For starters, that's my home he's talking about looking like a dozen disaster movies rolled into one. It's an accurate description -- when I went to see "Super 8" with some friends this weekend, I had to turn away and collect myself because the battle scenes looked like our streets. I am still sick looking at photos from today in Joplin; not that much has improved.
On top of that, I struggled with all the same things. No connectivity to send in my dispatches, and a desperate want to stay on the streets instead of going somewhere with Internet so I could write. There was so much to take in, so many people to talk to... I hated deadline and wanted to stay out until curfew each night. In one tweet, he said that he helped restock shelves and he hoped "that was okay." I felt the same. He tweeted about the radio stations being his eyes and ears; it was the first thing I listened to when I woke up and the last when I went to bed. I was tweeting also, whenever connectivity allowed, and gave John my twitter account so readers could follow me if they wanted. I started getting random followers and retweets; I guess it was working. People were itching to know what was going on there and Twitter was the fastest, easiest way to tell them.
Reading Stelter's blog and tweets made me feel like a real journalist, because here we were, facing the same struggles. It was like when we were out at Home Depot and Anderson Cooper showed up and stood in our group of reporters. For awhile, we were on the same level.
I think it was reading Stelter's tweets that made me want to go back to Joplin again so desperately. It's easy to shove it to the corner of your mind and pretend it isn't happening, but it still is. It's going to get worse before it gets better, and I want to be there for my friends and neighbors in whatever capacity I can. I started my semester of reporting there, and I'm really hoping I can finish there too.
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