Scars from the Tornado Read Online Free

The
students would be dropped off at their elementary feeder schools. Adjustments
would likely be made for those who have had to move because of the tornado.
    -Certified
FEMA safe rooms would be available in case of tornadic activity. When East is rebuilt or repaired, Mr. Sexson said, the facility will have a safe area. That
message, too, was greeted with applause.
    -More
after-school activities would be added this year, depending on the students'
interest.
    -The lockers
used at the destroyed East Middle School, all of which had survived the
tornado, would be removed and transplanted to the new facility.
    Among other
items brought up at the meeting:
    -Mr. Sexson introduced new Assistant Principal Jason Weaver. Mr.
Weaver has taught seventh grade history at South and East for the past decade.
He never imagined the challenges that would come with his first administrative
position.
    When the
family get-together ended, I felt a little better about the school year, which
was less than a month away, but for the first time, I was not even the
slightest bit eager to return to school. I was dreading the first day of
school.
    THE   EAST   FAMILY   PICNIC
    I sat in a
darkened room 804, the room that was going to be mine for the next nine months
and absolutely nothing felt right about it.
    It had taken
me nearly two years to get used to the first East Middle School and when I
finally did, it no longer existed. I looked at the bare walls of my classroom.
I had to admit it- I was in a deep state of depression. It had taken every
ounce of energy I had to get out of my apartment, climb into my car and come to
this building. At least I had one part of this “family picnic” that I was
eagerly anticipating.
    I sing with a
band that does rock and country covers from the ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s, and my
band was going to play during part of the picnic. Even that had its negative
side, though. How was the East community, after going through the worst tornado
the U. S. had seen in six decades, going to respond to a group with the
unfortunate name of “Natural Disaster?” Since depression
doesn’t get the job done, I reached into a cardboard box and pulled out a stack
of old papers- some of the best written by my students over the years- the
papers that had hung proudly on my Writers’ Wall of Fame at East and at the old
South.
    I had room to
put 20 papers on my bulletin board. These would be the papers that would set
the bar high for my new students when they entered my classroom Aug. 17.
Somehow these papers had survived the tornado, and continued to offer insights
into how these young people, some now in high school, some in college or
beyond, thought about life during their eighth grade year.
    I reread them
before I put them on the wall- Amy’s modern-day short story, “Laptop Love,”
Dylan’s research paper on Emmett Till, Sarah’s poem that had appeared in a
national publication, Steve’s essay on child abuse, Katey exploring the horrors of cyberbullying.
    I grabbed the
tacks and placed Mary Jean’s short story about a “Jade Tiger,” and then
Jessica’s award-winning essay about the American flag on the bulletin board.
    Each of these
papers brought back memories. With Jessica’s essay, I recalled how the first
draft of her paper was 750 words, 500 more than the contest in which the paper
was going to be entered. I absolutely detested the idea of that beautiful paper
being edited, but she went to work on it for the next few days and returned
with a 249-word masterpiece that captured first place in the annual Elks Lodge
Essay Contest.
    Two of the
papers I put on the board were filled with unintentional irony. Laela criticized the antics of the Westboro Baptist Church. A little more than a year later, members of that church
protested at the Joplin Tornado Memorial Service, a service designed to bring
the community together…a service that meant a lot to Laela ,
who lost her home, high school, and former middle school in