The Nate Newsletter

The first time I wrote about the horrific fires in California, there was thick smoke outside my window and the air outside was so unhealthy that I chose to wear a respirator outdoors. The air quality was so bad that when my school was canceled for three days, I went to Santa Barbara to escape the air for a weekend. The air now has returned to normal. The Woolsey Fire near Malibu is nearly 100% contained and the Camp Fire near Chico is 95% contained. But the unhealthy air that covered the Bay Area for days was merely a nuisance. Football games getting canceled, including the Cal vs. Stanford game, a musical that I was supposed to see getting postponed, and all the temporary closings of businesses in San Francisco are annoying, but not dangerous. In Paradise, California, and other nearby towns, 84 people lost their lives and hundreds are still missing. Eighteen thousand structures were destroyed, including 14,000 homes. The destruction is unbearable. My thoughts and prayers go to tho...

Hello. As the two large fires currently burning in California continue to do so, I feel more inclined and obligated to write about this topic. The Camp Fire in Butte County, this morning, has reached an unacceptably high death toll of 29, and the entire town of Paradise, California is nearly gone. Malibu has also undergone severe destruction. Firefighters are experiencing difficulty fighting this pair of blazes and the state of California is currently undergoing a crisis. Tens have died, thousands of structures have been destroyed, and hundreds of thousands, if not millions, have been evacuated and forced to depart their homes, only able to hope that their home and all of their belongings will not be the fire's next victim. These conflagrations have ruined and, in some cases, ended lives. Fires are devastating. I have deep sympathy for those who died in this tragic and horrible event. I also strongly hope that those whose homes have been destroyed or whose loved ones have died c...

Hello. After months of work, stress over running out of time, and spending an entire week trying to upload this video to the Nate Newsletter but failing, it's finally here. I delivered a D'var Torah to my entire school this week and it comes in the form of an animated video. Also, Levi E. did all of the drawings and animation for this video so he also deserves credit and praise for this work. Thanks to the school administration for putting this on Vimeo so I can finally have some way to link it to here. I hope you enjoy. https://vimeo.com/299953980

Welcome to the Nate Newsletter! I am excited for you to join me on this journey on my brand new blog. I used to have a blog roughly six years ago and am excited to return to actively managing a blog. At The Nate Newsletter, I will give updates on various things of my interest, such as my daily life, politics, aviation, social justice, and more. I will post frequently and want to use this space to be myself. I am excited to express myself in a brand new way that you will get to see.