Clash of the Natures...

Los Angeles is so interesting. There are some parts you never consider, you go there and feel like you forgot your passport. Today I was around Santa Clarita, which is a staunchly conservative outpost of ranches and McMansions nested in some of the more otherworldly terrains one could hope for. The weather was spectacular and in fact the 5 Freeway was shut due to snow, right after I exited on Route 14. Torrential rain falls from fat black clouds you could bump your head into, they part, sunshine streams through like a bad painting, violent hail falls as double rainbows arch over the mountains, dry river washes gush with rolling water, rain, repeat.

I was visiting a freshly ordered McMansion to finish up a photography job, and I couldn't help but notice that the identical McMansion next door was boarded up and covered with the telltale black scorch-marks of a fire. What happened I asked? Arson came the reply from my employer. Torched it for the insurance. You see the swastikas painted on the driveway? Made to look like a hate crime...

The clouds parted and a partial rainbow sprouted. I thought I was going to vomit. The notion that someone would fake an elaborate hate crime for insurance money seemed to drive home some of the key underlying problems with our species. Yeah I'll probably get some work when they remodel it, echoed a voice I could barely hear as I stared out at the charred walls and the millions of white hailstones pelting the macadam driveways.

("Wolken III" by Christian Schmidt)