Short Story: California Fire And Life Insurance Office

The rising number of high severity wildfires in California has significant ecological, economic, and health impacts. Many western American forests are adapted to frequent low severity fires. However, the majority of these forests, and particularly the mixed conifer forests of California, are not adapted to high intensity fires and do not possess fire resistance adaptations such as serotinous cones to protect seeds. Consequently, high severity fires have significant negative impacts on California forests, and the absence of low severity fires has considerably altered many fundamental ecosystem processes (Miller et al. 2008). Prior to 1900, low severity fires would burn every 6-15 years. Low severity fires are generally non-lethal, have minimal change to the overstory, and kill mainly small trees. In the past, these fires were started naturally by lightning, or by Native Americans who used low severity fires to manage the forests.

New York City Every time I hear this song it makes me long to leave all of my responsibilities and head off to the city of dreams. A trip to New York has been a dream of mine since I was a little girl. I have always wanted to visit the

A homeless man walks on an NYC train and the energy becomes apparent; everyone knows exactly what will happen next. Touching yet rehearsed words exiting his lips, while still trying to obtain his manhood; begging for any solution to his growing stomach and unnerving uncertainty of where he will lay his head are what a person who frequents public transportation will face at least once a day. Walking up and down the cart, he’s trying his hardest to lock eyes with someone while the music of New Yorkers’ headphones elevate, heads bow lower; locking eyes with the ground and reading material cover the faces of those who are giving this less than fortunate man every inclination that change will not be spared and leftovers will not be given up so easily.

Awhile later, Clemmy Sue eased the Chevy into the entrance of Estelle Louise’s driveway, and stopped thirty feet from her mailbox.

I reached the apex of my adventure in Chinatown, easily my favorite part of the city. The lively Cantonese banter that echos through the streets leaves me wishing I could join it myself. The unique eateries in the ethnic center provide me with comestible gateways to the culture of my ancestors—well a quarter of them. It may not be the shiniest part of Boston, but to me it's the brightest. It’s lively, kinetic, and inviting. As hard as I tried, I could not get picture that fully captured each of these aspects. But the vitality of Chinatown can’t be experienced through pictures, it has to be discovered in

There’s me, standing on the sidewalk of some nondescript city street in the Bronx. It’s summertime, right smack in the middle of July, and the towering brick buildings surrounding me allow no breeze. The clamor of New York is encompassing; I feel the city’s rhythm in my bones, it’s heartbeat thump, thump, thumping under my feet. Right now, I feel like crying. I am talking to an old man, Ahmed. Ahmed is an Indian immigrant who stopped at the soup-kitchen-on-wheels (actually: The Relief Bus) I am volunteering at. We stand under a tree planted close to where the Bus is parked. Around us, dozens of homeless people, many of whom don’t speak a word of English (as the Bronx is mainly poor immigrants), eat their soup and bread. My fellow volunteers

As one drives up the California coast, they will begin to notice several things. First, the general atmosphere shifts. The further north they travel from Los Angeles palms and golden beaches, the cities begin to lose their positive, sunny vibes. They go from beach villas to industrial apartments to suburban neighborhoods to run down harbor towns. The positive emotional vibrations emitted from such architecture slowly surrenders its grip on its surroundings to a grim, hopeless one. As new, booming cities fade into sleepy and ancient villages only occupied by drunken sailors and lost tourists, the traveler will soon realize they are in a much less pleasant place as where they originated their journey.

