Kevin Keim

Illustration by Margarita Babina

Not long ago, psychologists often told their patients, “Don’t catastrophize!” Fast forward a few months, and that advice feels like an artifact—catastrophe is no longer a fear; it’s a reality for many across the country (and the world). Enter Kevin Keim, the founding director of the architect Charles Moore Foundation, who has been single-handedly battling literal fires in Pacific Palisades in a determined effort to save one of Moore’s iconic houses. Naturally, we couldn’t resist asking him a few Sartre-esque questions:

In risking yourself for this house, are you affirming its essence, or creating your own through the act of resistance?

To even attempt an answer would require a level of self-involvement which I’m afraid I do not possess.

Is your choice to fight this fire entirely your own, or shaped by forces beyond you?

See answer to #1.

How do you reconcile this fight with the possibility that it might ultimately be futile?

Caring is never futile.

In this moment, do you feel more alive—grappling with existence in its rawest form—or consumed by its absurdity?

See answer #1.

Does the immediacy of danger sharpen or blur your sense of self?

See answer #1.

If you had to choose, what’s your favorite Bruce Willis movie?

Pulp Fiction.