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In the podcast "Film Surgery," hosts Nick Wright and Sanjay Arman Kumar II dive into movies and TV shows centered around medical dramas and healthcare settings. They bring their unique perspectives, with Nick's keen eye for storytelling and visual details and Sanjay's deep interest in medical science, dissecting everything from the most iconic hospital-based shows like "Grey's Anatomy" and "House M.D." to blockbuster films like "The Doctor" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."
Yo, yo, yo. What's popping Eugene? This is KWVA. I'm Owen.
Nick:I'm Nick.
Enzo:And I'm Enzo.
Owen:And we are here to bring you some discussion about the LA fires. So just, just a quick disclaimer. Any, government policies, political information we discuss does not mean anybody endorses any candidate. We're just here to present the facts and discuss the situation. Doesn't mean we support one belief or the other.
Owen:Thank you.
Enzo:Hi, can you guys introduce yourselves?
Aaron Brumfield Jr:My name is Aaron Bruffett junior. I'm from Los Angeles, California.
Ryann Baptist:My name is Ryan Baptiste. I'm also from Los Angeles, California.
Enzo:And, what's your year and, majors at UO?
Aaron Brumfield Jr:I am a freshman, and my majors are linguistics and Korean.
Ryann Baptist:I am a sophomore, and my majors are psychology and history with a minor in education.
Enzo:And, can you guys quickly share how you've been, affected by the LA fires?
Aaron Brumfield Jr:We both went to Palisades Charter High School, a school that was in the main impact of the Palisades fire. Our baseball field in the back half of our school was gone and decimated in the whole Palisades area where we, like, hang out with our all of our friends was decimated in the fire.
Enzo:Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'm also from, from California. And all throughout high school, it just seemed like there were fires, fires, everywhere, all around us, tons of, missed school days because of, like, poor air quality, and all that. I know personally, I had a lot of anxiety about, fires and, like, having that, either come close to us or affect somebody I knew.
Enzo:Was there a lot of, like, anxiety leading up to this moment or even even now that, I mean, clearly, it's impacted you, like, very heavily?
Aaron Brumfield Jr:I would say this fire was a little sudden.
Ryann Baptist:Very.
Aaron Brumfield Jr:Because it's the winter, and it wasn't, like, hot when I went back to, like, went back home for winter break. It was, like, close to the seventies eighties. So when I kind of returned home, I found out a few days later that the fire this fire had broke out and that it was also closer to our high school.
Ryann Baptist:Yeah. I'd say that was the closest it's ever been.
Aaron Brumfield Jr:Yeah. It was definitely shocking because most of our friends post about it post about it online. And it turned into originally, it was like a normal situation. We're like, oh, okay. The fire is gonna get put out. It's here. And then we found out that they started evacuating everybody, and everybody was joking of course, talking about, oh, we get we get to go home early. But then I would say as it started to, like, take control or the fire started to spread, not only across to the home, but also started to make its way onto, I would say, onto our baseball field in the area where we actually learned the bungalows on the backside of the school. I think that's when everybody was like, oh, okay. This is a serious thing because now our school is actually on fire and we are effective.
Ryann Baptist:Yeah. Like, personally, my nieces and nephews were still on campus when it was, like, right there, and they were, like, waiting for the bus because they wouldn't let anyone come up to come get them. So they actually had to end up walking 5 miles from the school to the Santa Monica Pier in order to, like, catch a bus home.
Enzo:But, wow, were you finding out about this for the first time, through your friends on social media?
Ryann Baptist:Yes.
Aaron Brumfield Jr:Yes.
Enzo:And so you were watching it kind of unfold in real time and little by little, like, each development?
Ryann Baptist:Yeah. It was exactly like that. Yeah.
Enzo:Oh, wow. That's, that's pretty intense. And, do you guys know about any, grassroots fundraising, or similar efforts? And have any of those been beneficial to, anyone you know, or do you know anyone involved in something like that?
Ryann Baptist:Yeah. I know that our high school has been, doing a lot of collecting of donations to give out to the other people affected by the fires and whatnot. They've been they've been collecting clothing and then sorting them so people can come pick up donations because a lot of people, like, lost all their clothing when that fires broke out and burned down everything. But I've seen a lot of people posting on social media about resources that have helped them and other things that people can go to to get help.
Enzo:And, given the, response from Trump, which, we've already talked about, but if you wanna give your thoughts, you can. Does that give you make you, more worried for the future, given how common a lot of these fires, seem to be? Yeah. It makes me, common a lot of these fires, seem to be?
Ryann Baptist:Yeah. It makes me a bit worried because he's willing to withhold something so beneficial to our entire country, really. It's not just California, though it is who would probably use it because we have fires, like, at least once a year. There's always a fire in California at least once a year. But it makes me worried because, like, he's willing to withhold funding to, like, bully around other politicians into doing what he wants them to do, and it's kinda, like, worrisome.
Enzo:And, anything else you wanna add? Any ways you would encourage people to, to help if they wanna help or anything like that?
Ryann Baptist:I would say, like, donating money right now would probably be the best thing someone can do, but if you can't donate money, then, like, donate clothing, food, canned goods, anything you possibly can.
