Last year I shared a number of books that I had read with you. This year, I have not read as much but it seems that some of my more favorite books have been written by those who are or have been correspondents/journalists in written or broadcast news. Perhaps two days after the eighth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the most timely is a book written by former CNN correspondent, Kathleen Koch. In the book, "Rising From Katrina: How My Mississippi Hometown Lost It All and Found What Mattered", Koch, who had two CNN documentaries concerning Hurricane Katrina and the response of the communities of Bay St. Louis and Waveland in the wake of that storm, writes in great detail that which she could not put in a one hour documentary. Koch, a former resident of Bay St. Louis and graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi, is able to communicate what so many Mississippians felt after the storm.
There is an unexplainable pride in being a Mississippian. In a state where you are continually first in every bad category and last in every good category, Mississippians can easily have an inferiority complex. And yet, for some reason we are a proud and stubborn people. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Mississippi responded well. Very well. In that we can be proud. Koch documents this and the spirit of our people, especially those on the Coast and those from inland Mississippi and other parts of the country who volunteered to help. I would recommend that you read her book. As a Mississippian and a former resident of Bay St. Louis, it made me proud.
