It happens all the time.

I have lived in Los Angeles for more than four decades now. I slept in a van the night following the 1994 Northridge earthquake, which killed 57, injured more than 9,000, and caused over $13 billion in property damages. Some have published economic losses as high as $50 billion.

I was no different than many Angelenos. Wildfires and mudslides in our coastal and hillside neighborhoods were inconvenient with indifference. We saw it as a consequence of living with gorgeous views. Wildfires and mudslides must've not been much of a concern for those who bought and resided in high-risk communities. To claim that it was would be obtuse, especially for those who owned properties without homeowner's insurance. That is like driving a car without insurance, even if the state lawfully allowed drivers to drive without insurance.

View of Los Angeles from Runyon Canyon before the fires.

I live among Progressives, you know people who claim to care about the environment, inclusiveness, and equality. I voted for Vice President Kamala Harris in the last Presidential election. I voted for Mayor Karen Bass when she ran to become the mayor of Los Angeles. I hate Mr. Donald Trump. I am very comfortable using the word "hate" to describe how I feel about him. It is the most polite word to describe how I feel about him.

My politics align neither with MAGA nor Progressives. My politics align with civility, humanity, and equality, and in that order. Like many Angelenos, my mental wellness has suffered since last Tuesday, January 7. As I am typing this, parts of Los Angeles County have burned more than the size of San Francisco city limits. If you are more of the East Coast kind of person, more than twice the size of Manhattan New York. Other than hazardous air quality and one false evacuation warning alert, I should be okay.

I am not okay. While some Angelenos are living with the same indifference we've had in the past, most Angelenos even if not near the fires are tattered. Life goes on, right? I don't blame them. After all, mainstream media has been blasting how these neighborhoods are ultra-wealthy and filled with celebrities. It is true, but also not true.

When I read about Ms. Paris Hilton, I rolled my eyes. When I read about an interview with Mr. Mel Gibson, I was blown away at how real he was. He said all that he lost was all material stuff. His family, the people he loves, are not hurt and safe. All that he lost in the fire, including the house, can be replaced. He sounded like a person with millions of dollars at his disposal, with a healthy set of priorities and relationship with materials.

Did you read about a gentleman in his 70s who lost his home, a rental, in the fire? He worked an early morning shift in a bakery of a grocery store that ended at 11 in the morning to supplement his social security. He won't find another rental near or even in neighboring communities at the rent he paid for which was under rent control. There are hundreds, thousands, more like him.

I love Los Angeles. I have lived most of my life here. I am also shamed by our failure to provide basic human dignity to over 70,000 homeless folks living in the county before the fires. I read that some shelters and support centers for victims of fire are turning away donated items and volunteers because they are at full capacity. Even before the fires, there were more than 70,000 people needing shelter, water, food, hygiene products, and clothes. Their suffering and indignity continue to remain unheard.

On IG Stories, I unglued about Mayor Karen Bass's negligence in preparing the high-risk areas, providing adequate warnings to its residents... Of course, allegedly. Negligence that results in deaths? That is negligent homicide. Involuntary Manslaughter in California. I don't understand folks who are demanding that she resign.

Resignation seems like an easy way out, too easy. I don't want reviews of what happened. I don't want to recall her office. I want a criminal investigation. Should the investigation conclude that there is sufficient evidence for Involuntary Manslaughter for each count of death from the fires, she should be criminally charged along with others whose negligence contributed to the magnitude of the fires and thus deaths.

I read that economic losses could be as high as $275 billion from the fires. Estimated insured property losses from the fires are about $30 billion. Remember that the fires are still burning. Two main fires, Palisades and Altadena, are zones where some houses are covered by the state's home insurance called the FAIR Plan. As of January 10, the plan only had $377 million available to pay claims. Although it is unknown how much of $30 billion is covered by California's FAIR Plan, many are anticipating that a significant number of homes damaged and lost to the fires are covered by the plan.

