Greetings from the giant pile of rubble formerly known as Tuscaloosa.

I’m a long-time regular reader of your blog. I also post comments here occasionally, but I don’t know whether I’ve commented quite frequently enough (or brilliantly enough) that you’d immediately recognize my name (Emory Kimbrough, aka Emory K. or emoryk).

I just wanted to thank you for using your blog to call attention to the situation in Tuscaloosa, and for linking to the Red Cross as an effective way to donate for relief.

My thanks are coming a few days late because internet service was, of course, knocked out.

I’m alive, by a margin of a few hundred yards. I was driving to perform magic at a restaurant where I’ve been appearing weekly for the past sixteen years. I was headed south on U.S. 82, the main street through the city, when I rounded a curve and found myself looking UP, not out, at a giant dark rotating wall filling the sky. I was northeast of the tornado – that’s the participatory side of a tornado – so I did a U-turn and retreated about a mile. The tornado passed about two blocks south of the restaurant.

I also have some credentials as a photographer with magazine sales, and I was able to get access to some of the hardest hit areas. I have numerous pictures varying from astounding to absurd to heartbreaking. I also have some photos of the truly inspiring relief effort. If you would like a few pictures for the blog, perhaps as another reminder to donate to the Red Cross, please let me know.

Emory