“Even if more adults were willing to ask friends to skip rocks or loll on the couch, our grown-up minds can sap the improvisational fun from these gatherings. To enjoy the rewards of play, you have to take risks, but adults are often too consumed by self-consciousness to run with someone’s silly idea, let alone suggest one. Our desire for playful connection doesn’t disappear after childhood. For some people, it gets redirected to romance. Couples mimic intense childhood friendships by spending free-flowing time together, marking the relationship with symbolic tokens such as rings, and developing a miniature culture, complete with inside jokes and a shared vernacular. But celebrating adult friendships in this way is rarer—and harder.”
— Rhaina Cohen, "What Adults Forget About Friendship" (2023)
Although it is Eid night, the war is as if it is in its early days and there is shelling everywhere.
This is how the criminal occupation is; it does not leave people a chance to be happy, while #Gaza, deprived of Hajj for the third year, prepares, its children deprived of the joy of slaughtering their sacrificial animals in their homes, deprived of a decent life.While she was preparing to create some joy for herself during the blessed Eid al-Adha, the enemy escalated its aggression, crimes, and massacres under the watchful eyes of a silent and submissive world, unfortunately.
We are being slaughtered every day before the eyes and ears of the world.
Please help my friend Mahrah to support her family in Gaza. She and her elderly parents depend entirely on donations they collect for living expenses. Her family's campaign is vetted by @90-ghost and shared by fairuzfan. My wife @cannilyuncanny hosts the campaign and transfers donations directly to Mahrah.
i know we're all sick of self-care being a marketing tactic now, but i don't think a lot of us have any other concept of self-care beyond what companies have tried to sell us, so i thought i'd share my favorite self-care hand out
brought to you by how mad i just got at a Target ad
It's That Time Again: Wildfire Season is Upon Us (It never really stopped being that time.)
I wanted to put together a post of resources and advice all collected into one spot, so here we go!
And remember, just because you think you live in an area where you are safe from wildfires because "it doesn't happen here" does not mean your risk is zero. Wildfires can happen anywhere in the United States, and their prevalence is increasing. Don't be afraid, just be aware and prepared.
Watch Duty
First and foremost, no matter where you live, I HIGHLY recommend getting the Watch Duty app and turning on alerts for the area you live. It is available on Apple, Android, and just as a website. It will allow you to get push notification updates for any wildfires that start in your area, what's happening with them, evacuation information, shelter information, and more all in one spot. It is now available in all fifty states.
The basic and important functions are all free, but you can also get a paid subscription to access some other neat stuff like a flight tracker to see what the firefighting aircraft are doing, fire progression prediction models, a list of links to local emergency services radio feeds you can listen to, etc.
Local Alerts
Signing up for local alerts is also something you need to do. EVEN IF YOU WERE SIGNED UP BEFORE 2026, RECHECK THAT YOU ARE SIGNED UP. Last year the Code Red system, which was one of the most popular local alert systems, was hacked and many places have since moved to other platforms. This means you may need to sign up again even if you were signed up before.
To find out what your local alert system is and how to sign up, search for your town's emergency management information, check government websites, check local fire department websites, or ask local officials.
Mitigate Mitigate Mitigate
Wildfires are going to happen. The best way to help protect your home and/or your business is to mitigate the impact when a fire starts. Things like defensible space, keeping your roof free of combustible debris, screening vents with metal mesh, and using fire safe plants can all be the difference between saving your home and losing it.
The FireWise program is a great place to get started with mitigation, especially if you are interested in community and neighborhood scale projects.
Another great resource if you want to look at mitigation on the community scale is the trainings offered by Coalitions & Collaboratives.
Be sure to also check what resources are available in your local community. You may be able to grants or other forms of support to help with your own mitigation projects.
Prevent the Fire Before it Starts
Put your campfire all the way out. Maintain your vehicle to prevent sparks. Don't park on or against dry plants. If you are towing, make sure your tow chains aren't dragging. If you have snow chains hung on the bottom of your vehicle anywhere, make sure those aren't dragging.