It is more than houses and businesses. There are schools, roads, electrical lines, gas pipes, water systems, sewers... I'm just thinking about the basics. It won't be possible without federal aid. While President Joe Biden turned on the faucet of federal funds, will President Trump keep the faucet on? While invited, he has not scheduled to tour the devastated areas. Republicans are already voicing that federal funds shouldn't be provided to Los Angeles unless changes are made. Changes to what? How we manage water? How we prepare for disasters? How we respond to wildfires? Our environmental protection laws?

The first fire broke out on Tuesday. By Thursday morning, it was painfully clear that we would need federal aid. I was worried that Mr. Trump would demand our law enforcement cooperate with federal agencies in identifying, locating, and deporting unlawful immigrants as a condition for receiving federal funds when he steps into the White House on January 20. I was worried about it when he won the election. One devastating disaster like an earthquake or fire would leave us at his mercy for federal funds. Our shiny Sanctuary badge has always been a thorn in his eyes.

I have not been shy on the topic, that the federal government should enforce already existing laws on unlawful entry and residency. Mr. Trump and I differ on how the laws should be enforced. He wants federal agents entering schools and workplaces without cause to identify unlawful residents. He wants people stopped in public spaces without cause to identify unlawful residents. He is willing to have our troops on this soil to identify unlawful residents.

It has already started in California. Last week, El Centro Border Patrol conducted Operation Return to Sender. Border Patrol agents detained folks in front of a Home Depot and a gas station near Bakersfield, even stopping vehicles on Highway 99 and asking folks to see their papers. It is estimated some 80 to 180 people may have been detained. With no local agency involved, there is no transparency as to how many, where they were taken, and how they are being treated. Do they have legal representation? You know my plan to carry my U.S. Passport Card as an identification rather than the California issued I.D. starting January 20? I'm not waiting until then. I now have the passport card in my wallet.

Would President Trump provide any aid to California when its state legislature and governor are working toward spending $50 million of taxpayer funds to fight President Trump's executive orders and policies in courts, including $25 million towards fighting deportation of unlawful residents?

I advocate immigration laws of this nation should be enforced, but not with massive hunts for unlawful residents. Just like any other crime, it should first be found or reported with just cause. No one should be stopped simply because they don't look American.

I'm a pragmatist. Should we wait until President Trump makes the demand? Perhaps, there already is a negotiation through the back channels. If we are to burn our Sanctuary badge, the first action of cooperation should be to notify the appropriate federal agency when unlawful residents commit crimes which they can be deported under the law. While we keep the federal agents busy with that, can we buy some time for those who have made a decent life here? People should know before we have to cooperate with the federal agencies if it were to come to that.

Unlike the fires, we can warn people before we cooperate with the federal agencies. Some folks have properties that they may want to liquefy for access after deportation. Some may want to leave here for another Sanctuary city like Chicago or New York. Some may repatriate. They will need to plan and prepare.

It happens all the time. We think we can save everyone, but we can't. Rainbows and unicorns are great, but can we have them without federal funds? Do we abandon the burned communities for our unlawful residents? Do we abandon the unlawful residents to rebuild burned communities? I hope he doesn't demand illegal immigrants in exchange for federal funds, but it is Mr. Trump so anything is possible and we must prepare for that possibility.

Comments

Style Capsule: All Things Denim

Denim is French in name, Italian in early use, and American in myth. The word itself is French, a contraction of serge de Nîmes, the sturdy twill woven in the southern city of Nîmes. Denim began as geography stitched into cloth, a textile defined not by attitude but by endurance. Long before it was runway shorthand or rebellion’s uniform, similar hard-wearing cotton was used by sailors in Genoa. The French called the city Gênes. From that mispronunciation came “jeans.” They were work trousers then—sun-faded, salt-stiffened, cut for labor rather than legend. Photo by Maude Frédérique Lavoie on Unsplash America, however, does not leave cloth alone. In the 19th century, riveted denim trousers became standard issue for miners and laborers in the West. Utility was reinforced with copper. Durability became design. And somewhere between gold dust and railroad tracks, fabric turned into folklore. Hollywood later burnished it into masculinity. Counterculture tore it open and called it free...

