The Stormy Poet

Product of the Storm The Stormy Poet

In 2005, America played witness to one of the most colossal natural disasters in its recorded history. In addition to cataclysmic, infrastructural damage inflicted by the infamous "Hurricane Katrina", the psychological impact that ensued proved substantial in its own right. Our country's fuming frustration of unresolved social issues would come to a head, due to the poor federal response to the Gulf Coast after Katrina. Steven, a Dallas, TX native, and his mother moved to the Gulf Coast in 2001. After his father lost his battle to alcoholism, his mother decided to start a new path in life back in her hometown of Pass Christian, MS. Though dragged to the small town life quite unwillingly, that ungrateful and whiny teen would soon be faced with to his own new path-a path necessary to reach adulthood and to, overall, find his niche in the world. But little did they both know, they'd be a part of American History in the most intimate of ways. Using Katrina as a "B. C. to A. D" defining event, "Product of the Storm" uses chronologically ordered diary entries, poems, and essays to narrate a young man's struggle to find his identity in a stormy world. But, it also serves as a reference point of the views of the country-the views on the issues of addiction, miseducation, war, global warming, political corruption, street violence, religion, racism, and poverty, pre and post Hurricane Katrina. Be witness to what the storm made them.