ADVERSITY IN THE SOUTHLAND

I have spent the last three decades researching and developing projects to recover and mitigate future risks. Some years ago, I was working on a project in Mississippi and noticed all the blues artist, singer, painters, writers, poets and musicians that Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas had given us. Looking at a national heat map I built of federal disaster declarations since the early 1960s, I wondered about the relationship.

Then I considered the decades of persistent poverty, civil unrest (Birmingham 1963, Selma 1965, burning crosses, others) and other information from the Smithsonian Institute. Is all this adversity yielding creativity in the population? Is this how we got B.B. King. His hometown is no stranger to epic storms and other social challenges. Neither is Clarksdale, Mississippi. The same is true for much of the Southland. 

Is this nature's way of helping us heal ourselves?

Every few months I dig a little deeper into this subject. Now I have a project that requires clarity on the relationship. Stay tuned.

Tom M.

Rolling Fork, Mississippi Tornado 2023 - PBS

                                                                                                              © 2022 Tom Malmay