Tornadoes Impact Alabama Artists
May
18
Written by:
5/18/2011 7:16 PM
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| View of Neighborhood behind Steve Miller's home in Tuscaloosa, shot from what was left of his upstairs porch |
Last week, I finally made it back to my old home, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, about two weeks after the deadly tornadoes that struck on April 27, leaving 41 dead in Tuscaloosa County, 238 dead statewide, and another 100 dead across the Southeast. As staggering as the death count is, in light of the level of destruction, it is hard to believe that so many people escaped serious injury. If anything it is a testament to tornado warning sirens, excellent weather reporting, , and a population that largely knows to get to a basement or small interior room to shelter. One of my friends survived a direct hit in an interior hallway, and three others in a bathroom with a mattress pulled over them.
There was a certain mix of courage and vulnerability in the voices of the artists I visited in last week. It was clear that it will be a long time before they are over the trauma, but they are doing what they need to do to get their lives back on track - a step at a time. Steve Miller, and his human, canine, and feline family members sped to the basement moments before the tornado hit their home. It left as fast as it came and they emerged to see their home and cars destroyed; and the pecan grove and gardens laid to waste. The home was in Hillcrest, a small historic district in near the University of Alabama, known for multi-acre lots, a lush canopy of trees and well-tended gardens. Steve is an extraordinary book artist and one of the primary builders of the nationally acclaimed Book Arts Program at the University of Alabama. He is very well-known in craft and book arts circles, a frequent teacher at schools like Penland, and proprietor of Red Hydra Press.
After the storm, thousands of volunteers descended on Tuscaloosa with chainsaws, to clear roads and roofs. By the time I got there, the roads in the mile-wide "blast zone" were largely passable, and friends told me that things were looking much better than they did immediately after the storm. In Steve's neighborhood, a Texas "Chainsaw Ministry" was taking down the last of the trees that were broken in half by the force of the storm. The streets are piled high with debris, and the few trees that are left standing will have to be cut down.
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An antique glass lamp globe Steve had brought with him
mysteriously survived the tordado and was lodged behind a rafter
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Steve had already moved his beehives to safety to allow for tree removal. My wife is a beekeeper, too, so I immediately related to the sudden lack of nectar and pollen in the neighborhood, and the need to take care of the bees before putting one's own life in order. In place of the pollen that coats windshields and driveways this time of year was a dusting of fiberglass and rock wool. The walls in the house, and almost every other house I saw in the tornado's path were coated with a swirled brown coat of plaster composed of finely ground storm debris.
Tuscaloosa is known as the Druid City, because of the many old oaks that line its streets, and as much as anything it is the loss of trees that makes it so difficult for residents of the stricken areas to visualize the recovery of their neighborhoods. I lived in Tuscaloosa/Northport for over 30 years, and was very familiar with these neighborhoods, but driving through them this time, I was disoriented, and even got lost several times in the unfamiliar moonscape. After only two days of moving around in the rubble, I was having dreams about it. I wonder how those whose lives were uprooted are coping with the experience.
More to come.
For information on surviving a tornado:
Studio Protector: Sheltering in Place
Pinellas County Florida Department of Emergency Management has a concise web page on what to do in different situations for tornado safety.
