Subscribe to Lemonada Premium for Bonus Content

We are heartbroken and grieving the immense loss caused by the Los Angeles wildfires this past week. And while our Aunties are thankfully safe, we’re not in the clear yet. The real work is what lies in the weeks, months and years ahead. Ku talks about evacuating her home, and what she’s doing to protect her family. Su talks about the community of  Altadena, and who we leave behind when we move on too quickly. Plus, how you can help support those impacted by the wildfires.

We want to hear from you! Drop us a message on Speakpipe.

Subscribe to the Add to Cart newsletter for juicy extras.

Please note, Add To Cart contains mature themes and may not be appropriate for all listeners.

To see all products mentioned in this episode, head to @addtocartpod on Instagram. To purchase any of the products, see below.

• The Watch Duty App is a must-have during wildfire season. You can donate to the nonprofit here

• Support World Central Kitchen provide food relief in crises here

• Check the air quality in your area with the IQAir App 

• The AirCare app measures particulate pollution

• Ku has an AirDoctor purifier in her bedroom and a Blu-air  purifier on every floor

• Want to donate directly to families? Check out this Google Doc of more than 800 families 

• Support Altadena Girls  give young girls a sense of normalcy in this crisis

• And support Altadena Boys by buying from their Amazon wishlist

• GoFundMe has set up a nonprofit relief fund which directly provides cash to those impacted by the wildfire

• You can also donate to the California Community Foundation’s Wildfire Recovery Fund, Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation and the California Fire Foundation.

Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.

Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium.

Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors

Transcript

SPEAKERS

SuChin Pak, Kulap Vilaysack

Kulap Vilaysack  00:10

Hello carters, it’s your auntie, Kulap Vilaysack.

 

SuChin Pak  00:13

And I’m your other auntie. Nice and easy, sweet SuChin Pak.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  00:19

A delight to see you. Your beautiful face, your hair looks luscious.

 

SuChin Pak  00:24

Does it?

 

Kulap Vilaysack  00:25

It does.

 

SuChin Pak  00:26

Thank you. I’m working on it, but hey, that’s for another episode.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  00:29

That’s another episode that’s for the rest of the year. Today, I want to start this episode by saying how much I love Los Angeles, and at the time of this recording, my city is bracing itself for another windstorm as acres of wildfires are still burning. And I moved here days after I graduated high school, like literally, I think, the day after I graduated from where tell from Minnesota, from Eagan, Minnesota, to go to the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. And so this summer, it’ll be 27 years.

 

SuChin Pak  01:06

Yeah, and so it’s crazy.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  01:09

This place is more home to me than where, where I grew up. I’ve spent my entire adult life here. I’ve met my best friends. I’ve found my careers. Your baby daddy, my baby daddy, my baby like this is a diverse and sprawling, working class town. It’s filled with people who are now showing up for each other in the midst of tremendous loss and ongoing crisis due to these fires, and that’s through volunteering. It’s donating. It’s sharing resources. It’s checking in on each other and overall, caring for the community. And I need to shout out the first responders, the brave firefighters, including the incarcerated fire crews who are making far below minimum wage, the traveling fire crews that have come from out of city, state and country. We have firefighters from Canada, Mexico, South Africa, just to name a few. And I know five families that have lost their homes. They were mostly from the Eaton fire, which has decimated much of the historic black and middle class neighborhood of Altadena. So many people have lost everything. And so I know you know people whose homes have been destroyed too.

 

SuChin Pak  02:28

Yeah I mean, I don’t think anyone living in LA doesn’t know someone by just even one degree of separation that hasn’t lost a home at this point.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  02:39

And to say also that everybody here has been deeply affected. There’s no one unaffected by these fires in Los Angeles, it’s been harrowing. It’s been very stressful.

 

SuChin Pak  02:55

Because you’re right up there. You when, when we all checked in with you as this was all happening. You shared a photo in our group chat.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  03:04

