Post-Quake Adjustments
Before Jan. 17, 1994, 4:31 a.m.:
-- I used to sleep in the nude. Now I go to bed in a three-piece suit.
-- I loved driving the freeways. Now I’m looking for a horse.
-- I closely followed the stories of Lorena Bobbitt, Tonya Harding and Michael Jackson. Now I’m reading “On Man in the Universe” by Aristotle.
-- I enjoyed 20-minute showers. Now a sponge-bath takes too long.
-- I liked putting vases, plates and framed photos in my bookcases. Now I’m thinking of living in a tepee.
-- I used to laugh during earthquakes. Now I’ve decided to reserve the word awesome only for describing the power of nature.
-- I thought people who live in cold climates were idiots. Now I’m sending them flowers and candy in exchange for real estate ads.
-- I thought post-traumatic stress syndrome was for weaklings. Now I wish I could stop shaking.
-- I thought chimneys were quaint. Now I think the same thing, but only when I’m wearing a hard hat.
-- I thought families with earthquake-survival kits were fanatics. Now I sleep with a pickax.
GEORGE D. PUTNAM
Los Angeles
* Your editorial regarding disaster price gouging (Jan. 21) leaves out much of the story.
The vast majority of retailers know that, morality and law aside, it is not good business to price gouge. Customers have long memories!
I also believe your examples of gouging are apocryphal. Do you really think anyone paid $150 for a $15 piece of plywood at a legitimate “construction materials company”? I don’t!
RONALD S. THOMSON
Los Angeles
* I work in Westwood, and on Monday I went to work to see how bad the damage was to our place. We were pretty lucky, not much damage. We opened for business that day to help people with emergency items such as batteries and radios, we even marked down the prices of our batteries so we could try to help others in some small way.
I got upset that day at something that happened later in the afternoon. I went outside and began talking to people passing by. One mother and her daughter just got into town the night before from Texas. I began talking to them and told them not to worry too much. Then she asked me for a quarter for the parking meter. I told her not to worry today, that I was sure no meter people were out today. But alas she pointed out to me that the car behind hers just got a parking ticket, so I gave her a quarter. I find it appalling that the city had these people giving out parking tickets the day of the earthquake. Business in Westwood is bad enough without the help of the city and its parking enforcers.
GREGG BURGER
Los Angeles
* My computer was my only source to the outside world that crazy day of the earthquake, and I was shocked by how fast Prodigy had its bulletin board up to deal with the disaster. Phone lines from the Long Beach network were either down or busy just minutes after the quake. I called out of the Whittier branch to reach the outside world.
And what a world! The boards were filled with volunteers willing to call relatives for victims and vice versa; postings would read “(510) WILL CALL FOR YOU” showing someone in an area code willing to call family members for people who can reach Prodigy but not a long-distance phone line.
Welcome to the Global Village we were warned about; it isn’t that bad, after all. I wept at the simplicity and beauty of the quick notes crisscrossing the states. Marshall McLuhan would have been proud. Thanks, Prodigy!
BILL CAMPA
Long Beach
* As a visitor to Los Angeles during the recent earthquake, I just want to say thank you. Thanks to all the police, firefighters, medical personnel and media whose rapid response made a terrifying situation better. The ability of the Angelenos to put aside prejudices and barriers and look out for each other was reassuring.
I never thought I would have such an intimate acquaintance with the Richter scale. I have learned a new criterion for how well your vacation is going: whether or not the National Guard is called out and the President is flown out for an inspection.
Best of luck and patience during your rebuilding. Proud to be back in Texas.
JACKIE WILEY
Dallas
* We’ve had the Peace Corps, the Civilian Corps, etc. Perhaps all these young people who have been left without junior and senior high schools and colleges to attend because of damage can be used to help others--cleaning up, delivering water/food, building temporary roads, whatever is needed.
SANDI LIVINGSTON KANTOR
Tarzana
* California primer:
Fire: Chimney last thing standing. Quake: Chimney first thing to topple. Fire and quake: Forget chimney. Seek higher guidance.
RON SALMONS
Pacific Palisades
