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As I Freeze in Montreal, I Watch My City Burn

[additional-authors]
January 8, 2025
Apu Gomes/Getty Images

As I sit here in my mother’s living room in heart-of-winter Montreal, in the midst of freezing temperatures and a snowstorm that brings back childhood memories, I’m watching my beloved Los Angeles burn.

Again, I’m stuck between my mind and my heart.

My heart is texting friends to see how they are doing, and following every detail of this tragic inferno unfolding at the speed of howling winds.

My mind pesters me to think straight and report the story for our readers, and ask our reporters to look for personal stories and testimonials.

In the meantime, as the heart and mind compete for my attention, I can’t help thinking that the freezing winds that cut my face the other night in Montreal are the same winds that are emblazing my friends in Los Angeles.

Who knew that a freezing snowstorm could ever look like paradise.

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