Jeju Linguine al Nero di Seppia: Gochujang Squid Pasta

Off the southern coast of the Korean peninsula lies Jeju Island, a place where the sea shapes both livelihood and cuisine. Among its prized catches is Jeju squid, known for its clean sweetness and tender bite—qualities that have long made it a favorite in Korean kitchens. Whether grilled over charcoal or gently simmered in spicy stews, Jeju squid carries the unmistakable flavor of the surrounding waters. This dish brings that ingredient into a conversation between two culinary traditions. Linguine al nero di seppia, the Italian pasta tinted black with squid ink, becomes the canvas for a sauce layered with Korean flavors. The foundation begins with olive oil, onion, and garlic, followed by white wine and tomato paste that deepen in color as they cook. Then comes gochujang, whose fermented heat introduces the unmistakable character of Korean cooking. Ceramic bowl has wheel-thrown and glazed by me What makes the dish sing, however, is its balance. The richness of butter softens the intens...

Korean Gal's Guatemalan Red Beans with Pork Spare Ribs

Full transparency. I am afraid of pressure cookers. It is a fear instilled in me by my mom, a quiet but effective deterrent meant to keep me at a safe distance—especially when the pressure is being released. Reasonable? Perhaps. I would consider a therapist, but it has been years since I have needed one. Ceramic bowl was wheel-thrown and glazed by me. When I saw the Pressure Cooker Guatemalan Red Beans with Beef Short Ribs recipe in The World Central Kitchen Cookbook: Feeding Humanity, Feeding Hope , I knew I had to make a version of my own—one that did not require a pressure cooker. I also wanted the ingredients to feel simpler, more accessible. More importantly, I wanted the dish to center the red beans, rather than have them overshadowed by the richness of beef short ribs. This is not a bean stew, but a slow braise—one that relies on the gradual release of moisture from the ingredients themselves. So, changes were made—and thus, the name: Korean Gal’s Guatemalan Red Beans with P...

Summer Capsule: Flip Flops et Sandals

Flip-flops and sandals once lived at the margins of style—practical, unassuming, and rarely invited into conversations about taste. They belonged to errands, beach days, and the quiet acceptance of comfort over consideration. To wear them beyond those boundaries felt, at best, indifferent and, at worst, careless. Kāʻanapali Beach, Maui Something shifted. What was once dismissed as too casual began to be reexamined through a different lens—one that values restraint over excess. Designers pared them down to their essentials, and in doing so, revealed a kind of clarity: clean lines, deliberate simplicity, and an ease that resists overthinking. In a landscape saturated with structure and embellishment, sandals and flip-flops offered something quietly radical—absence as intention. Now, they move with purpose through spaces that once excluded them—paired with tailored trousers, anchored beneath sharp silhouettes, and integrated into wardrobes that understand proportion and balance. They no l...

Lost in Gender Identification & Sexuality

Nearly 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced in state legislatures so far this year, according to the Associated Press, with at least 17 states passing laws that restrict or ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors. At a time when cases of gender dysphoria among adolescents are drawing heightened attention, the question of gender-affirming care has become less a matter of human dignity and more a battlefield of political polarization. The word intolerance has lingered in my mind since the night Mr. Donald Trump won the presidential election in 2016. It was a heartbreaking moment to watch 62,985,106 Americans cast their votes for a man whose rhetoric toward minorities and protected classes had so often been steeped in hostility. Nearly 46 percent of American voters supported him, delivering 306 electoral votes and the presidency. Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash Nearly seven years later, perhaps we should not be surprised that LGBTQ+ communities are increasingly frame...

ChatGPT, Where Is Your Ethics?

It was about a month ago when I first thought of writing about artificial intelligence and its lack of intelligence. I had several ideas for the title, one of them being “Where Is the Intelligence?” I was furious that day after realizing that ChatGPT had failed, and a month of editing work had to be reviewed and possibly corrected for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and language mechanics. Takashi Murakami at The Broad, March 2026 The honeymoon phase was over. How does one miss spelling, grammar, punctuation, and language mechanics errors when assigned editing tasks? It was a costly lesson for me in trusting that an AI would consistently apply the basic tasks of editing, which include copy editing: correcting errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling. I didn't question it because it included corrections of grammar, punctuation, and spelling at times. I didn't realize that it wouldn't consistently deliver the work. Consistency in work. Isn't that what we expect fr...

