Life in California: A conference, a fire and a community

You may be wondering what the title of this blog post could possibly mean, but hang in there and let me explain! I recently returned from the 60th annual conference of the American Translators Association. This was my first time at the conference, and the week was filled with connections with translator and interpreter colleagues. The American Translators Association represents linguists here in the U.S. that speak and work with countless languages – what fun to walk through the halls and hear Spanish, French, Japanese, Italian, German, Portuguese and so much more.

After a week of inspiring workshops and timely conversations about our field—and relaxing, sunny weather in Palm Springs—I got a voicemail from my local fire department about an evacuation warning. My husband and I drove back up north to a world of wildfires, smoke, evacuations and power shutoffs. We live in a rural area here in Northern California, so we have a generator and other emergency supplies; however, we decided to stay in the Bay Area with family for the week to wait it out. Luckily, the fire was pretty far from where we live. Nonetheless, these events are getting more frequent and more intense with each passing year.

So, that’s my explanation of the conference and the fire – now, the community. So many folks reached out to ask if we needed anything, and fellow translator and interpreter colleagues checked in. I felt really lucky to have all the support.

Now we’re back home and will hopefully have a few days of “normal.” Wishing you a bit of “normal” as well, whatever that may mean to you!