Yeah, I mean it this all started at the time. Was recording, you know, last week, and we had been alerted. We’d all been alerted that some gale force winds were on their way. And see to be prepared. And then, I think no one could really, while being warned, foresee or understand what was to come, till Tuesday night, when the Palisades fire began, and then how quickly that grew, and then the various fires that started after that, including the Eaton fire, and then just pins and needles of just like, Okay are we? When do we go being so concerned for everybody and checking in as just glued to the watch duty app? Do I know somebody in this area near here? Are you okay? Do you need to come here the level of anxiety and fear and and also just horror at how just the eaten fire, especially what happened within an hour, was unlike i. I It remained shocking. While these fires sort of were we had the Palisades fire. We had fire with the Eaton fire going strong, there’s some fires that were a little bit north then, then a fire started. Was called the sunset fire, and that is near Runyon Canyon. And so at that point, while we were packed and ready to go, I kind of was like, I think we can stay where we weren’t going to be evacuated. And I kind of got to a point where, like, I think we’re going to be okay to stay at least tonight. Stay at least tonight. I started making dinner, and then I turned to my left, and I like, I saw the fire, like, I saw the fire burning. And I it was this sort of this moment of, like, huh, okay. Like, trying to process in that moment. Of like, okay, I I’ve been glued to the TV local news and get all the coverage of the various fires. And I’d been again, like I said, on the watch app, looking at it in that form, and then, but then to actually see flames and singing. And I was like.

 

SuChin Pak  05:17

No, when you sent that video. I was like, that looks like a video game. I’m like, that doesn’t even look real like how are you looking out your window and just seeing fire? Yeah, like that close. That was I was scared.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  05:33

I just was like, Aha. And I at that point, the winds had, they were strong, but not as strong, and helicopters were able to go in, and they were like, I really want to say that they contain that fire very quickly. But at that moment for me, I was like, we have to go. Like, I just was like, we’re going. We’re going now.

 

SuChin Pak  05:56

When you’re faced with that, because I actually don’t, I have no idea how I would react. Are you just like, shut down? Is it a scrambling mode? Like, I’m just curious, like, what was going through your mind in terms of, like, what do I take? How do I get out of here? Does any of that even enter your mind, other than just leave?

 

Kulap Vilaysack  06:18

I go into survival mode. And I’m not saying that it’s, it probably was, basically I just start to my body. Took about 40 hours after that for my body to kind of feel everything. I just numb everything, and it’s time to move yeah.

 

SuChin Pak  06:34

I feel like, that’s how I would I would be like, Well, what do I take? I don’t even think my brain would go there. I’m like, What do you none of it. Just one, absolutely not that.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  06:45

That’s that day though. I mean, because I was on alert. And you guys know, you the listeners, already know that. I mean low key. I mean maybe not really low key doomsday prepper. And so I again, I was prepped not to say that. I certainly we had pulled out and we had taken two, two cars, I had Emmy and Scott had the dogs, and I Scott was behind me one point. I was like, you gotta turn back. I forgot to get her pack and play. Like, you know, we’re gonna need her pack play, and we’re gonna need her sleep pod. Like, we got Sorry, sorry. Like, but my mode is very much like, we’re going, like, Scott, we’re going to music. We are. I’m like, Yeah, we are. And like, Call right now to find us rooms right now. Go right now. And then I’m just sort of, like trying to firmly, but absolutely barking orders and and then I am 100% you watch the baby, and I am loading both of our cars, yeah? Like, that’s my mode. Like, I’m I’m a doer.

 

SuChin Pak  07:41

Yeah, okay, all right, that makes sense.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  07:44

Okay, and we’re leaving. And right before that, I like, I saw the fire. I was like, and I told my sister, Alyssa, who lives, you know, five minutes away from me and I and she lives with her boyfriend and her dog, Archie, and I told her prior I’m like, be ready. I told her in the morning, prior to that. I’m like, look, just be ready. Have a go back. She’s like, really, yes, soon as that fire started, I said, Alyssa, we’re going, like, we’re going, we’re going now. She’s like, okay, she’s aware going. I’m like, I will text you where you’re going, but pack your car. We’re leaving now. And right when she hit the 101, she got an EVA pre evac notice, yeah, um, we just got to go. And I had already been really worried about the air quality and like, it just the ash was coming down. It just was, yeah, it was harrowing. I mean, but we’re we are safe. Our house is safe. And I yeah, my heart really goes out to the people we know and don’t know who have lost everything, and, you know, it’s um, it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.

 

SuChin Pak  08:49

Yeah, I know it’s like, you think, I think living outside of California, it’s like, aren’t you guys used to this by now? You know, in some place it’s tornadoes or hurricanes, like, sort of, you know, because we, I mean, to live in California is to live in fire and earthquake, you know, you’d see it’s either one or the other, you know, yeah, and, but I don’t know this just feels, this feels so different than the other fires, because of it is, I, like, let’s just say I’ve never,  and I’ve been, we’ve been sort of close. I mean, I live in Santa Barbara. You know, a few years ago, some of you may know there’s huge fires here. I mean, Montecito just basically washed away disastrous mudslide.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  09:38

And, no, the Ojai fires like that was.