Korean-Inspired Short Rib Udon

This stir-fry is what happens when comfort overlaps. Udon for its quiet sturdiness, the way its thick strands absorb sauce without collapsing. Short ribs because richness belongs in a proper noodle dish. Baby broccoli because it is sweeter, more tender, and far more interesting than its mature counterpart. It is not traditional. It is not polite. It is deeply satisfying. Ceramic bowl was wheel-thrown and glazed by me. INGREDIENTS [serves 2 as a main dish] ten ounces of boneless short ribs, roughly cubed ten ounces of udon, cooked one cup of diced baby broccoli, including stems and leaves a quarter of a yellow onion, sliced one garlic clove, sliced three tablespoons of soy sauce two tablespoons of brown sugar one and a half teaspoons of sesame oil one teaspoon of mirin a half teaspoon of gochugaru half a tablespoon of cornstarch two tablespoons of room-temperature water vegetable oil for cooking In a bowl, combine the soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, and mirin. Mix...

Was I Wrong to Have Accused White Men?

It began as an ordinary morning. Coffee. Stretching. The familiar ritual of scrolling through Apple News and The New York Times. Then it wasn’t ordinary. A gunman had entered a dance studio in Monterey Park and killed eleven people. First nine, then ten, then eleven. The numbers shifted. The dread did not. The studio was largely patronized by Asian Americans, located in a Chinese American community, on the eve of Lunar New Year. The specificity made it intimate. It felt close. I paused. Should I go to the ceramic studio as planned? Should I stop at Whole Foods afterward? A White man did it. That was the sentence that formed, fully constructed, in my mind. There is a racist White man loose in the greater Los Angeles area with a gun. Photo by Gayatri Malhotra on Unsplash As a Korean American woman, I felt fear move quickly and without permission. Monterey Park is not far from Koreatown. Not far from Downtown. We know how one violent act can loosen something dormant in others. Late...

Style Capsule: All Things Floral

Floral imagery has long threaded itself through the history of dress, less a passing embellishment than a quiet language stitched across centuries. In Ancient Egypt, garments and decorative textiles often carried stylized flowers, especially the sacred lotus. The motif was not simply decorative. The lotus symbolized rebirth and the daily return of the sun. Painted on linen or woven into ornament, flowers entered clothing as symbols of cosmology and renewal. Photo by Aziz Acharki on Unsplash Across the Silk Roads the motif deepened in complexity. During the Tang Dynasty in China, silk garments appeared with peonies, chrysanthemums, and plum blossoms rendered with painterly delicacy. In Persia similar botanical motifs flourished in brocades and tapestries. Printed florals as we recognize them today emerged centuries later in India, where artisans produced cotton fabrics known as chintz. These vividly printed flowers traveled to Europe and reshaped fashion. By the eighteenth century flor...

After the Silence: The Unraveling of César Chávez

Los Angeles has been under an extreme heat warning. My mornings have been slow to start, which has made my days unnecessarily intense, unproductive, and ultimately stressful. I am not a morning person, but I need early mornings—those quiet hours before six—to settle into a day that feels my own. Arts District, Downtown L.A., March 2026 One of my morning rituals, skimming through the news, shocked me as sexual assault allegations against Mr. César Chávez appeared on my iPad screen. Along with Ms. Dolores Huerta and Mr. Gilbert Padilla, he co-founded what is now known as the United Farm Workers (UFW) labor union. His dedication and fight for farm workers are enshrined in California. March 31, his birthday, is César Chávez Day, an observed holiday in the state. At first, I was deeply disturbed by the accounts of sexual molestation and assault described by Ms. Ana Murguía, thirteen at the time, and Ms. Debra Rojas, twelve when the sexual abuse began; however, it wasn't until my eyes la...

Exhaling Life

Search This Blog