Letters to the Editor: Neither wildfires nor ICE can take Los Angeles’ joy for good

To the editor : I can only imagine the ongoing pain of those who lost a home in Los Angeles’ fires or contact with a loved one to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. As deputy managing editor Shelby Grad writes, there can be no escape from that grief ( “The aftershocks of L.A.’s summer of ICE keep coming, even as some of us move on,” Aug. 2).

But I want to share that a scenario of resilience, unity and, above all, pure, unbridled joy spread across the outdoor plaza at downtown L.A.’s Music Center on Aug. 1 for the organization’s free disco night. As City Hall towered across the street and a sparkling mirror ball spun, a couple thousand of us — all ages, shapes, sizes and ethnicities — pumped and gyrated to ‘70s favorites including “YMCA,” a song embraced by the LGTBQ+ comm