 

SuChin Pak  09:42

Yeah, but this one felt different. You know, now I’m like, checking all the go bags, checking the insurance policy. I just want to know, I know nothing can be done about the insurance policies at this point, at controversial topic. But how bad? That it is because it’s coming here, you know, we, it’s coming for us, you know, if you’re in cow. So now I’m like, Okay, everybody I keep seeing on socials, you know about, like, people using their pool water and, yeah, those pumps and stuff, those pumps and stuff. So, yeah, you know, I never thought about that, even living in the middle of many, many fires.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  10:23

Well, I don’t want us to get get bogged down in this conversation of insurance, but just for folks who are not from California, and they’re like, oh, why don’t people insurance? And it’s like, look, we were State Farm for years. They stopped writing insurance in the state of California. And they weren’t the only ones these okay, I’m not gonna, I’m just wanna say how difficult it is to get to get insurance, how expensive it is, and how they left the state. Okay? So I just want to, as these news are coming, and you’re, you’re thinking about, you know, you’re in the Midwest, and you’re thinking like, oh, well, they have this insurance, different situation here. I just to understand that. And I Yes, most working class families just are done. Yeah, this is it. That was, well, that was their future, their retirement, their whatever it was. I mean, I don’t know about that. I think maybe because I’m in, I’m in process right now, and you’re going to be.

 

SuChin Pak  11:26

Who knows what’s going to happen in the next two weeks? You’re not out of it. It hasn’t been contained. You know?

 

Kulap Vilaysack  11:33

No, it has not. Yeah, we’re going to have some tips. And just because we’re on teas, and we want to, like, hey, because even if you’re not in the fire, I think, the things that we’re gonna say, hey, add to cart would apply to not just in California. I think that that’s true. And then the just to be prepared to, you know, it’s not just California that has these natural disasters and human disasters as well. What I have been heartened by is how much people have come together to support one another. And that’s what you know, in the early introduction, I really wanted hit to hit on I’m I see, I feel so hopeful, but it’s also like, because I know, like, it’s just going to be such a long, long road to recovery, and we’re not even there yet. Right now, we’re trying to take we’re trying to deal with, like supporting our triage Yeah, and supporting the people who are doing that really hard work, those firefighters and and people are like, you know, cooking food for the for the fire department, and in and all of the restaurants who are providing food to first responders and for people who have lost their homes, and all of the businesses that are circling around and also like giving away clothing and providing their space to for families to come and get stuff. And you know it’s just if you only knew, if you only knew what, what people are doing and how people are helping each other.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  13:15

Okay, so I’m gonna get into some cart stuff. So I, you know, I mentioned the watch duty app. I think that’s, you know, I think everybody should download that. I think it’s really good. It’s a nonprofit. It was so clutch during this time. It’s something that other firefighters use. It’s so up to date. I also just want to shout out world central kitchen. And, you know, the Fred Rogers quote that gets bandied about, you know, like, look for the helpers. Look for the people who are helping. They’re there. They’re always there. Then they’re in the midst of, you know, they are, they constantly are put in harm way to give nourishment and food to those who need it the most. We’ll have links later in our show notes about where to donate. But back on the subject of air. So, of course, and you know, iPhones, we all have what I mentioned before. When you go and you look at like what the temperature is, it also kind of talks about the you have the AQ Qi number. And living in Los Angeles, one of the most polluted cities ever, it is important to check that I in the past, I’ve always checked that it does give me like, oh, is am I gonna go outside or not? Am I gonna go outside or not? Yep, the air quality is of even more importance to me. At this moment, there’s a couple of new apps to me. Of course, Santa Paul Scheer queued me into the IQ air app, and it’s a great one. This is a great one. You get there’s more detail, but even further, long lap. Guest last night shared with me the air care app. This one in particular, it measures particulate matter, which is also known as particulate pollution. So this is what we’re talking. About what was burnt, what’s in the ash. And so you’re going to talk more. I know about the historic neighborhood of Altadena, but Altadena, you know, pre 1970s there’s a lot of asbestos and lead that are being you know, really since the air not measured by AQI, and not just that, but the so many things.