Obey Fire Restrictions
Fire restrictions are generally done on a city or county level, and can be found on the associated city or county websites. Some places are better about this than others. Most areas use the same general restrictions like no open burning, no fireworks, etc., but some may have more specific restrictions you should be familiar with.
And use common sense. If it is hot, dry, and/or windy, don't do things that could start a fire.
Know How to Report a Wildfire
Reporting a wildfire, or potential wildfire, can be tricky without an address. The BEST way is to provide a latitude/longitude, which can usually be obtained on your phone by opening a map app and dropping a pin where you think the fire is, or using other place finding apps like a compass.
If that's not an option, the closest cross streets and landmarks are good. Try to give the closest town as well, even if it is a good distance away, since there are many duplicate place names so having the closest town will help narrow things down considerably.
Understand Your Insurance
I wish I had a good link for this one, but it's going to vary heavily by state. Everyone is doing something different these days, pushing different legislation, enforcing different things. The best thing you can do for yourself is to read through your current policy(ies), talk to your insurance agent, and look up ongoing reforms in your state/area. But it is better to take the time to understand these things now, ahead of fire season.
Have an Evacuation Plan
Know multiple ways out of your neighborhood AND the area where you work AND anywhere else you spend an extensive amount of time. There is a very, very good chance that in a wildfire emergency your cellphone will lose signal and you will not be able to use a GPS app. Pre-planning your evacuation route--and actually driving it a few times--can be critical.
Keep up to date paper maps in your vehicle as well, and know how to read them, in case you lose cell signal for a more extensive amount of time.
Do not attempt to drive on roads that you and/or your vehicle is not capable of. If you get stuck, that creates a much bigger issue for you, other evacuees, and responders.
If you don't drive, for reasons of disability or otherwise, make a plan with friends or family for how you will get out. If you don't have a good support system, reach out to your local fire department to see if they know of any local services that can help, or if they can just take note of your address.
Have a Go Bag Ready
Last but not least, have a Go Bag ready along with your general preparedness measures. A Go Bag is something with JUST the basics. It is not meant to be everything you could ever need, or a full survival system. It is a backpack with the necessities to get you through the first 24-48 hours of an evacuation so you can get your feet under you and figure out the rest from there.
(Full alt text for this poster below the cut.)
As the world changes, it is important to be prepared to safely and efficiently evacuate your home, potentially with little or no warning. Preparing ahead of time can help to reduce stress and anxiety, and help you evacuate safely if the time comes.
Red Level (No Warning): People | Pets | Keys. Human life matters most. If you can’t rescue your pets, let them out to give them their best chance. If evacuating by car, don’t forget your keys.
Orange Level (Less Than an Hour): Crucial Meds | Important Papers | Money | Paper Map | Pet Vaccination Records. Crucial meds and medical equipment. Papers including passports, birth certificates, medical records, etc.. Multiple forms of payment. Paper map with marked evac routes in case of signal loss. Phone. Most evac centers require vaccine records for pets to be allowed in.
Yellow Level (More Than an Hour): Photos | Hard Drives | Computers | Chargers | Irreplaceable Items | OTC Meds | Pet Supplies | Pet Food | Clothes | Weather Gear. Family photos. Hard drives and computers. Make digital backups ahead of time. Charging cords. Irreplaceable items such as collectibles and mementos. Over the counter medical supplies such as Aspirin and tampons. Pet supplies such as bowls, crates, toys, and litter. Pet food and treats. Clothes. If you are running out of time grab your laundry basket. Weather gear if needed.
Green Level (General Preparedness): Food | Water | Radio | N95 Masks | Multitool | Power Pack | Gas | Stove + Fuel | Flashlight | Toiletries | Emergency Contact Info | Bedding | First Aid | Can Opener. Easy prep, shelf-stable food. Water. Battery powered/rechargeable NOAA weather radio. N95 masks for smoke. A multitool. Rechargeable power pack for phones. Keep your car at least partially fueled at all times. Portable stove and fuel for cooking food without power. Flashlight and spare batteries. Toiletries including hair products, toothbrush and paste, etc.. Emergency contact info for friends and loved ones. Spare pillows and blankets. Dedicated first aid kit. Can opener.
