Meaning in the meteors
California institutes teacher vaccination mandate, near search warrant issued in Lauren Cho's disappearance, and tonight is trivia night at Swordfish Pub
Hello from California’s high desert, where some of my recently inherited houseplants are thriving in the relative humidity of late. All except one, and I doubt I summon the gardening skill to revive it.
Tonight is peak viewing for the Perseids meteor shower, which I highlighted a few weeks back. If all goes well and the clouds disperse, you should be able to see upwards of 100 meteors per minute this evening right around dusk. If you get any cool photos, I would love to see them! My night sky photography still leaves much to be desired, so I don’t have high hopes.
I’m glad the meteor shower arrived this week because, truthfully, the rest of the climate and weather-adjacent news has been downright dismal. A report came out on Monday highlighting all the ways the climate crisis has already manifested across the globe, from fires to heat domes to mudslides. For the first time, the report pinpointed humans as the cause of the crisis but stopped short of identifying fossil fuels as the human activity at its root.
This report, which comes out every six to eight years and is sponsored by the United Nations, has a lot going on. I don’t recommend reading it in its entirety unless you want to feel pretty existential about the next few decades on the planet. Here are some of the good summaries I’ve found so far that highlighted the big takeaways.
But, as tonight’s celestial show reminds us, there is still a lot of incredible natural phenomena on and around this planet that are worth fighting for. Although it was pretty gloomy, the report did say that not all hope is lost. If we can keep global temperatures from rising to just a half a degree Celcius, we can avoid the worst of the climate crisis that could devastate the Joshua Trees and make living in the desert even more hostile than it already is. Unfortunately, we’ve passed the point where composting or planting drought-tolerant landscapes will make a large difference, but we can pressure our representatives to do more at the national level where we still can have an impact. The infrastructure bill that recently passed the Senate with bipartisan support, for example, has several provisions included to combat the crisis and fortify existing structures like roads and bridges for a changing climate. There’s even money set aside to encourage cities to plant pollinator-friendly landscaping on the sides of those roads.
So while many will feel hopeless about the state of the world over the next several decades, I’m cautiously hopeful that there’s still time to save everything that’s worth saving. There’s no better time to contemplate your existence than under the bright lights of a meteor shower if I do say so myself.
Now, onto this week’s news:
Wednesday morning Governor Gavin Newsom announced that all teachers and school workers in the state of California would be subject to a vaccination mandate by mid-October.
Teachers and school workers will have to provide proof of vaccination against the novel coronavirus. If they choose to remain unvaccinated, they will be required to undergo regular COVID-19 testing.
The mandate came just hours after roughly 50 residents protested masking requirements at the Morongo Unified board meeting Tuesday night, according to the Hi-Desert Star.
Classrooms open on Aug. 23. Students and staff are required to wear masks indoors and on school buses in accordance with the state requirement for school reopenings. Under state orders, students who can’t or won’t wear masks must be provided with “alternative educational opportunities.”
Morongo Basin detectives investigated a Yucca Valley vacation rental property last week in relation to the disappearance of 30-year-old Lauren Cho.
Cho had been staying at the property, a collection of Airbnbs called The Whole, on the 8600 block of Benmar Trail, Sgt. Eric Smoot told the Hi-Desert Star. She was one of several artists living on the property at the time of her disappearance.
It was the second search warrant served for the property, the Star reported. Seven dogs searched the area for evidence, and a San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department plane searched the hilly terrain near the scene in late July.
No evidence was recovered during the search. Anyone with information about Lauren Cho is asked to call detective Shaunna Ables at the sheriff’s station at (760) 366-4175.
Registration is now open for the After School Program put on by the Boys and Girls Club of the Hi-Desert.
Registration is now open for Before and After School Programs from the Boys and Girls Club. Registration costs $45 weekly per child and the program starts on August 23.
The program includes a morning program from 6 a.m. until 9 a.m., including breakfast, and an afternoon program from 1 p.m. until 6 p.m. A snack is provided in the afternoon program.
The program also includes distance learning supervision for some students. Parents are encouraged to call the club at (760) 365-5437 for additional information on the arrangements.
Transportation will be provided to and from Onaga Elementary, Yucca Valley Elementary, Yucca Mesa Elementary, Friendly Hills Elementary, La Contenta Middle, and Yucca Valley High.
Parents can register by contacting info@bgchd.org or visiting yvkids.org. You can also call the club directly at (760) 365-5437.
Pupdate of the week: Oliver does not enjoy the training exercise noises happening this week, so he’s been hiding out under the bed or behind the couch pillows. Alice is recovering well from last week and has turned out to be one of the easiest dogs I’ve ever given medication to! I’m sure I just jinxed that, though.
Trail tip of the week: Be sure to check out Barker Dam or Rattlesnake Canyon this week if we end up getting a few more storms. Both have been incredible to see with flowing water this summer — a rarity these days! Thanks, monsoons!
Book of the week: I haven’t been able to get enough of this months’ issue of The Atlantic, so that is usurping all book recommendations this week. The customer service article from last week is in this months’ edition, and there is an incredibly touching story commemorating the 20th anniversary of 9/11 as the cover story that I have already read twice because it was so moving. You can read this months’ stories online or in print.
Show of the week: Pre-season football starts this week with a Saints-Ravens showdown on Saturday. My partner, a die-hard Falcons fan, has already made plans to watch the game even though the Saints are his sworn mortal enemies. That is how excited we are to get back to football in this house. The game starts at 4 p.m. PT and will air live on basic cable channels.
Small business of the week
This week’s small business brings me immense pleasure in highlighting because, folks, there is live trivia involved and I love live trivia.
Thank the folks over at Swordfish Pub, a nautical-themed dive bar and grill set up in the back of the Joshua Tree Community Center in Sportsmans Park. They have a great selection of beer and seltzer, and a surprisingly large selection of high-quality pub food.
The pub is only open Friday and Saturday evenings for now, but the owners are constantly reevaluating based on tourism and COVID restrictions. They also offer trivia on Wednesday nights at 6:30 p.m., doors open at 6 p.m. I hope to see you there!
Swordfish Pub is located at 6225 Sunburst Street in Joshua Tree (past the new Autocamp site and near the rear parking lot).
That’s it for this week. Have a great weekend, and make sure to get outside!
- Megan
I also read that Atlantic article about the young man who died on 9/11, his diary and the aftermath of his death for his parents and fiancé. It is excellent and, just as you say, quite touching. Highly recommend a story about human resilience in the face of unbelievable loss and grief.