 

SuChin Pak  15:27

That water, there’s just people don’t understand, like you can’t, you know.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  15:32

People in Pasadena can’t, can’t drink the water. Yeah, you have asthma. Kids, little, little ones, their their lungs develop up to about age five. They rapidly develop, and it’s just, you know, and as a parent, you’re just like, so worried, what do you like? We’re masking up. Okay, we have to mask up. Like, I’m masking up. This is my choice that I’m making for my family and forcing my family to do not, Emmy, that’s a lost cause, but, we’re masked up again, and it is completely reminiscent and of of the pandemic. And I hate wearing a mask. I hate it, but I we have to do it.

 

SuChin Pak  16:14

Baby that’s why I never took it off.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  16:16

I know.

 

SuChin Pak  16:17

I’m like, great. Now we’re all on the same page here. I’m kidding. I’m pleased,  I just but.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  16:25

I know, but we’re not though, because there’s a lot of people who are, like, running around outside. I’m like, what are you doing? I know.

 

SuChin Pak  16:33

What are you doing. I was like, how is it there? Because he’s right in the middle of it too. He was like, I don’t understand. People are jogging without masks. They’re outside brunch. I mean, this was probably, you know, the day after you evacuated.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  16:50

It’s tough because you look out the window and it’s like, especially compared to what it was, it, you know what it was, was truly apocalyptic and and red and orange and and now it’s blue skies, and the air, as far as you know, smells great, especially in comparison. But again, there’s still ash on the ground ash, you know, and it’s in these and, of course, guys, look, look the stuff up. I can’t, you know, I’m not, I’m Emmy’s mommy, but I’m not your mommy. Look up all these things, but I’m gonna for her like the most precious creature that I have ever met and will ever meet. I you know I am, you know that I’m coming from this place of just like fear, while also wanting her to not even know anything is wrong, like so it’s this, like, dance, parent […]  And when we were in the hotel, when we had fled, which is, by the way, a pure privilege, so many people I know can’t they can’t stop working. So many people I know they don’t have a choice, they can’t afford not to work outside. I also want to say that, and that’s a lot of people in Los Angeles edging my voice. So sorry. I get I get heated when I hear what some certain Fox people say, and certain President Elect say about this town that they don’t know about. And so it’s not just today, it’s these particles can and can gather in the base of your lungs, and it can cause problems and cancer later. I mean, it was a vol multiple volcano spewing pollutants and chemicals into the sky, and they’re going to, you know, it’s something that now I have. Who am I? Mike Bender, I gotta learn about off gassing like the food, like […] .

 

SuChin Pak  18:42

Getting a tree on Christmas Eve?

 

Kulap Vilaysack  18:46

Like, this is, and this is going to be weeks after, and these fires are not done, and so it’s like, God. I mean, stop […] running. Oh, just hold it for just a few weeks.

 

SuChin Pak  19:08

Of run in place. You know, you’ve got, there’s so much you can do inside and let our, let these aunties rest. You know, knowing that you’re not out there doing calisthenics,

 

Kulap Vilaysack  19:24

If you need to stir up your Kundalini, stay inside. Stay inside. And speaking of inside, I truly believe this, and not just in California, like if, if you can’t afford to invest in some air purifiers, like and especially in your your bedroom, you sleep there for so much of your life. Like, just look into it again. I’m not, I’m not your mommy. I’m Emmy’s mommy. I’m Molly and George’s mommy. But like, the things that […]

 

SuChin Pak  19:54

Yeah.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  19:56

These the ones that I love. It’s. You know, and I recommend air doctor. I have one in our bedroom. It’s, it is hardcore. It’s, it’s got three filters. One of it is a HEPA filter. Check those out. They’re, they’re not cheap. They’re not cheap. But I’m just letting you know that they’re awesome and it works. I have more units by blue air because such told me about this. This all came pre pandemic, and especially the blue airs came during the pandemic. We have units on every floor of one in Emmy’s room, the one that I use, I can monitor from an app, which, of course, you know as Emmy’s sleeping, even though we try to keep our windows closed and the house sealed as possible. You know, I’m vigilant, the amount of vigilance to make sure that her air is clean as best I can, as best I can, right? I recommend that. I mean, Su, do you have any thoughts on that? I know, you know.