Save yourself time and stress by preparing an evacuation bag ahead of time and keep it in an easy to access place. At the end of every season rotate out the perishable items within such as food, water, and medications. The more you can keep in the bag, the more time you’ll have to grab everything else. Remember, it is okay if you can’t do everything. Some preparation is better than no preparation.
If you are in the U.S.A. and experiencing disaster related anxiety call the Disaster Distress Hotline at 1-800-985-5990 for support and resources.
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If you share this image outside of tumblr, please link back to my website: www.Katy-L-Wood.com
Putting together (and then *maintaining*) a go-bag might seem excessive if you aren't accustomed to wildfire preparation. I grew up around a different set of natural disasters, so when I moved to a wildfire-prone region I initially prepped for wildfires the same way I had done for blizzards and mudslides. Until a wildfire got pretty close to where I lived, and I realized that my disaster stuff was literally scattered throughout my house. The cat carriers were in a closet in a different room than our documents, and neither were within reach of our backpacks, or necessary durable medical supplies (which were on a shelf too high for the person who was sent to grab them!). Gathering up some necessities as you leave doesn't sound like it'll take a lot of time, until you're actually doing it: four people bumping into each other as they rush around an apartment trying to corral the cats and also get everything they might need. (We ultimately did not need to evacuate, everything was fine; but it did put the fear of god into us.)
After, we sat down as a household and reviewed what had gone wrong, and rearranged our closets so that everything we would need to grab while running out of the house was along the path we'd need to run to get out of the house. And we each made a personal go bag that we keep in a closet by the door. Those of us who wear glasses keep a backup pair in theirs (scratched lenses or bent frames are better than no glasses; trade up your spare whenever you can afford a new pair), those who need durable medical supplies keep spares in theirs. If the fire is close enough that we need to keep an eye on our phones, we'll also take the papers we might need out of the filing cabinet whose drawers stick a little bit and leave the folder on the dining room table next to the cat carriers. Having consistent access to our respective medications is really important, and it was tricky to keep enough in reserve in our go bags, so instead we went with environmental adaptation: now we keep it all in a dedicated plastic bin that lives on the bookshelf next to my desk. Our last drill took us 6 minutes, 4 minutes of which was getting cats into their carriers because they're both angry little starfishes when they're picked up unexpectedly. Definitely not perfect, but *way* better than the nearly 25 minutes it took us the first time we tried.
The peace of mind in knowing that you *can* just get the fuck out in less than 10 minutes is really vital when there's ash raining on your back porch and the sky is so dark with smoke that you can barely see the poisonous orange haze. Not knowing if you'll have to book it and leave your whole home behind is stressful enough on its own, having solved part of the problem ahead of time makes it easier to tolerate that stress.
I didn't include it in the main post, but that is another thing I've made a poster for! Organizing your evac stuff, I mean. I call it the Evacuation Shelf system:
The idea is to keep all your evac related stuff in one spot, while also keeping important things accessible for the day to day (like your keys, your wallet, etc.) and not having to hide away treasured items just so you have them ready to leave.
A couple Canadian wildfire safety / preparing resources:
-Federal government's general wildfires resource page
-CWFIS (Canadian Wildland Fire Information System)
-> Also has links to individual province/territory fire management agencies
every other week, my mom would make a giant pot of vegetable soup. she'd pack half of it in a tupperware and take it to her best friend's house. they both had three kids whose ages aligned. they'd lock us out of the house and go through each room, finding every piece of dirty laundry and then spend the afternoon keeping the washer and dryer running, folding and putting away each load while gossiping.
every alternate week, her best friend would come to our house with a tupperware full of chicken spaghetti. they'd stick us in front of a tv with a stack of disney vhs tapes and go through each room, finding every dirty dish, and then spend the afternoon at the kitchen sink, washing each dish by hand while gossiping.
it wasn't always soup and spaghetti and laundry and dishes. but it was almost always a meal and a chore. here is a night you don't have to cook dinner. here is a chore you can cross off your list. and here is a day you don't have to spend alone. because really food and friendship and a feeling of accomplishment are what we all need most.
