Dont wait until you lose everything to appreciate what you havePublished inThe Medium BlogSent as aNewsletter3 min readJust now-- Hello againIssue #242: wildfire policy, vibe curators, and optimizing for understandingIm writing this one day before youll receive it (Wednesday morning), and I just woke up to photos and videos of the Pacific Palisades fire one of three fires burning in and around Los Angeles. At least 30,000 people were forced to evacuate so far. More than 1,000 homes and businesses were destroyed. Footage of the Santa Monica beach, featuring a few brave souls walking in the foreground, look unreal to me. But theyre real.A friend just texted me a photo of the sky above their Silver Lake home: Its eerily gray though the photo was taken at 8 a.m. Were writing a newsletter about this, I text back. Shes safely working from home and part of a group chat with native Angelinos. Theyre chronicling restaurants and schools lost to the fire. At least one of her friends homes burned down. Find something about losing everything, she replies.33 years ago, during the Oakland Firestorm of 1991, Roger Magoulas house burned down. He decided to rebuild instead of move. After decades spent processing that loss and the rebuilding effort, he took to Medium to explain how it changed him and what hed recommend to those in a similar position. Above all, he advises patience: The impulse to start over ASAP is so strong, but the decisions you make have a long shadow. You will make mistakes, thats inevitable, your goal is to avoid silly missteps.And heres a story by Skylar Whitney, who evacuated Jasper, Alberta, along with 25,000 others last August after two wildfires erupted in a national park. It became one of the most expensive natural disasters in Canadas history, and the rebuilding process will take years. Whitney takes the long view: This is the worst fire Jasper has seen in 100 years. But the regrowth that comes from it will be absolutely beautiful. [] if this has made me realize anything, its that Jasper is my home, and Im not going to abandon it.If youre in LA, be safe. Harris Sockel Also worth readingIn 2021, investor Gabe Kleinman (formerly of Obvious Corp., Mediums early parent company) argued that Californias megafires are solvable if (a) state legislators allocate more of their budgets to forest management, and (b) federal and state agencies become more diligent about reducing wildforest biomass via prescribed burns and strategic thinning.Hanif Abdurraqib poet, essayist, and music critic listened to 825 hours of new music last year and curated his top ~7.5%, featuring ~20 indie and lesser-known EPs and mixtapes worth bookmarking.Old songs are more popular than new ones. The top 10 highest-grossing films of 2024 are all remakes of existing intellectual property. Its easy to believe culture is stagnating, but maybe we just cant see the pockets of innovation? Internet archaeologist Katherine Dee writes: Creating mood boards on Pinterest or curating aesthetics on TikTok are evolving art forms, too. Constructing an atmosphere, or vibe, through images and sounds, is itself a form of storytelling, one thats been woefully misunderstood and even undermined as shallow. Your daily dose of practical wisdomIf youre consistently disagreeing with someone, its probably because your priorities are different. Youre optimizing for different things. When you understand what someone else is optimizing for, writes Radical Candor author Kim Scott, its easier to respect their perspective, even if you dont agree with it.