 

SuChin Pak  20:56

Yeah, well, you know, it’s a tricky dance, right? Because you need that CO two to release from your house, and we all know that keeping our windows closed this, even without that, the CO two levels in a house can get really high, so I don’t know. There’s really no perfect solution, is what I’m telling you, and all you can do is just a little bit of everything, right? So on the days that you’re maybe not in, or again, not a doctor, these are things that we practice in our home.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  21:30

Yeah, I would what Auntie would say like for suit, for SuChin and Santa Barbara. Go ahead and let that air out right now. For Auntie in Los Angeles, for this week, we can have keep those windows closed, try not to light candles incense with your windows closed, it all seems. And, you know, these are all things you have to factor with your situation. You know, vacuuming hard, like these factors, yeah, cooking with gas hard, but we all have to figure out, you know, what is, yeah, you know, all these things are complicated, but that there is a a need to be mindful and to take care of your bodies. Please take care of your bodies.

 

SuChin Pak  22:19

Yeah, and we and we’re speaking from the other side.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  22:23

What do you mean? We’re dead? Are we doing this from heaven?

 

SuChin Pak  22:26

Well, I mean, I always say that I don’t know why you find that shocking. Every time I bring that out, I speak from the grave and from the coffin on the other side, the Body Keeps the Score, yes, all you youngins out there doing your Kundalini, outside whatever, and then you get to 50, your body says, guess what? It’s time to pay take care of yourself while you’re young and and your body can repair itself quickly. What I’m just trying to do is triage. Put the Yeah, put the electrodes on the arteries to get that pump in. And you don’t want to do that. It’s expensive, and I’d rather see you spend your money on vacations and fine leather goods, not on this shit.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  23:19

Just so specific, Su, let me get into some remove from parts. Wait, I kind of I need to grab, you know, I’m home, but I still have a go bag ready to go, and I have it right to the right. I’m gonna grab a couple things that, yeah, I packed and I didn’t need.

 

SuChin Pak  23:38

Let’s do it. She’s sitting with her go bag.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  23:41

My go bag, so, you know, I have a disaster go bag, you know, just filled with various things that, you know, I update when things expire, like it’s tending to it, you know, like it’s.

 

SuChin Pak  23:54

Yeah, we’re urban farmers.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  23:55

Yeah, exactly.

 

SuChin Pak  23:56

So that needs to be weeded as separate, yeah, needs, you know, what needs more, tending to and any new technology? My goodness, technology changes so fast.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  24:07

That’s true, yeah. So what was going around, like on Instagram was like, you know, the 6p pack, the six P’s, and so the 6p are people, pets, papers, which is, of course, your important documents, yep, your prescriptions, photos, and, like, plastic, which means your credit cards payment, yeah, your ID, and Scott, basically, your pockets or whatever. And, like, I think I I didn’t pack one single photo. I have my phone, and what I omitted for photos was protection. And it’s, that’s a very kind of thing that I do is sometimes, like, I’m very, you’re seven keys, I’m seven.

 

SuChin Pak  24:47

Yeah like, This is an incomplete P and, by the way, I have eight. I mean, where are the pads, baby? By the way, Oh, you think you’re. You’re evacuating and you’re in a 14 hour traffic jam, yeah, what? What are you gonna do? What are you gonna you’re gonna thank your sweet Auntie that the eighth P is in your bag, hopefully in your pants.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  25:15

The amount of just like the simulations and scenarios that are like running in our brains. It’s just so wild.

 

SuChin Pak  25:23

Yeah, my car, am I? What do you call that in the car, the the glove compartment, the glove compartment that go bag with opportunity. Oh, my God, it’s filled with so much.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  25:36

Okay, can I say, Let me guess. you want the tip of the list. Okay, let me just attempt. Let me attempt. Okay, poised pads, duh.

 

SuChin Pak  25:47

In many, by the way, in many different soaks, as we like to call them here, small soak, mid soak, heavy soak. You never know, because you can’t, you can’t put that many heavy soaks in a glove compartment. You can’t fit that, not even you can’t, not even in a tiny house. So unfortunately, you just gotta think about, what are we talking about? Two weeks in the car on the run, all right.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  26:15

Because you’re calling it soaks, but like, I just want to, I mean, you’re talking about the capacity for it to hold water, but when you say so no, it makes it sound like they’re already been used.

 

SuChin Pak  26:28

I mean, I’m not a psychopath. They’re in a pouch.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  26:34

Wow, really now.

 

SuChin Pak  26:37

What I consider a pouch and what a zoo pouches may be different.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  26:41

Because I was gonna say I assumed it was like a stew in there, like it was a soup, as you like soup, but those are in a pouch. Okay? So other things I want to say is, like 100 you have packaged snacks in there, but also you have your homemade sort of mix in there as well. Yes or No?

