We hope you are stocking up on whatever it is you need. Especially if that’s patience, empathy and joy.
I got the call that no one wants to get last night.
“Grandpa is in the hospital.”
What’s going on?
“We know he has pneumonia. He’s waiting on test results for the virus.”
I know I’m not alone in the feeling that this is all becoming too real.
My grandfather is a magic trick of a man. He’s almost 97. Born in Oklahoma, he came of age and bore four children in Southern California before he moved the family to Rome, Italy, where his scientific brain, wits and several marriages kept him for decades. That is until a few months ago when he returned back to California to be looked after by his daughters. His girls will tell anyone who listens about how he became a septuagenarian oyster farmer, how there’s a church in a medieval town in Tuscany that features his stained glasswork and how he loves Mexico. They spent countless vacations there as kids, where they slept on straw mattresses as the sun and the sandy shore kept them company.
As everything around us is hectic and scattered we’re trying to make sense of the design.
Now, we’re hoping our good thoughts are keeping him company. Which sounds cliche — but I’ll sprinkle a few cliches around for comfort right now if that’s what’s needed.
Like many of you, we at Los Angeleno have been trying to make sense of the constant churn of headlines. We’ve been going for long walks, accepting the gifts of the recent rains’ clear skies and lush green hills and listening for the joyful chirps of bird after bird and catching a glimpse of an occasional butterfly.
We’ve flip-flopped between anxiety, relief and gratitude. As everything around us is hectic and scattered we’re trying to make sense of the design.
Our current public health disaster deserves free and full access to life-saving information.
To keep up with the pace of the changing news cycle, we’re compiling a news round-up related to the pandemic at the end of each day — to keep you informed and (hopefully) healthy.
We’ve also penned an op-ed calling on the Los Angeles Times to tear down their paywall for coronavirus-related content — because our current public health disaster deserves free and full access to life-saving information.
Our in-house music-maker and events editor, Daiana Feuer, is plotting a virtual Los Angeleno music showcase to bring some lively jams into your home. Stay tuned for more details. Plus, we’ve got Quarantine Coping, our regular series featuring musicians, artists, comedians and other creatives’ tips for living in isolation and how they’re dealing with the state of things. Singer Jimetta Rose admits, “I keep buying single toilet paper rolls like it’s a secret scavenger hunt that I’m participating in.” And also shares that she’s stocking up on “tolerance, patience, empathy and self-care” while creating lots of art — including coloring books.
We hope you’re stocking up whatever it is you need — especially if that’s moments of wonder, surprise and joy. I’ve been revisiting the below articles because they bring me several of these things. I hope it does the same for you.
In the meantime, send a good thought to Grandpa Paul.
Onward,
Sophia Kercher
Los Angeleno Editorial Director
A Homegrown Radio Station is Keeping Venice Weird by Mariella Rudi
The Black Cowgirls of Southern California by Alexis Garcia
This Pro-Castro Landlord is Plastering Symbols of the Cuban Revolution Across the ‘People’s Republic of Santa Monica‘ by Mariella Rudi
Genghis Cohen’s Rice, Rock and Rolls by Erica Zora Wrightson