Latest news with #RukminiCallimachi
New York Times
03-07-2025
- Health
- New York Times
Venturing Inside L.A.'s Toxic Homes
Times Insider explains who we are and what we do and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together. Normally, Blacki Migliozzi, a Graphics editor for The New York Times, spends his workdays in front of a computer screen, working on a spreadsheet. But for the past few months, he has donned a full-face respirator, nitrile gloves and a full-body protective suit to report from inside carcinogen-contaminated homes in Los Angeles. 'It's definitely different from the work I normally do as a data journalist,' said Mr. Migliozzi, who is based in New York, where he produces data-driven articles and interactive visualizations. Along with Rukmini Callimachi, a Real Estate reporter who covers housing, and K.K. Rebecca Lai, a Graphics editor, Mr. Migliozzi spent about five months working on a visual investigation into the toxins left behind in homes that were thought to have been spared from the Palisades and Eaton wildfires, which killed at least 30 people and destroyed about 16,000 structures in January. The idea stemmed from a meeting he had with his editor on the Graphics desk, Monica Ulmanu, in late January, when they discussed looking into smoke damage from the fires. Mr. Migliozzi suited up to shadow industrial hygienists and interview residents inside dozens of homes where toxins lurked in the walls, the furniture and the air. In all, he spent 100 hours inside toxic homes. Along with Ms. Callimachi, he also examined dozens of toxicology studies and interviewed residents about the challenges they were experiencing with their insurance companies. A majority of people who responded to a Times questionnaire, and whose houses were still standing, said their insurance companies had declined to pay to test for toxic substances — or, if they did, they checked for only a few harmful substances and omitted dozens of others that researchers say can cause negative health effects in the long term. 'The people who came back to find their homes still standing thought they were the lucky ones,' Ms. Callimachi said. 'But it's so much harder to prove this invisible damage.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
New York Times
26-01-2025
- General
- New York Times
A Family's Heirloom China: The Echoes of History
Helping Federal Workers Under the Trump Presidency An 'Interabled' Couple To the Editor: Re 'Five Women, Heirloom China and the Reverence It May Lose' (front page, Jan. 5): Rukmini Callimachi's sad but lovely tale of doomed heirloom dishes evokes a complicated reaction. Of course it is impractical to dine regularly using such items, or in many cases even to find space to keep all of them. But to what extent do the issues go beyond the specifics of eating habits to encompass a current lack of interest in our own histories? Do younger people who don't care about these old items also feel no connection to any other family heirlooms — to the concrete artifacts of their own family stories? I am reminded of my shock when my aunt informed me that the photo albums my grandfather had taken onboard a ship from Tokyo to Seattle in 1919 had been tossed in a dumpster, because 'we never met those people and we can't read Japanese.' (Thankfully a cousin rescued them and later gave them to me for safekeeping.) How many people know the biographical details of their long gone ancestors? Where do we draw the line between lack of space and failure of imagination? Might not there be room for a few saucers, if only to put coins and keys in, along with a bit of the history they represent? Andrew S. Mine Chicago To the Editor: I drank in every word of your article about heirloom china. On Saturday excursions during the heyday of the department store, my mother, aunt and I visited china departments in much the way others might check out a new exhibit at a gallery. We eagerly parsed the differences between brands, debating the relative merits of plates with vibrant patterns versus those adorned only with elegant bands of silver or gold. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
