The End of Rain - Book Preview

SCOTT ORDWAY

THE END OF RAIN

CONTENTS

xi

Preface

xiii

Introduction

xiv

Text Contributors

01

PROLOGUE PART 1. emergency

05 27 45

These are the things we lost in the fire This is what we remember about that day This is what we miss PART 2. pastoral

63 87 117

These are the crops we grow near our home This is the land we see around us These are the things we used to do PART 3. requiem

139 155 171

These are the plants that grow where we live This is how the land looks today Sunrise and apotheosis: things will grow back

PREFACE

The End of Rain is a multimedia project comprised of music, crowdsourced text, landscape photography, and video. Each line of the text was adapted directly from a first-person witness account of drought and fire that I collected in California between March and August, 2021. I collected these texts through individual interviews, focus groups in the towns of Bonny Doon and Paradise, classroom visits to middle and high schools in Santa Cruz County, and online submissions via a purpose-built website. In addition, my data set includes the full texts of the Camp Fire Oral History Project, an initiative of the Meriam Library at Cal State Chico which generously granted access to these texts for use in The End of Rain.

Together, these sources include contributions from more than 225 individuals and total approximately 80,000 words of first-hand testimony. Other than changing articles and pronouns for poetic unity (such as I to we), or combining the voices of multiple speakers into a single phrase, none of the words are my own. With respect to these texts, I understood my role to be largely curatorial. I read them all, searched them for prevalent or recurring themes, and harmonized complementary passages from different speakers. The poetic structure, I hope, helps to make this large and unwieldy collection of texts into something more legible.

I took the accompanying photographs while traveling throughout California to gather the texts. I sought to document the phenomena described in the witness accounts while at the same time celebrating the extraordinary natural beauty of my home state.

This book was published with support from Sempervirens Fund

(Los Altos, California), about which more is written at the end of this volume. My work would not have been possible without the contributions of many additional individuals and institutions. I am deeply grateful to my research assistants at Rutgers University, Mateo Urgilés and Kimberlee Sibilia, without whom this project would have been completely impossible; to Benjamin Krause and Alexander Brusencev for their many insightful comments on drafts of both the musical composition and the book; to Noah Luna at BCP Music for keeping my pages in order; to Allison Weissman and Elizabeth Dworkin at Dworkin & Co. for keeping everything else in order; to Matt Shaffer for his wisdom in the area of communications and public engagement; to the designers in my life, Erica Eliot, Kate Clayton, and Carey Bozarth, for their help with the graphic and user experience design of the text collection website; and to my colleagues and students at Rutgers University whose conversation and input has been invaluable to me in the process of developing this work.

I relied on the generosity of many individuals to gather the public input from which the text was drawn. In this regard I am profoundly grateful to Kathleen Dysert, David Zink, Allen Myers, Lloyd Roby, Kelley Conner, Judy Clemens, and other artists and community members in Paradise, CA for their openness, generosity, friendship, and willingness to share their stories over a glass or two of wine; to Natalia and Adam Flechsig, Jonah Torres, Christopher Fink, and other community members who fought fires with their bare hands in the Santa Cruz Mountains and who gathered on a sweltering day to share their stories;

to Stefani Baldivia and the Meriam Library at Cal State University Chico for generously making available the texts of the Camp Fire Oral History Project; and to Alice Hughes of Pacific Collegiate School, Holly Ota and Stacy Aronivici of Aptos High School, Lindsey Eldred of Santa Cruz High School and Mission Hill Middle School, and their inspiring students who shared what it feels like to come of age in a time of fire.

I am thankful for the trust placed in me by Cristian Măcelaru, Ellen Primack, and the rest of the staff at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, and by Brad Wells and Roomful of Teeth, to undertake such a complex and delicate subject which is so near to our hearts.

Lastly, I owe a debt of gratitude to Norm and Joy St. Landau for the use of their “Little House” in Centreville, MD in March 2022, to Mark and Fran Ordway for, among many, many other things, the use of their camper truck for a vital photographic trip in January 2021 when hotels and campgrounds were closed statewide, and to Claire, Sophie, and Nora for their unending love and support.

xi

xii

INTRODUCTION

When I began collecting the stories that would become The End of Rain, California was emerging from the horrific 2020 wildfire season, one of the worst in recorded history. The summers of 2018 and 2017 were similarly destructive, including the Camp Fire in Butte County, the deadliest wildfire in California history. I wanted to understand how individuals and communities related to the landscape around them in this new era of continuous fire. Moreover, I wanted to know how fire and drought were changing us in personal and often hidden ways. Because my questions concerned communal rather than individual consciousness, it was important to me that my work be guided by the experiences of a wide range of people and that the final product faithfully reflect the things they told me. I wanted my work to be an act of sustained and careful listening.

Each line of the poetic text is drawn from 80,000 words of public input that I collected between March and August, 2021. Other than changing articles and pronouns for poetic unity, or combining the voices of multiple speakers into a single phrase, none of the words are my own. Whatever poetic strength the text possesses, therefore, owes to the fact that it is a work of non-fiction. Each line represents an individual telling the truth, as they see it, in simple and direct language.

These voices do not speak in unison. Many of the accounts describe acute experiences of fire or drought. Some respondents lost homes, others lost loved ones. They lost innumerable belongings. They lost longstanding beliefs about the landscape and its capacity to shelter and sustain them.

At the same time, people shared

things they have gained. Many spoke of strengthened bonds in their communities. Others gained a new appreciation for responsible stewardship of the land. Some gained a sense of urgency regarding our changing climate.

