Welp, it didn’t take long for me to start getting triggered by the news again. I grew up in Southern Calif. Many of my hometown teenage delights are gone now, a pile of ash and debris. And many of the stories out there are fiction.

I said last week that I was “dipping” back in after the holidays. May I also add, it’s been with some hesitation, because many of the #fakenews guardrails have been removed on some social media sites at least.

But the fire stories circulating on Meta social media platforms have been popping up all over the place. So, we are looking at fire station sites and watching, listening and reading local news media in Los Angeles for verification instead. Stories include: there wasn’t enough water in hydrants, the mayor was out of town, the fire budget was cut, etc. I was happy to hear longtime journalist Jessica Yellin spell out a lot of this in a bite size manner on a podcast I frequently listen to. (She lives in the area and reported from ground zero.)

I cannot express enough how important it is, especially in times of catastrophe, to get your news from a trusted source. Please know this is no upsell, it is me as a human, telling you, as a human, to be discerning with what you consume. And if you’re confused, please reach out to me.