So last weekend, Harvey flooded south Texas. That was only the beginning. This week, Oregon, Washington, California (the entire west coast, basically) and Montana are on fire. Hurricane Irma has just wreaked havoc through most of the Caribbean and is projectedto slam into Florida in the next day or two, and last night, a 8.0 magnitude earthquake rocked southern Mexico. Also, Hurricanes Jose and Katia are closing in. All four elements are rising up here. Elemental apocalypse. Yeah, it seems I forgot that one from my categories. Oh, and parts of India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and Nepal are also under water, though we’re not so much talking about them, since they’re not WHITE (and, to be fair, we’ve kinda got a lotta shit going on at home to focus on).

Here in Seattle, it’s been red dawn and red dusk each day since sometime early last week. The sky has been a weird yellow, the sun a dark orange and the moon blood red. Light ash has been falling from the sky, covering everything. My eyes have been burning and constantly watering since last Sunday…marginally better yesterday and today as I think the smoke cloud is finally beginning to move on, (so glad I live near WATER). I’ve never wished harder for RAINRAINRAIN in all my years here, as much as I was cursing it mid-June. Also, who knows what is in this air we’ve been breathing all week – I’ve felt mildly nauseated and totally lethargic all week – barely accomplished ANYTHING.

I have to confess…it’s been hard to muster the heart to write about post apocalyptic fiction this week as the fires rage, the water surges, the winds lash out and the earth churns. Oh, and I guess Lord Dampnut and Mr. North Korea are still measuring their pee sticks. And the potential repeal of DACA. And the constant assault on my LGBTQ and POC  brothers and sisters.  And on and on and on.

So, no fiction, this week, just reality. We’re living amid a slow, uncomfortable apocalypse, folks. It is happening. All around us, in one way or another. Pretty soon, we’re not going to get to say, “Oh, those poor people in ______. I’m going to pray/donate/help them”. Because we’ll all be too busy focusing on what’s affecting us close to home. I’m holding out a small, shining thread of hope and optimism that maybe, just MAYBE, after these weeks are over, we can maybe pull our collective heads out of our collective asses and NOTICE WHAT’S GOING ON and STOP DENYING IT. C’mon, Republicans…you can do it! ‘Cuz you’re going to be breathing the same air and fleeing from the same waters. It’s not just a poor people’s issue, it’s the MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE facing us today. It’s called Climate Change, and it’s not going away, and it’s going to get all of us if we don’t DO something about it.