizens leading the way. On Facebook, I saw that Mo DeLong (our event photographer) started a page to give relief to firefighters. Jen Reidy, who has been featured in this magazine advocating sensible gun legislation, gathered supplies to take north, while many with family and businesses in the wine country kept us updated via the hashtags #SonomaStrong and #NapaStrong on ways to help.
As I drove down an eerily dark Tiburon Boulevard in the middle of the day listening to KCBS news, the magnitude of the situation really hit me. “Together we can make a difference” came through my speakers, a message from Stevens Creek Subaru. Next a familiar voice, Jim Petersen from PetersenDean Roofing, was not asking us to buy solar panels, but “with a heavy heart” he asked for support for the people of Napa and Sonoma. The next ad spot was from State Farm, saying they were taking calls around the clock. Tears flowed. I was overwhelmed by the messages from the good people in our community. Raising the question, “What could we here at the magazine do?” Our December issue was already done but we decided to include a last-minute feature on the fires. Back on Facebook, I saw that frequent contributor Kirsten Neff as actively posting updates on how to help.
“Hey there,” I texted her, “any chance you can do a 1,500-word fire story in a week, but that will still have relevance in a month?” Since we send our issue to the printers a few weeks before it reaches readers, covering a moving target like this can be challenging. Neff as up for the task.
We decided to get a few personal stories, and one in particular led the two of us to head up to Santa Rosa’s Safari West, to meet owner and now somewhat famous animal rescue hero Peter Lang. By the time we got to Old Redwood Highway, a stone’s throw from Cardinal Newman High School, the smell of smoke permeated the air.
We took a right off ark West Road and were confronted with the images of charred homes and cars we had seen on television. In awe of the destructive power of nature, we made our way another 20 miles or so to Safari West to hear Lang’s account of that night. You can read his story and others in Kirsten’s feature story.
And thanks to our new owner, Susan Noyes and the Make It Better Media Group, along with our friends at Diablo Magazine and Napa Sonoma Magazine, we have created a Red Cross page on our website that will match donations up to $10,000. Your $200 turns into $400 until it hits $10,000, translating to much-needed help. And one of the best things you can do is head up and support the businesses. Considering it’s the world-famous wine country, there shouldn’t be too much arm-twisting involved.
Mimi Towle, Executive Editor
