Brume Pride

Author notes from Salt by Liz Shipton

I travel a lot, but I still think my hometown of Santa Cruz, California is one of the most beautiful places in the world.

Brume, the hometown of many of the characters in the Thalassic Series, was loosely based on a mix of Santa Cruz and its northern neighbor, San Francisco.

Santa Cruz and SF are difficult cities to write about. Do I think that Santa Cruz is going to end up like Brume, harvesting fog for water while the rest of the State goes dry? Probably not. But aridification and wildfire threaten not only Santa Cruz, but the rest of California and the West Coast. Climate change, the housing crisis, homelessness, and inequality are problems that are not going away any time soon.

Many cannot afford to live there. Others (like Trev and I) have come up with creative living solutions 😉

Writing about the problems I see in my hometown and in many of the places I visit helps me understand and process my feelings about them. It can be hard to know what to do because these issues feel so big and difficult to tackle.

To me, talking about it and keeping it top of mind is important. Especially when it comes to places I love, like Santa Cruz. Despite its problems, I still love coming home to visit.

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