by Letxia Cordova
Image of the leaves lying stagnant at the time the winds sounded loudest.
January 7, 2025
Culver City, near National and Venice Blvd.
It was around 10:10pm that I suddenly heard and felt a huge, electrical current being shut off, as if a generator had been turned off. Suddenly there was a peace, a stillness, a clarity I didn't know was missing. I glanced outside, and the sound of the wind finally matched the movement of the leaves blowing, whereas before... the raucous sound had not matched the gentle movement I'd seen on the leaves.
As soon as I heard this sound, I heard the above neighbors moving around a lot. The neighbors’ door to my right opened. There had been a lot of commotion on their side of the apartment complex, which was unusual. I hurried outside to see what was going on.
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Earlier, about an hour before, when the wind sounded like it had really picked up and was most intense, I walked out to witness the intensity of the storm. Wow! I thought. The sound is insane! What kind of storm will I be walking out to?!? I’ve never been part of anything like this. To my shock, as soon as I walked out of my door and looked up at the sky, the neighbor to my right opened his door quickly and swiftly as if he'd been listening and waiting to see if anyone would come out. As if he had a mission, he rushed over to me directly and started gushing about the sky - dude this was so weird. He's not a talkative guy like this. I've said hi to him before, but this time it felt like he was trying to divert my attention and keep me distracted, keep my gaze on his. His eyes were locked on me and he was talking in this hurried, urgent voice.
Feeling how odd this was, I ignored him and pushed past him, marveling at the sound. The leaves weren't moving, to match the sound. The sound of the wind howled and whipped as if there was a huge storm, but the leaves were gently rustling in the wind. There were piles of leaves by my door that were still stagnant. Piles of leaves everywhere that were only gently rustling in the wind... But the sound was uproarious. I looked around, while the neighbor followed me closely, intently. There was wind all around my torso, sure, but it didn't quite seem to reach the floor… Even the leaves right outside my apartment door were undisturbed.
"It's dangerous, don't go outside! But if you want to check it out, there's a downed power line in the back! But don't go towards the stairs!..." He warned, rambling... He said this a few times, which made me raise an eyebrow. As if he wanted me to specifically check out how bad the storm was, but not investigate too closely...
I told him he seemed very suspicious from how he burst out of the house, as if he was expecting me. "You seemed really suspicious, dude," I said above the noise, smiling playfully but making serious eye contact, huddling and holding my shivering body tightly. "As if you were trying to divert my attention."
It felt odd that he said this next thing, as if he was using personal information to try to appease me, and ease me into a false sense of comfort. He must have known I smoke weed from the smell. It felt like he used common ground to ease my suspicions.
"I'm high," he laughed nervously. And said maybe that was why.
I laughed and said I was high too, but... I wasn't fooled. He seemed so suspicious, dude. He was locked on me with attention, he was trying to sway my perception through subliminal messaging. I considered for a moment that it could be because I'm high, but... this felt like intuition. The growing knowing felt calm. The details too odd. His behavior odd. The environment - incredibly odd.
We both laughed and he reached out to bump my fist before we both went back inside our respective apartments. I noticed his partner was waiting for him expectantly by the doorway, as if upset.
I did end up glancing at the supposed downed powerline that ended up being a palm tree branch. I wanted to go back there, but because NO ONE ELSE was outside except me, I was apprehensive and couldn't be bothered to investigate, so I walked back to my apartment. On the way there and back I kept noticing how ineffectual the wind actually was. Leaves rustled gently, but the sounds were so loud. I ended up going back inside and taking a nap.
About 30 minutes later, I snapped awake when I heard a crescendo of angry voices from the neighbors' quarters, which was odd... They usually never fight. And this fight was very intense, it sent shivers up my spine. The energy was so bad, I remember the side from which the argument was coming from, affected the same side of my body. The left side of my body recoiled in disgust and fear. That's how powerful the bad vibes were. It made the left side of my body curl and recoil with disgust and fear...
I was groggy so I continued napping, woke up 30min later, and then that's when I felt that generator feeling shudder through the apartment complex. The wind had stopped, almost as suddenly as it had come. This startled me.
You know, one time, I was working out and pressed my ear up against the floor of this apartment complex. It was the scariest, eeriest thing because what I heard was the sound of a mechanical engine running. It was as if I had pressed myself up to an industrial factory, but really it was just the floor of this grey apartment building. I was shocked, and pulled away in horror. It was as if I was listening to the gritty heart of Los Angeles and its true inner industrial workings, raw and gritty and sooty and full of decay, exploitation, and poverty, and they were all working and locking and clicking and puffing out exhaust. I was stricken by the mechanical whirr I didn't expect to hear when I pressed my ear up against the floor! I had to remind myself that this apartment is suspended above the garage ports, so maybe that contributes to it, but... it felt... Hybrid human and robot. That's what that moment felt like. As if we were becoming the machine…
And that's what this felt like. It's as if I was witnessing the inner mechanisms of the rich, and they knew, I knew, and... They were angry they didn't do a better job of covering it up. They were angry that the nosy neighbor was innocently suspicious.
When I heard the generator sound, my ears perked up at all the doors suddenly being slammed around me, especially the next door neighbor's and my above neighbor’s. I grabbed my shoes and went outside to see why they'd be out there again. Curious like me? Doubt it after that encounter.
I found the neighbors to my right getting ready to leave to walk their dog. In this weather??? Unless they know something we don't know about these winds and when they'd "stop"...
"The weather is weird huh!" The neighbor said by the gated door to the complex. I had followed them out to the front to see what they were up to. The wind had died down a lot. It was at its normal wind and sound. Things finally matched.
