Like a Phoenix ... Albeit a Lazy One
After a long hiatus, we've risen from the ashes of apathy with a plenty of content on disasters and a few random odds and ends.
After a very long hiatus brought on by powers that be at Substack questioning the astronomical clicks and pageviews of River People Rebuild (or the fact that life got extremely busy and chaotic over the past few months), I’m back with the first new newsletter since the summer.
I’d like to extend an extra special welcome to all the new subscribers I picked up after Sari Bottom published an essay of mine on her excellent Substack, Memoir Land.
“Call Me Mom” is about my complicated relationship with my 90-year-old grandmother, and it was incredibly exciting to find a home for my essay on such well-known and respected website.
‘That Cute Little Blue House’
At this point, it’s been more than two years since our house was flooded, and I saw firsthand the power of a true natural disaster. For all practical purposes, we’re fully recovered, and life is pretty much back to what it was like before the flood. But it never ceases to amaze me how easily something can bring me back to vulnerability and anxiety I felt back in September of 2021.
For the first time since we moved into our home, we spent Halloween in our own neighborhood. Everything was going well — my six-year-old even shattered his previous record of houses visited before giving up and demanding to come back (4) — until we hit the top of a development up the hill from us.
In the driveway of one house, I spied a circle of adults sitting around a fire pit and sipping on beers. Freezing*, I approached and asked if I could warm my hands for a minute.
(*Singing this line in the a la Eddie Vedder “Even Flow” makes this sentence a lot more enjoyable.)
The gregarious group kindly obliged and before long we struck up a conversation.
“What street in here do you live on?” one woman asked me.
“I’m actually on the street at the bottom of hill.”
I was hoping to change the subject, because instinctively, I knew what was coming next.
“You don’t live in that cute little blue house at the end you? The one that got flooded so terribly?”
Instantly, I felt exposed, exactly like I did in those early days of the flood — helpless, scared, embarrassed and ashamed at the amount help I needed. My number one objective became leaving the conversation as quickly as possible without showing any signs the woman’s simple question had affected me so intensely. I managed to respond appropriately with all the talking points I’d mastered over the two-year rebuild — “we actually lucked in so many ways” “grateful for the support” “it could’ve been so much worse” — but I walked away rattled.
In my mind, I’d put the flood behind me completely. But this response to a seemingly innocuous question showed me that all those intense feelings were still right there below the surface, and I have no control over when and how they’ll come back.
‘The dam of death’
In September, I was scrolling through that dumpster-fire now know as Musk’s Fragile Ego, when a video kept coming across my feed of a man being swept away by rushing brown water. It was a terrifying clip, and I had to know more.
Soon I found my immersed in article after article about the flooding in Derna, Libya, a disaster that dwarfed the water-related disasters we’ve seen in the U.S.. While the severity of the storm that led to the catastrophic flooding — Storm Daniel or Cyclone Daniel, the deadliest Mediterranean tropical-like cyclone in recorded history — was likely impacted by climate change, it was the collapse of two dams in Derna that directly led to the staggering devastation. Libyan officials and aid agencies have reported death tolls ranging from more than 4,000 on the low end to as many as 20,000 casualties on the other extreme. Approximately a quarter of the city was simply washed out to the Mediterranean Sea.
This disaster shows us the level of devastation that’s possible when more intense storms fueled by extreme weather are combined with failing infrastructure and political unrest (civil war and corruption have been cited as factors).
In-depth look
If you’re interested in learning more about the destruction of Derna, here are a few stories I found particularly eye-opening (and heartbreaking):
A solid overview: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/13/briefing/floods-libya-storm-daniel.html
Photo galleries:
https://www.reuters.com/pictures/pictures-libya-floods-wipe-out-quarter-city-derna-2023-09-12/2B2USQ4JCBOL7FXE6NDHDSUDLI/, and
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/12/world/middleeast/libya-floods-photos.htmlA grim, detailed description of the body recover process:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-66838559Personal accounts of Storm Daniel:
https://www.npr.org/2023/09/15/1199761659/libya-floods-derna-survivors-deaths, and
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/libya-floods-wadi-derna-dam-death-people-will-never-forget-happened-rcna105220Safety and evacuation failures:
https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/12/06/libya-derna-flood-response-costs-lives
The Derna dam collapse were the second-deadliest dam disaster in history, following the 1975 Banqiao Dam failure, which saw the collapse of Banqiao and 61 other dams in China stemming from Typhoon Nina. In the end, the failure resulted in the third-deadliest flood ever and caused an estimated death toll ranging from 26,000 to nearly a quarter of a million people (240,000).
Bilski’s Bits and Other Bullshit
“Lean the F*ck Out: How to Aim Lower, Get Less Done, and Find Your Happiness” is available for purchase! Humor writer Talia Argondezzi just published a hilarious and extremely practical guide to eschewing hustle culture and opting for happiness. I was lucky enough to host a Q&A with Talia during her book launch party, and her response to “What’s next for you?” (I just finished this book. That’s like asking a woman who literally just gave birth when she’s going to have another kid. Umm, I’m still bleeding) drew an applause break worthy of a Netflix comedy special. I highly recommend purchasing this book and then doing a deep dive into her significant archive of humor articles.
“Love’s a Disaster” is coming soon! Speaking of great books, Andrew Knott, author of “Knott, A Newsletter,” wrote a helluva book that’s coming out in this Spring. I know what you’re thinking. How do I know it’s any good if it isn’t even out yet? Because, hypothetical smartass, I was a beta reader on an early draft. If the finished product is even a quarter as good as what I read, then you need this book!
As always, leave your in the comments section (or in any post) or email me directly at jrdbilski@gmail. Consider sharing with others using either of buttons below my signature (or on any of the Share buttons sprinkled throughout). Word-of-mouth is the best way for me to grow this thing …
Til Next Time,
Jared
Thanks for the kind words!