WITHOUT QUESTION…this video from the May 22nd tornado that devastated Joplin, Missouri is the most harrowing thing I have ever heard.
Even though everyone thankfully survived, it’s so strange to bear witness to how different people face what they believe is their death. With the powerful, ruthless, otherworldly scream of the tornado bearing directly down on top of them, some are quietly stoic, some are calling for their mothers, some pray aloud, calling out the name of their God, and some simply turn to the other terrified voices in the dark and tell them how very much they love them. I suspect that would be me.
At any rate, I fully recognize that being allowed to listen in on these very private few moments is a profound gift, a glimpse into our own shared humanity. It is a privilege. I am so happy and relieved that they are all still here with us to share the collective story of their survival — as well as to continue on writing, creating, and forging the stories that will mark their time here in this wondrous, monstrous, magical thing called life.
Muffy Bolding is a mother/writer/actor/knitter/feminist/withered debutante who likes the smell of asparagus pee, and remains obsessed with the bathroom hygiene of her three children -- despite the fact that they are 23, 19, and 16. She is blissfully married to a cute Jewish boy who looks like Willie Wonka, but remains tragically in love with the dead poet, Ted Hughes. She has the mouth of a Teamster, and her patron saint is Rocco (pestilence relief.) Ms. Bolding lives in Southern California, where she enjoys typing words, making movies, and plucking the rings from the fingers of the dead. She was the co-creator and Editor-in-Chief of the award winning satire zine, Fresno Lampoon, and in between writing screenplays, carnival barking, and savagely threatening her trio of darling larvae with a wooden spoon, she currently publishes the zine, "Withered Debutante." More of her work can also be found in the anthology, "Mamaphonic: Balancing Motherhood and Other Creative Acts", the compilation zine, "Mamaphiles III: Coming Home", as well as in The Cortland Review and hipmama.com. She is currently writing and producing for film and television, and working on a book of essays entitled, "Inside A Chinese Dragon." She has slept around, but not nearly as much as she would have liked.
muffy bolding 