#379: SPOTLIGHT: Steph Jacobs
Question for Steph:
Can you recall a specific moment in the last four months that you were in what you would consider to be “nature” and thought or felt for at least a split second that “maybe all is actually right with the world” ?
Steph's Response:
Thursday morning, after an assault by the atmospheric river of storms that slammed into the California coast, I woke up to bright sunshine and the sound of chainsaws.
Sun had reappeared and residents of the seaside community of Santa Cruz that I call home emerged as well to swap stories of hurricane force winds smashing into houses, trees, and bearing witness – again – to the fury of Nature unbound altering landscapes and lives with impunity.
The stately tree that framed the parking lot at the Windmill Café just over the lot line had come down entombing a car. The arborists who had proclaimed this a heritage tree and thus untouchable had been undone by Nature.
By mid-day most of the tree had been chopped and chipped and the grey Toyota was freed - miraculously without a scratch. The buzz of the chainsaw is our anthem of recovery. What debris lies in our paths, we will survey, triage and then remove. But after back-to-back hundred-year storms, I’m wondering whether the rebuilding that will come which we quickly label as resilience is something more: arrogance, folly, or just plain stubbornness.
Still the sunshine brings warmth, the promise of renewal, and an easing of the trauma caused by the storms. However checkered our recovery will be, this Thursday, we are deeply thankful for the respite.
Amanda’s thought…
I suspect Steph would love all direct responses from you. I find it incredibly encouraging when I hear from any of you after I share my thoughts. It is powerful for me. I assume many others have a similar experience. So here is Steph's email… pip
Steph, I found your words to be poetic, heartbreaking, and so powerful all at once. I can only imagine it's not easy for you to sit and relive the stress and discomfort that comes with these ongoing natural disasters. I am glad that you are safe and the community is doing its best to recover. And I love the symbolism behind the rising sun and the chainsaw. Thank you for sharing, broadening my perspective, and for including the eye-opening photos that go alongside your story.
- AP
