"...it’s hard to convey the intensity of living in the middle of a long-running disaster. The world narrows. Your ability to think critically evaporates.
New daily rituals emerge – wake up, check the fire warnings, check the air quality reading. Get out of bed, check the air purifier. Next, wash brown smoky water out of clothing or animals that have left the sanctuary of the house for any period of time.
Then go about your day, trapped inside, always with one eye on the live stream. Your social life reduces to rushing from your car inside a friend’s house where you look at the live stream together while externalising your shared internal monolog of “We are not OK. The world is not OK.”"