Aaron Brumfield Jr:Anything at this time helps.
Ryann Baptist:Yeah. Or even just, like, being there to support other, like, people who are truly being affected by it.
Aaron Brumfield Jr:It's the little things that matter Yes. Situation.
Enzo:Absolutely. Well, thank you for your time.
Aaron Brumfield Jr:Of course.
Ryann Baptist:Thank you.
Nick:And now here is another side of the story from Griffin Patrick. Welcome, Griffin.
Owen:Alright. So who am I speaking with?
Griffin Patrick:Griffin.
Owen:Alright. Nice to meet you, Griffin.
Griffin Patrick:Nice to meet you too.
Owen:So if you're from the LA area, which part of LA are you from?
Griffin Patrick:I'm from Culver City, which is pretty much, like, directly in L. A.
Owen:Okay. If you're comfortable sharing, how have you been affected by the recent fires?
Griffin Patrick:I personally haven't been affected. I was, I guess, lucky enough to come back here, like, pretty much the day before the fire started. And my direct family is far enough away where they haven't been affected. The air quality isn't the best I've heard, but nothing too severe. But I do know people who lived in the Palisades, like my cousin. She just moved there, and she's pregnant right now, so she's going through a lot. And, like, my mom's best friend's mom, like, was, like, right in the middle of it. So it's surprising to hear about how many people, like, I know there. But they're all okay. Obviously, like, a lot of stuff has been going on, but physically, they're okay.
Owen:Sorry all of that happened. Glad to hear they're okay.
Griffin Patrick:Yeah. Thank you.
Owen:Yeah. So moving on to, what the government's been doing. So the Biden administration issued a onetime payment of $770 to everyone impacted to purchase basics, like food, water, prescriptions, things like that. They've activated 500 marines from Camp Pendleton to assist with search and rescue and relief and things like that, and they also have sent helicopters, tanker planes, fire engines. And then on top of that, governor governor Newsom of California, he's proposed at least an additional $2,500,000,000, of funding for emergency response and recovery efforts. So given all of that, do you think that the government is doing enough, or do you think they need to do more?
Griffin Patrick:I mean, it's difficult to say because I'm not there, and I'm not experiencing what they're experiencing. But, I mean, for the numbers, it seems good like 770 seems like a good bit to like get them going. I mean maybe I mean I feel like money like that can go by pretty quickly so maybe I would up that a little bit, but like also there's a lot of people affected. So if the numbers get higher, it'd be difficult. But then also for like 2,500,000,000 I mean again like these are big numbers, so it's, like, difficult to tell. But I don't know. Like, it seems like in a quick response, it seems like these are the right things to be doing, like, giving individual people, like, a hefty amount of money seems right. And then just upping the relief. Sorry. What was it? Relief money by 2,500,000,000. Like, that seems like a good response. But, I mean, again, it's difficult to tell since I'm not there and, like, these are pretty big numbers. But, yeah. No. It seems right. So yeah.
Owen:Alright. Thank you. Finally, president-elect Donald Trump, previously, he disagreed with governor Newsom about water rules that protected an endangered species, and, president-elect Trump wanted to weaken those rules to send more water to Southern California to, like, farms. Governor Newsom didn't agree with that, and, president-elect Trump threatened to withhold disaster funding, if Newsom didn't go along with the rule changes. Do you have any concerns about how the incoming administration will handle disaster funding in this in the in the future, especially in California? And this isn't a statement of, like, do you endorse this candidate or not? It's just, are you concerned about disaster funding? Yeah. Well, I mean, I do have my personal quarrels with Trump, but it sounds like at least what you said in the beginning where he tried to get more water to go down to California seems right. But then his response to Newsom saying no where he, what was it, threatened to stop funding disaster. Sorry. I'm losing track, but he threatened to stop funding disaster. It seems almost like immature, I'd say, and it is disappointing to hear that. So it does make me like worry a little bit about, like, what's going to happen, when the Trump administration takes office. But it seems like his head was in the right spot in the beginning, but it seems like for the disaster part, it's I mean, yeah, I'd have to say I disagree with his response. Yeah. Yeah.
Owen:Yeah. I mean, as a California resident myself, I know this wasn't the first time something like this was said. I remember, I believe in 2020, the the skies were all orange because the air quality was so bad. I live in the northern part of California, and, I was driving that day and, like, it literally looked like something out of Star Wars.
Griffin Patrick:Yeah.
Owen:And, the air quality was so bad. And then, I remember hearing some crazy things being thrown around on the news and that definitely made me worry a little bit. But, I don't think anything's gonna go away completely because I think that if he did something like that, like, take away disaster funding, then I think there would be, like, a public uproar.
Griffin Patrick:Yeah.
Owen:Definitely. I don't think anybody would like that. Yeah. Not even not even his own supporters would like that.
Griffin Patrick:Yeah.
Owen:I feel like that would just be stupid to do.
Griffin Patrick:I agree.
Owen:Yeah. Well, thank you so much. We loved having you.
Griffin Patrick:Thank you.
Owen:Have a good day.
Griffin Patrick:You too. Yeah. Thank you, Owen.