Other respondents did not have experience with the worst forms of tragedy or loss, but were still impacted in powerful, unseen ways.

These voices are important if we want to understand how fire and drought impact our communities each year. Lastly, some respondents indicated that they have lost nothing and have felt no particular impacts of fire or drought. These perspectives are essential in order to know the full breadth and complexity of our collective experience.

In addition to widely varying personal stories, the people I spoke with shared a range of beliefs and attitudes on the subjects of fire, drought, urban development, environmental policy, and other topics.

Often, one recurring theme came into direct conflict with another recurring theme. I have sought to include these divergent voices in my text.

Formally, The End of Rain is divided into three parts. Each part reflects one predominant recurring theme in the crowdsourced texts. Part 1: Emergency focuses on physical descriptions of the most acute impacts of fire. These include vivid images of blackened forests, strangely-colored skies, ash drifting like snow, and mid-day darkness. People describe these days in the language of apocalypse with terror, urgency, and fear.

Part 2: Pastoral explores a second theme in the texts: a strong love for and deep sense of connection to the natural environment of California. Landscape, identity, memory, and the sense of home are deeply

intertwined, making damage to the land feel intensely personal.

Part 3 is a secular requiem expressing the loss, mourning, and remembrance that permeated the responses, coupled with a strong urge toward regeneration, rebuilding, and reawakening. These words of sorrow, fear, renewal, and hope reflect the intense emotional relationship respondents have with the natural world around them.

The work ends with two interwoven lines of text which reflect the urgency and complexity of our present relationship to fire: “we must change now” and “things will grow back.” These two statements are both unequivocally true.

For me, this work is a deeply personal one. I was born and raised in the Santa Cruz Mountains of Northern California and feel a deep sense of connection to this highly distinctive ecological region. These photographs and this music are my attempt to depict and celebrate my own small portion of the vast California experience.

Scott Ordway Spring 2022

xiii

TEXT CONTRIBUTORS

Natasha Ackerstein Melissa Allison Nicole Anderson Anita Anderson Elizabeth Anderson Dale Attias Febe Avitua Leela Barnett Uma Batish Coreen Bean Don Bean Elizabeth Bernstein Shinehah Bigham Paulina Borsook Charlotte Botha Carey Bozarth Julie Brielle Monica Brinkman Diane Brown Angie Buckner Heather Calame Merribeth Carlson Jayden Cavanagh Nike Cholden Wes Christensen Don Criswell

xiv

Oriya Rae Davi Matteo Demarco Lee Edward DeMoss Michael Dougan Marilyn Duhamel Debi Durham Kathleen Dysert William F. Carney Dawn Burgess Fedeli Tammy Feinberg Steve Ferchaud Mary Fiore Adam Flechsig Natalia Flechsig Doreen Fogle Savannah Fraley Noelle Francis Thomas Fredericks Jeff Gallagher Richard Dale Gingery Jr. Lilianna Gingery James Glucksman Danielle Glucksman Ally Goetz Denise Gunderson James Hadley

Cathy Hales Greer Hambly David M. Harris Wendy Harrison Pam Hartley Bill Hartley Gail L. Hedlund Dalylah Hernandez Alma Herrera Kathleen Hilger Ava Hillard Mike Hoaglund Sharee Howard Zoë Huet Sally Hugg Alice Hughes Celia Hursey Lynn Janinis John Janinis David Jessen Mary Ann Johnson Hollymae Jones Sarah Jordan Mikala Kaaihue-Laine Rosemary Kanko Judy Kelly

Joseph Kelly Jason Laine Emily Landry Mike Larish Steven Leonard Alan Lieberman Amelie Lindberg Carey Livingston Patti Lloyd Maggie Long Jaime Lopez Catherine Marsten Kathryn Mastrangelo Flavian Mastrangelo Carrie Max Steph McCormick Jazmin Alvarez McMahon Martin Medrano Luke Meyer Celia Hursey with Lynn, Kathy, and Nancy Iris Natavidad Isaiah Navarro Barbara Nielsen Garth Nielsen Karen Oakes

Fran Ordway Mark Ordway Jasmin Ortiz Holly Ota Carin Pacifico Anissa Pannell Layla Pasquini Claire Paul Julie Pearson Monia Pezzi Brooklynn Porter Christina Powell Don Primer Zakary Prochaska Laurie Ratterree Cheryl Renwick Michael Renwick Lizzie Reyes Todd Richter Alan Ritch Peggi Rodgers Aindrea Romer Charles Rough Doris Nicole Salazar Makenna Sandidge Walt Scherer

Suzanne Schettler Rachel Schleiger Henry Schleiger Julie Silverman Yvette Streeter Kai Tanaka Zuki Tanaka-Kopp Vicki Taylor Maximus Tempesta Jonah Torres Shannan Troxel-Andreas Robert Tucker Meghan Turner Claire Turner Amelia Valoroso Trudy Vaughn Amber Waldo Elle Walters Erin Walters Brad Wells George White Kelly White Arie Wirth-Yap Susan Yost David Zink Lori Zink + Anonymous (72)

xv

02

August Complex Fire (2020)

MENDOCINO NATIONAL FOREST, CALIFORNIA

03

28

Glass Fire (2020)

SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA

29

40

Walbridge Fire (2020)

GURNEVILLE, CALIFORNIA

41

46

August Complex Fire (2020)

MENDOCINO NATIONAL FOREST

47

68

CASTROVILLE, CALIFORNIA

69

88

GURNEVILLE, CALIFORNIA

89

120

GUADALUPE, CALIFORNIA

121

172

OROVILLE, CALIFORNIA

173