Take notes. It was Armageddon. I am still clawing out of it. Even as my neighbors are just beginning to deal with the trauma of losing everything. The tourists are pouring in. A steady stream of tourism – disaster porn – didn’t even flinch at another opportunity to see us struggle. I have not seen any evidence there even is a government. I have always known that the government doesn’t really want to help us. So we become as self-reliant as we can. We cut our own trees. We dig the graves. When some power was restored last night, I am told they are still finding bodies in trees. I can’t think of whatever else we might do to entertain the tourists. They do not arrive with chainsaws. No government. No food. No water. No hospital. Nothing. Do not show your tourist face to us. The humans hit hardest are babies. And they will be the ones who decide who gets to live where, and who will not live through storms like Helene. Because, it’s all gone political. Remember what our fearless leader said: Global warming is a hoax. Homo sapiens are not going to care until some devil of a storm blows the doors off their hinges. I am now unhinged. Some door. Now guns. I am hundreds of miles from any ocean. You can only take care of yourselves. Where is FEMA. Even as the hurricane was furious, it had been decided by the business community to keep the T-shirt shops open. Someone might need a cocktail and a T-shirt. The videos are a pornography. In Appalachia, we are ruined.  – Tim Barrus