Hurricane Sandy :: Students Speak Out

Adanna Literary Journal is supporting an anthology of writing from 7th and 8th grade students of MES, New Jersey that was written on the night of Hurricane Sandy as well as during the aftermath. All profits will go to the Manasquan Area Ministerium discretionary fund for Sandy-affected individuals/families and “towards the new playground in Manasquan, NJ which will be dedicated in honor of Newtown children.” You can purchase the anthology, here, on the magazine’s website.

Here is a blurb about the issue from Adanna: “Included amid this collection of 42 heartrending student essays are excerpts from 74 equally moving student essays that space would not permit us to print in full. These excerpts are included under four themes central to the students’ experiences of Hurricane Sandy: Scar, Chaos, Aftermath, Restore. Together, the first letters of these themes intentionally spell the word scar.

“Hurricane Sandy has indeed left a scar on these young people, their families, their communities. The superstorm has forever scarred their beloved Jersey Shore landscape. Yet time and attentive care heal the wounds of the scar, creating newness and strength. As the poet and story-teller Linda Hogan wrote, ‘Some people see scars, and it is wounding they remember. To me they are proof of the fact that there is healing.’ There was the storm, and there is still some chaos and plenty of work to be done in aftermath, but these students, their families, their communities, and their landscape are rebuilding…they are committed to RESTORE THE SHORE, and these essays are a healing balm for the scars of all who wrote them and for all who will read them.”