I have watched my city go under water twice, and seen the devastation of cyclones, but I cannot imagine the utter horror of a mile wide monster tornado coming at me, let alone coping with the deaths of so many people. Please help.
If you are in the United States, donate to the Red Cross at http://redcross.org or text REDCROSS to 90999 or outside the States, please go to https://www.redcross.org/donate/index.jsp?donateStep=2&itemId=prod10001 Also, donate via the Salvation Army. They are reliable and always on the scene.
To help the Oklahoma Food Bank: you can text FOOD to 32333. More info at http://bit.ly/11T0OLv and Twitter @rfbo
Please reblog.
Images are from news media sources.
From the American Red Cross: “The American Red Cross is helping people in the Midwest with shelter, food, relief supplies and emotional comfort after tornadoes over the weekend destroyed homes and left thousands without power.
As many as 26 tornadoes were reported in Oklahoma, Kansas, Illinois and Iowa, according to the National Weather Service. Hardest hit is Oklahoma, where severe tornadoes ripped through several counties, destroying or damaging hundreds of homes and leaving as many as 35,000 in the dark. The Governor declared a state of emergency in 16 counties. The Red Cross is supporting first responders and is providing shelter, food, distributing relief items and clean-up supplies and working with local and state officials to ensure people get the help they need.
The Red Cross is also helping in Kansas, Iowa and Missouri, where storms left more than 71,000 people without power. Meanwhile, the response continues following last week’s tornadoes in Texas, where the Red Cross is still operating shelters and providing food, relief items as well as health and mental health services.
MORE STORMS POSSIBLE Meanwhile, the National Weather Service warns that the threat of severe weather continues today for millions of people in communities from Texas to the Great Lakes, moving eastward as far as the Gulf Coast and Northeast on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“These are dangerous storms and we urge people to monitor the situation closely and be alert for severe weather warnings in their community,” said Trevor Riggen, vice president of Disaster Operations and Logistics for the Red Cross. ”Tornado warnings indicate imminent danger to life and property and people should be prepared to go immediately underground to a basement, storm cellar or an interior room (closet, hallway or bathroom).” “
If you have never gotten around to it, please give one!
When people think of memoir or autobiography, they often think of long, weighty works. There are many approaches to capturing various times in your life. One is the six word memoir.
Picoult studied creative writing with Mary Morris at Princeton, and had two short stories published in Seventeen magazine while still a student. Realism – and a profound desire to be able to pay the rent – led Picoult to a series of different jobs following her graduation: as a technical writer for a Wall Street brokerage firm, as a copywriter at an ad agency, as an editor at a textbook publisher, and as an 8th grade English teacher – before entering Harvard to pursue a master’s in education. She married Tim Van Leer, whom she had known at Princeton, and it was while she was pregnant with her first child that she wrote her first novel, Songs of the Humpback Whale…”
Let me give you an example or two. When you post a link on Facebook, whether on your timeline or page, you get an image and the best part of a long sentence.
Experts have termed this practice of waiting “creative gestation,” and much like the shaping of a child in the womb, producing quality work requires a degree of time, no matter what genre. By coming back to your writing later on, you’ll find that certain word choices can be improved, images can be sharpened, and other enhancements can refine your work even further. Rather than sending an immature, embryotic creation to editors, you’re handing over “your baby,” fully developed, delivered, and ready.
John Davis Jr. is a Florida poet whose work has been published in literary venues internationally. His poems have recently appeared in Deep South magazine, Saw Palm magazine, and Touch: The Journal of Healing, and he has forthcoming poetry in The Wayfarer. His book, Growing Moon, Growing Soil: Poems of my Native Land, is available through Amazon and other fine retailers. His website is: 
“Book Description: Turn Blah into Brilliant with this Jam-Packed Volume on Description
“Pay yourself first,” was the solid advice I was given with business book keeping: and face it, writing is a business, even if you work at it recreationally. If the IRS wants a share, it’s not necessarily a carefree hobby any longer…
