Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Tornado Alley

At current count 69 tornadoes touched down in the midwest today. In a city that is frequently blasé
about spring storms the spectre of what happened to our neighbors in Joplin looms large.

I spent part of today crouched in a basement stairwell. My children were herded into the basement at their school. The dreamy one even moved away from his glassed office to an interior room. It seems like the whole country has slowed down to look at what happened in Joplin - the loss of life, the destruction, the horror stories of teenage boys being sucked out of their cars. So, today we payed attention to the sirens and the warnings. Sort of...

Even as I hid in the basement, there were people in the parking lot gauging the storm. There is a youtube video of idiots on a roof filming as a funnel cloud forms.

Survival of the fittest? That Darwin was on to something.

I get it though - those clouds and their power are compelling.

I chatted with a friend today about books. She admitted she had seven unfinished novels on her nightstand. She told me they weren't compelling. Perhaps, as a writer, I need to go study a few clouds.

1 comment:

  1. Was something, wasn't it, Julie. I spent the morning in a restroom at work. (Okay, okay...THAT was a straight-line for whoever wants it)

    I wrote a short piece in response to a writing prompt about what you and I, and everyone else in this part of the country, go through each spring. Feeling guilty about it after all that has happened in Joplin, etc. Prayers go out to all those poor people.

    ReplyDelete