I said, "Yeah this was weird, it was just so weird..."
"Yeah it was just a bunch of sound huh", he chuckled.
I raised my eyebrow at that. That's exactly what it sounded like... I had mentioned the wind and how the events hadn't matched, but he was the one that mentioned sound as if it was separate...
Then, noticing their small wiener dog pacing, I said,
"Wow you guys are brave for walking your dog right now!"
"Yeah haha," the neighbor responded nervously. His partner came out, clearly upset, I said hello, and then just before they disappeared out of reach (they seemed in a big hurry to leave), I said, "Stay safe!" In a chipper tone, and he responded,
"We will," in an oddly flat tone...
It's an hour later, and nothing. The strong, intense, windy sounds are gone, replaced by moderate wind sounds, normal to a regular, very windy day in LA...
How could they have known, when it would be safe enough to walk their dog?
It's 1:40am, and still everything calm.
They knew. Why would they endanger their dog, dude??? They knew when the wind would stop, because they were controlling it - or, at least the sound.
January 13 update: The winds never ever sounded as intense or artificial as they did that first day, for those few hours. After that, the wind was as usual. Everything sounded and looked as it should.
So.
If there’s anything going on, my hunch is that the top 1% chose windy times to justify the fires starting and being as intense as they were to engulf so many homes, so the elite could purchase the property at a steal, converting the spaces into whatever they please, having the exploitative influence they covet, further marginalizing poor people and people of color. There was a huge black community in Altadena.
But they had to manufacture wind to make it seem convincing, especially in cities, to convince the masses. They paid several people in the area to play sound machines, trusted corporate folks, telling them to intercept any curious civilians and to spread the idea that this was real, that it was a big windy storm, and to encourage people to stay inside. They were banking on most people staying inside because these days most people after 5pm can't be bothered. They're overworked. So this means the capital (Hunger Games analogy, pretty abysmal) can do as it pleases to create fake weather and manipulate the masses. Plus they don’t expect people like me to inquire and investigate. Most people these days are not in touch with their voice or intuition, since corporate powers have effectively campaigned against it, in order to enforce the status quo without challenge.
I'm guessing my neighbor's partner wasn't too happy when his chipper, go-lucky, transparent attitude got him in trouble with me, who is much too clever and in touch with her intuition to not see through a facade. They're probably using the money to buy a home, or any number of capitalistic reasons, and because of that, this money means a lot to them, hence the intense fight from the possibility of their cover being blown. Hence him trying desperately to convince me the winds were as bad as they were trying to orchestrate, hence them knowing exactly when the storm would be over, hence them deciding to walk their dog at just the right time... They walked their dog IMMEDIATELY after the sound shut off! Again, as if they all knew when it would stop.
Another theory?
That he was attracted to me, and his partner was jealous, hence him being locked on me with attention and hence the argument where she was disgusted and enraged, possibly at the idea that he could be so superficial.
Another theory?
That he was just as excited as I was to see what was going on outside, and much like an eager happy doggo, he was waiting for someone else to come outside to marvel at the environment with him. Perhaps I’m not used to seeing someone eager to socialize anymore, and the suspicion I felt comes from my general expectation that people don’t want to share experiences or moments anymore. The thing is, although the neighbors to my right generally seem chill, my intuition tells me something is off about how they operate in the world, and I can’t ignore that. However, just because we may not align as human beings doesn’t mean they’re fabricating fake wind. Perhaps my neighbors were just as confused with the weather as I was. Perhaps they don’t have anything to do with this, but someone else does.
The sounds of the generator being turned on and off coinciding with the wind? Perhaps neighbors were using a generator, but for what reason? We all had power. However, the above neighbors are very loud all the time anyway, so maybe they were working on something else. And maybe I had power, but they did not. Maybe they were being cautious, seeing if their generator worked, and all these events just seemed to coincide.
The neighbors walking their dog? Maybe they were in dire need of walking their dog and took the chance to do so, seeing the weather was better, thinking they would all be fine. Maybe it just wasn’t a wise, healthy choice, and they were fine endangering all their lives.
Another theory?
That I can’t fathom how horrific these fires are, how devastating of an effect they’re having on my community. Therefore, it has to be plotted, right? Maybe it was physics that made the sound so loud, but so ineffectual… But this is a reason people will use to gaslight us away from the truth. I know what I felt, saw, and heard, and I can’t ignore how suspicious it all was.
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That I might have witnessed something like this is no surprise considering the area I’m in. The friend I’m crashing with is an aerospace engineer, who is currently out of town. That people who work closely with the government may also live here would not be insane. That people so callous, selfish and ruthless may live here does not surprise me either, considering this part of LA feels very removed from everything that’s going on with the fires. It’s almost sheathed…
As a radical person who does not belong to the corporate world, I think I witnessed something I wasn’t supposed to that day. I was in the right place at the right time, to see a part of the mechanism that serves to exploit our labor for cheap. On the off-chance I’m wrong, then I’m wrong. But if I’m not? Wow.
All we can do now, is remember to stick together. Trust your intuition. If you ask your neighbor for help, and he hesitates often or you sense something off, red flag. This is not a good person, at least not on the outside. EVERYONE is good on the inside. Everyone operates from the same good moral compass, but at some point in our lives, we have a choice. We can either soften and turn towards community, love, and acceptance, or harden and turn away from others, hoard wealth, and judge yourself and others incessantly. The choice is ours, and we can make good choices for each other and ourselves.
I hope you enjoyed this read. Everything written in this post is observational and inconclusive.