 

SuChin Pak  27:02

I don’t have a homemade mix because, you know, it gets hot in there. Like, yes, I have snacks in there.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  27:07

Okay, one strike. Yeah, we’re gonna have three strikes. Yeah for it. Okay. You have cosmetics that you forgot to bring into your house.

 

SuChin Pak  27:15

We call those CC’s. You know, that is car cosmetics. What does that include? Bomb it includes some sunblock, of course, and it includes just a small moisturizer, amazing.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  27:28

Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, that’s all you need. Then you also have, like, of course, you have hand sanitizer.

 

SuChin Pak  27:35

Absolutely, both spray and gel.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  27:38

And some sort of wipe situation. So many wipes. And by the way, wipes from, from restaurants, from.

 

SuChin Pak  27:48

If you’re a restaurant with a wipes, yeah, situation, and I come in there, yeah, I’m not even looking back. I’m like, you’re not even eating ribs. You’re like, I got our groove back. I am lighting it on fire. And by the way, I have wet wipes that people market for other regions. I don’t care. Use it on my face. Use it on a table. It’s wet. It’s a wipe, you.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  28:13

Go ahead. Call it dude wipes. I’m still gonna use it.

 

SuChin Pak  28:14

But I’m gonna use it to wipe my kids hands. Yeah, that’s fine. Wipe down. It in and out, you know, tabletop outside and ketchup vice. I don’t care if it’s for your armpits or your balls, yeah, or your meat pits. I don’t give a shit. Meat pits, you know what I’m talking about. Yeah, I do.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  28:45

But back to things that I didn’t need in my go bag, you know, but I kind of still, you know what? Though, I kind of still stand by now, let me just tell you what they are. Look at this massive, huge bag, like mag […]

 

SuChin Pak  28:59

Have a police level, yeah, giant weapon flash.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  29:05

Is it just a flashlight?

 

SuChin Pak  29:09

Yeah, and it is it take battery? Is it rechargeable?

 

Kulap Vilaysack  29:14

It’s both of those things. It can do both, and it has many different features. I got a white elephant this year, and I was so happy to get it. Does it like, strobe, yeah, things see why this is this is good. It is good. And also it’s like, oh my gosh, if anyone tried to fuck with me, yeah, I could bludgeon them, and a warning.

 

SuChin Pak  29:38

And that would 7p.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  29:39

The other P production. And so that makes so much sense. And then while I was packing, I was like, looking around, I’m like, Am I missing anything? And I was like, yeah, yeah, you know what? I know everyone’s gonna laugh at me, and I laugh at myself too, but I just fucking brought my machete, that’s right.

 

SuChin Pak  29:59

And I think people are like my machete, as if people had their own machetes to relate to. Does that machete come with a sleeve?

 

Kulap Vilaysack  30:11

That’s right, a copper, okay, thank you. A sheath, sheath. It’s by the brand SOG, SOG, and it’s called Jungle primitive, okay.

 

SuChin Pak  30:21

To cut down poison oak?

 

Kulap Vilaysack  30:23

I think, just stick with to cut down. Just stick to cut down. My concerns aren’t the poison oak and your white variety.

 

SuChin Pak  30:33

Find this go bag, and.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  30:36

This is, yeah, there’s nothing like putting this in the hotel safe. And so the I, you know, and I also, I did, also, you know, I brought my just one pocket knife, just one pocket knife. And I did use that pocket knife to cut the tags out of the target goods I got for Emmy. Because, of course, we stayed longer than I packed for.

 

SuChin Pak  31:00

What a warrior. I mean, wild Croc, Von D in the city, maybe your seventh P is price tag. There you go. Cut those price tags that when you for your target buys because you didn’t pack enough.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  31:16

Seriously, okay, so all jokes aside, I the other thing that I am removing from cart is price gouging, switching, a hard right.

 

SuChin Pak  31:27

That, I mean, that has to be illegal. It is illegal, legal. It is you. Okay? Good. Because I was like, There’s no way that this is legal.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  31:34

No, the state of California declared a state of emergency in LA and Ventura counties on January 7 due to the fires and the windstorm conditions. So price gouging for goods and services, and this includes rental housing, is prohibited during and shortly after a declared state of emergency, and the law states that landlords generally cannot increase rent prices more than 10% above what they were charging or advertising before the state of emergency. People are, are, are making sport of this. They’re going on Zillow. I know friends of mine who are just great. This is how I’m going to help. They’re saving and reporting every person who has increased their rent more than 10% and what I’ve seen is just, it’s disgusting, it’s morally wrong, and also it’s illegal, and so remove from card that, and just know that people are, are 100% watching and hunting, hunting for this type of behavior, I’m highlighting ranting because, you know, as people are looking these are the hard facts about living in Los Angeles. We don’t have enough housing, so now we’ve removed. We already didn’t have enough housing, and now a lot of people are displaced and are going to need places to live. And if you’re raising rent astronomically, you’re a piece of shit. Yeah, and that sort of vitriol is inclusive to people who will raise money on like bottled water, medical supplies, any sort of temporary lodging, generators, emergency supplies, transportation. Now is not the time to make more money like it’s just not the stop.

