Ode to Sonoma County

Nameless among the masses, so wonderfully hidden in plain sight, a secret that only the lucky knew until they changed you, divulged your existence, forced you into submission, stripped you naked, made you over as if you weren’t beautiful before they powdered your face with ash, caked your skin in rusty bronzer gave you smokey eye and lied told you it would give you character told you it would make you wise beyond your years, more refined told you it would turn you into a completely different you told you starting over is always a good thing but the dark cloud of their design feels heavy on your skin and it hurts to see yourself seen through the mirrors of our expressions, our breathless gasps, our cupped hands, our trembling mouths, our hollow, vacant faces, our tears that crash on the surface of our cheeks like broken waves on the seashore. And you realize what they have done to you, how they tried to dim the light of your shining eye, so you breathe a deep breath and you wash your face with water, cleanse the pores of your being with soap and let the flesh heal, and you think back to when I first saw you, think back to the way my face lit up in sheer utter absolute amazement at your splendor. Think back, but hear us tell you now, you are the reason we know love beauty humanity strength courage. Think back, but hear us ask you now to sing us a song, paint us a picture, capture a moment in time, fill our dreams with your rolling hills, the soft trickle of your streams, the aged oaks and wild manzanita, the fields of mustard greens, the endless reminders that make us remember why we love you the way you were, the way you are, the way you always will be Sonoma County.

Elizabeth Kolling, a college freshman, lost her Kenwood home to fire on Oct. 9.