For a long time, I considered the book John Hacker and I have been working on for the past several months, the followup to 5:41: Stories from the Joplin Tornado, to be more of a sequel than anything else, but the book has turned into much, much more.
We are hoping that this book will provide readers with the true story of how a city ravaged by the worst tornado to hit the U. S. in six decades never faltered and has made remarkable strides in the 12 months since the nightmare of May 22, 2011.
The book's title, Spirit of Hope: The Year After the Joplin Tornado, comes from John Hacker, but we would never have arrived at it had it not been for our designer David Hoover who came up with the idea of using the famous Hope High School on the book's cover. We will unveil that cover sometime in the next few weeks.
The book will open with a powerful introduction by one of the heroes of the Joplin Tornado, Fire Chief Mitch Randles.
Spirit of Hope will feature a number of first person accounts of the tornado and the recovery, including some by writers who were featured in 5:41- Andrea Taylor Thomas, Denton Williams, Gary Harrall, and Rose Fogarty, as well as one from Joplin High School sophomore and Huffington Post teen blogger Laela Zaidi, who did not write a story for the first book, but who was featured in one written by Kaylea Hutson.
That group will be joined by a number of others, including our friend Rebecca Williams at Joplin Tornado Information, who contributed a pair of stories, former area journalists Jeff Wells and Rick Nichols, Andrea Queen, Micaela Tennis, Alexis White, Mary Jean Miller, Amy Herron, Marty Oetting, Karissa Dowell, Chris Robinson, and Becky Kropf.
John Hacker will offer stories on some of the major events that happened during the recovery, including the six-month anniversary, the wonderful gifts brought to the area by Rose Fogarty's St. Lou Crew in December, the 9-11 observance, Ten for Joplin, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and the work done by Samaritan's Purse.
As he did in 5:41, John will also focus the spotlight on three hospitals, St. John's (Mercy) Freeman, and McCune-Brooks (now part of the Mercy network) which rose to the forefront on May 22, 2011, and in the months thereafter.
Much of my writing will focus on the Joplin Schools, including a feature on the family gathering in front of the ruins of Joplin High School, in which Superintendent C. J. Huff promised that school would start again on time August 17.
The book will also feature extensive coverage of August 15 events when teachers and staff returned to an incredible greeting at Missouri Southern State University, first day of school events two days later, and many things that took place throughout the 2011-2012 school year, including photos from the recent prom. And as you might expect, given how sentimental I have always been, though I teach at East now, there will be a story about the old South Middle School, another tornado victim.
The folks at Chapman University graciously gave me permission to reprint the article I wrote about the late Will Norton and the effect his death had on a school he never had a chance to attend.
Originally, our plan had been to have the book published by the one-year anniversary, but John and I changed our plans after the announcement of two events- President Obama speaking at the Joplin High School graduation and the Unity Walk (combined with school groundbreakings) on May 22.
Coverage of those events will be featured prominently in the book.
That will push our publication date back to approximately June 15.
The book will also feature transcripts and documents that helped tell the story of the tornado and the recovery, including the speeches given at Cunningham Park by Mark Rohr, Mayor Mike Woolston, and Billy Long, speeches given when Joplin Schools staff reported back to work by C. J. Huff and Jay Nixon, Rush Limbaugh's July 4 speech, C. J. Huff's speech at the Memorial Day "family gathering" President Obama's press conference May 29 in Joplin, of course, the speeches that will be given by the president and Jay Nixon, and others at the May 21 graduation ceremony.
Public documents that will be in the book include the final National Weather Service report (we had a preliminary report in 5:41) and the Center for Disease Control's report on the fungus that affected many of those who had been in the tornado.
Even more stories will be included in Spirit of Hope: The Year After the Joplin Tornado.
I will have more updates to come.
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