 

SuChin Pak  33:24

She’s got a machete.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  33:26

I’ve got a machete. And I’m a little.

 

SuChin Pak  33:30

Very clear to cut price tax.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  33:33

I’m a little unwell and dysregulated. I’ve decided to go down to two sessions therapists a month. I that started yesterday. And so we’re, you know, we’re just everything’s fluid, you know what I’m saying, and it’s tough. It’s tough to be a fluid being with a machete.

 

SuChin Pak  33:59

Let’s take care of.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  34:00

Let’s take care of each take care of each other. Governor Newsom also added to this recently, building supplies, and I think that’s really important, because as people rebuild, yeah, and I hope they can. I hope they can, because the real looting, the real looting, will be when people can’t, and the developers come in and they make a bunch of big mansions where there once was a lot of history, and.

 

SuChin Pak  34:28

Again, how can we allow that to be legal?

 

34:34

Capitalism.

 

SuChin Pak  34:37

But I hope that there is enough awareness. Listen, there’s been a history in Altadena. We’re going to talk about it in second. There’s been a history of, of fighting back, of of a kind of a community awareness. And that stuff works. That’s not just rhetoric. It works. And Altadena, as Kulap, said, is a working class, heavily retired population. Situation, it’s incredibly diverse. I think LA, at least my experience of it, there are lots of parts of LA where LA is very diverse. We all know that, but it can feel like we live in these small bubbles, where it does, those bubbles don’t feel diverse, and that’s the truth. But Altadena isn’t one of those places, you know, it’s one of those places that, as Kulap said, historically during the Civil Rights era, is one of the very few areas in LA to be exempt from redlining, which gave African Americans the opportunity to own a home versus anywhere else in the state and possibly in the country. And so starting from that point, when I talk about these families, that these houses have been in for four or five generations, and how these communities are able to be resilient and build generational wealth where that was illegal, you know, let alone, not possible, but actually written out of law for them, for them to lose these homes in these communities. You know, I was reading about how there was a huge mosque in a synagogue just miles apart from each other. Both have been there for 80 plus years, burned down to the ground. I mean, these are, these are communities that are incredibly diverse. I read this fact, and I was shocked. People bought homes and kept them for generations. Today, the black home ownership rate in Altadena exceeds 80% almost double the national rate, and many of these homes are burned down in the Fire. So you know that’s Altadena. And I know you speak of there’s a lot of talk online about the privilege and the white privilege of and the Glee in which some people are celebrating what’s happening to Los Angeles. And this just not the truth. I don’t know if we can post this picture. Do you see this picture I have. It is a picture in the I put it in our Google doc of the Andrew Jackson School. It was like, what year is this? I can’t even see 19, 1960 I mean, look at this class. I mean, in 1960 for a school to look like this, anywhere in America?

 

Kulap Vilaysack  37:21

You’ve got, I’ve never seen it, black, white, Latino faces is a very.

 

SuChin Pak  37:26

So, I mean, I really want to post this. This, this picture kind of drove it home for me. KU and I talked about a lot of our friends again, to be honest. You know, can rebuild and will rebuild, but the vast majority of of people who’ve lost their homes, especially in that Altadena area, are senior citizens and retired folks, where that was their entire plan, and they’re not going to be able to recoup that.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  37:57

I don’t know. You know, I don’t know some, yes, that were friends. Some, I don’t, I don’t know, like, it depends on how, how this is gonna play out with FEMA and with insurance here, like it all. There’s so many factors. But, you know, it’s hard to say, what the shape of this is going to be in a year.

