California, we love thee

Our California, she is in trouble...

When you have lived here your whole life, you sort of grow accustomed to the good and the bad times in this state...to the ever-changing cycles of prosperity and dearth...

Now, with a double-digit billion dollar deficit and an ever-more persistent drought, we natives are humbled...and sad. Our state is a mess, and our tendency toward largess has helped to make it a mess.

We can't manage money any better than the Wall Street hot-shots and all our wishing won't make the rain come. While I can say "We're all in this together" when discussing the global financial crisis, I can't still the Al Gore voice in my head that suggests that this dry spell is the one that will do us in...

There is no snow in the mountains...or rather, the few inches of snow, now dirty, that fell two weeks ago is just about dried up as the temperatures here in the valley hit 70.

Dad grew up in Michigan (where the snow continues to fall, and), where the failure of the auto industry is currently very bleak news. His attachment to California is through marriage and circumstance. I am a third generation Californian, and though I have struggled in the past to attach myself to a culture and a region, California, if by no other reason than default, is my home.

I love the beauty of this state, and its grand history. But I am also aware that the children in my city are more at risk than ever, that at my school more of our students are coming to us with profound and complex needs.

California, we love you. But our love now had better get tough...

we are parched, and our children are hungry...