Looking North towards Pasadena (iPhonetography)

You know what ‘ey? I live in the hills of East Los, Las lomas. My canton is right there, where La Rowan, meets La Blanchard, en la esquina, by the tienda, where La China sells Coronas. Every time I drive home, I get a view of downtown from my ranfla. Or, if heading south, on La Rowan, I can see the Vincent Thomas Bridge, in Saint Peter. On exceptionally clear days, after a good rain, I can see Brown Beret Island, aka: Catalina.

On this particular day, Saturday August 29, 2009, the anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium; La Can-ya-da, is on fire. When I last checked, the fire was threatening Altadena and its surrounding neighborhoods.

This is the view that I saw today. As the Angeles Crest suffered the powers of fire, I sat in my car in awe at its  grandeur.

These images don’t do justice to how menacing this plume of smoke really was; massive in appearance, reaching as far as the atmosphere allowed it. At one point, it looked like an atomic mushroom cloud.

With tempretures in the hundreds today, I can only imagine dem boys with dem water hose putting dem lives on der line to stop this force. All dem homies from dem fire camps paying for deez crimes with an axe and a shovel.

With mi water bottle in hand and mi daughter on mi side, miles from danger, I count my blessings.

(More photos below.)

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Rafael Cardenas can be reached at eastsiderwriter@gmail.com

You can also find his writing in the Citizen LA.
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