 

SuChin Pak  38:21

Two years, three years, and who gets left behind? Yeah, I always think about that, you know, like in these national, you know, global disasters, you know, there’s that first, like, let’s get through it, and everybody’s in there. And then, you know, we move on so fast. Who gets left behind? What do we what do we do? Like you said, to create ongoing support.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  38:47

I think it’s so important to talk about that. That ongoing situation is that so so many times the attention is here, now and then it shifts, because there’s another tragedy, there’s another crisis, there’s another I mean, this is the beginning of the year, and it feels like, you know, at the time the recording, it’s January 14. It feels like, you know, yeah, we’re mid month in January of this year, and what’s to come to this year. We don’t know, I guess I just want to speak that out loud. I don’t blame us with the way that media and the way that we want to move on, but sometimes what happens is that, you know, those who need don’t get what they need before we’ve moved on. I just want to call it out. I’m not. I’m saying this for myself too.

 

SuChin Pak  39:45

Yeah, and I think that that’s why speaking it and keeping its presence alive is, I mean, that’s important work, that none of, none of the rest of it happens unless. Because we all continue to be aware and and spread it in our group chats and in our conversations, and whatever we hear about and and connect in that way. You know, I talk about my dear friend, third Auntie, you know, Carol, she’s right there in the middle of it, or her parents house, her house, and I would talk to this morning again to check in on her, and she was like, yeah, you know what we’re trying to do is figure out I want to help. I thought this was such a great idea. I want to help become, like, trained in helping people apply for all these FEMA grants, because it’s just going to be a mountain of paperwork. Think about all the communities that don’t speak English, all the senior citizens that you know and that can’t figure this out, and how complicated it’s going to be to get these people, these, you know, grants and all of this aid, yeah. And I was like, that’s the kind of work that like, that’s the silent work that makes or breaks the who gets left behind?  So I just thought that was a incredibly Yeah, helpful thing that we can continue to push and and I will keep our Carters updated on how and if they want to do that, because you could do that. You don’t, you know, you could spend a few hours a week just helping people get through this paperwork that’s about to, you know, be their lives in a few weeks, as the fires die down and as all this money starts to be distributed to make sure that the people who really need it are first in line. You know, right now, it’s like all about the that, you know, the beauty of it coming together. But how do we extend that?

 

Kulap Vilaysack  41:49

We have to sustain it.

 

SuChin Pak  41:50

Yes, and so that, so that we continue to help those most in need. So anyway, I agree with you. I, you know, we’re all guilty of it. Okay? So we, you know, we, we’re going to share a lot of these links in our show notes, places where you can support and there’s so many. This is not exhaustive, or even going to be long. As these links come up, it’ll lead you to another place, and whatever speaks to you, please, your time, your stuff, your money, if you can. I thought this Google Doc that was being circulated was very interesting, and I want to put that up. And it’s really basically an ongoing list of families who’ve lost everything and what they need and what’s already been donated, and it gets updated. And these are just families. I was kind of digging around, and I saw this great organization, Altadena girls, they’re posting about what they need, specifically for teenage girls and students in the community that have lost everything they have. And I think last week where a post I saw where girls could come and quote, unquote, shop, you know, at their at their location, and, you know, all things that people have donated. And so just to bring a sense of normalcy.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  43:07

It was started by a 14 year old girl. It’s really, I mean, again, you gotta check it out. Yeah, it’s fantastic. And from that success, I think they’ve started, I don’t know if it was same people, but Altadena boys, to make sure that they, like the boys, also get some attention and their needs met as well. Go Fund Me has set up a nonprofit Relief Fund which directly provides cash to those impacted by the wildfires. You can also donate to the California Community Foundation’s wildfire Recovery Fund, the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation and the California Fire Foundation, and we’re going to make sure and do our best to just as things come up and places that we’ve vetted, we will share on our social media, and we’ll talk about as well. So Carters, take care of yourselves. Take care of each other. We love you.

 

SuChin Pak  44:00

We love you.

 

Kulap Vilaysack  44:02

I hope you’re safe and I hope you’re secure.

 

CREDITS  44:09

There’s more Add to cart with Lemonada Premium subscribers get exclusive access to bonus content, like where we tell you about the last item we bought or returned, and why subscribe now in Apple podcasts. Add To Cart is a production of Lemonada Media. Our producers are Kegan Zema and Tiffany Bui. Brian Castillo is our engineer. Theme music is by Wasahhbii and produced by La Made It and Oh So Familiar with additional music by APM music. Executive producers or Kulap Vilaysack, SuChin Pak, Jessica Cordova Kramer, and Stephanie Wittels Wachs. Be sure to check out all the items we mentioned today on our Instagram at @AddToCartPod. Follow Add to Cart wherever you get your podcasts or listen ad free on Amazon music with your Prime membership.