The fire’s ravaging California’s wine country since Sunday night continued to burn out of control Tuesday. The toll reached 15 confirmed dead, hundreds hospitalized, and an estimated 2,000 buildings damaged or destroyed. State and local officials warn that many are still missing and unaccounted for, some areas are still out of reach of emergency crews, and these numbers are likely to rise. The two biggests fires causing the most destruction consumed more than 52,000 acres in Napa and Sonoma Counties. 50 miles per hour winds were threatening cities including Santa Rosa, Napa, and Calistoga. Winds died down on Tuesday, but are forecasted to pick up again later in the week. About 20,000 people were asked to evacuate, and were seen fleeing by car

Today is another day. I could see my project in the far distance, standing tall and proud among its neighboring buildings and complexes. Even with some of its parts consisting of only a naked framework, it was still a sight to behold. I felt the same sense of accomplishment every time I looked at it, knowing I had the honor to take part in a part of its creation. I remember as a young boy always feeling sympathy for the homeless, pitying their daily struggle to survive. Ever since the market crashed, beggars have become more common than pennies. There are always at least one for every block. I barely even notice them anymore, not that I’m even given the opportunity to with all of the street vendors trying to sell me apples and cigarettes for a nickel each. After a blur of people, traffic, and twists and turns along the sidewalk, I found myself at the base of the construction

Almost immediately, the city was not what Niaz expected. She constantly felt like a disconnected tourist and understood California’s environment was not for her. However, despite her position, Niaz would not be known as a quitter. By taking two classes at a small university and channeling her Minnesota Nice as a UGG retail worker, Niaz spent the year working hard and growing, investigating her own passions, values and interests.

As I pulled into Cajun Field to park my car and take a bus ride to campus, I braced myself for a huge change. From the luster of the car’s hoods and the smell of oil as I exited my car, it was obvious that there was a large number of cars here. It was very hot and you could see the refraction caused by the heat from the cement. I made my way to the line of people waiting to board the bus. The line was lengthy since it was the first day of school, and everyone was trying to be a little bit early for their classes. My chance to board the bus finally came, I found a seat nearest to the window with no one in it and sat there. Even though the air conditioners on the bus were on full blast, it was still hot because of the number of people on the bus. There were two to a seat, and a bus length of people standing in the aisle holding onto the metal bar that was bolted down to the roof of the bus.

I’m a New Yorker, and if I can make it here, I can make it anywhere. I’m Vasco de Gama, Christopher Columbus, and Zheng He. In fact, all New Yorkers are. Live in this city, exit the enclosed world of an apartment and suddenly, you’re on your feet, forced to improvise and perform a Calculus-level calculation when the Q doesn’t come and it’s 7:59am, forced

I recently went on a week-long class trip to the Windy City of Chicago, Illinois. Our first day there was a grim and stormy one, with chilling gusts of wind coming down from Lake Michigan. As we walked down the street I became lost in the many sounds that, like the towering buildings, surrounded me. A driver blared his horn as another cut him off. A man selling newspapers yelled out his “lower than low” prices. A homeless lady on the corner quietly begged for money. As the whirl wind of sounds began to drown out, one suddenly drew my attention as it rose above the rest. “Hey Gorgeous, look at them legs!” “C’mon, smile for me beautiful!” “Hey sexy!” My eyes searched around looking for their source, a group of men about a quarter block down the

Insurance Claims | Gainesville, Ocala, and Lake City, Florida ##cleaning-contact-us-form## ##constant-contact-form## Encountering a fire-related scenario is not only tragic, but stressful as well. Immiedately after the event, your mind is still in shock with what happened. Pulling yourself out of this disaster is not going to be easy. With so many

Dr. Xing pulled the door of the 20th Avenue 86th Street Starbucks open. The warm scent of freshly brewed coffee hit her, warming her from the brisk New York City fall. The two stools located in the left corner, right in front of the window, decorated with reusable leaf stickers are always the first seats she noticed. Her first kiss, at precisely 10:58 p.m. on January 13th. What she had felt was just skin, nothing particularly special. Maybe it was the person it was with – Austin Cheng. He should be coming to the high school reunion tonight at The 21 Club, possibly with the same chapped, flaky lips she had kissed, and not to mention his tip toed walk, the one where he would tip toe after each step he took to make up for his 5’7” stature. What did he want to be? Hara Xing remembered him nearly crying when he thought he had no future ahead of him and nothing to contribute to help his hardworking mother pay for merely groceries.