Last week, it was the one year anniversary of Joplin’s devastating disaster when an EF5 tornado wiped away a good portion of the town, killing over 150 people and destroying businesses and homes. One home demolished was my friend's, Geoffrey.
The anniversary slipped by since I was all excited about Rita’s movie, "Maison Des Rêveurs" being shown on the Video Wall in CityGarden, which by the way… just in my humble opinion, she should’ve placed 2nd or 3rd. You can see it on Rita's blog now.
But what do I know about film? I didn’t get the 2nd place film, which would’ve bumped 3rd up to 2nd, putting Rita’s film at the very least to 3rd. But then, I am her mother. I can guarantee you this—Rita’s film had a ton more work in her film than the 2nd place film. However, Rita triumphed in the fact she received honorable mention, showed up for the event and dressed up to boot—her outfit coordinated with the main character in her film.
Rita, family and friends were the only ones there when it started. Another couple came a little later that I assumed made one of the films. I found it odd that no one else was there. Maybe they’ve done this so many times, it wasn’t a big deal? Or maybe a disaster struck in their own personal lives—who am I to judge?
Back to Joplin’s tragedy…Claudia Mundell came up with the idea to create an anthology. Deb Marshall, then president of Missouri Writers' Guild got the ball rolling. Now published by Mozark Press is Storm Country. All proceeds from the sale of this book goes to the Joplin School District libraries. Even though Joplin is rebuilding, more help is always needed.
Behind Storm Country is a huge supportive group of people who rally together whether picking up the pieces and putting things back together again or applauding for the success of those around them and for that, I say thank you.
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