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Sara Conrad

Editor, skirt! Jacksonville

I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. I love thinking and talking about feminism and writing for skirt!. I went to the University of Iowa and I'll put up a good fight about spelling. ...

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What up, Fay?

Golly gee, my first hurricane/tropical storm experience!

A storm’s a-brewing! Her name is Fay. I know this is wrong, but...I’m kind of excited.

I know storms mean danger, flooding, power outages and less productivity business-wise, but I can’t help feeling that naive, childhood glee while anticipating this storm--my very first “hurricane” !

(I use quotation marks because it has since calmed to a tropical storm.)

I remember my first HUGE earthquake growing up in California in 1989. I hid out in my downstairs hallway with my babysitter (who I was much too old to have) and my little sister ,who cried all the way through. And it lasted pretty long. Like three run-throughs of  singing “Little Star”. We only lost my mother’s vase that she inherited from her grandmother. It had been precariously perched on our family room hearth when it fell to its tragic demise. My mother was working at a hospital in Oakland at the time and called us in a panic minutes later. My father was cool--he just had to fix like all the traffic lights in San Jose. I giggled all the way through. What could be more fun and exciting than the earth shaking?!

I also remember my first tornado in college at the U of Iowa. I was pretty naive for that, too. My friend Jon and I (we are both from the Bay Area, California, and met in college--what are the chances?) were on our way out for some ice cream from Whitey’s, where the walls were papered in white and specked with neat rows of red hearts. I used to say the walls tasted like love at Whitey’s. Anywho, we were walking out of the Burge dorm building with a jonesing for sugar, and as soon as the double doors flapped closed behind us, an eerily warm wind crept up our calves, and the haunting howl of the tornado alarm passed through the trees. Jon and I turned and looked slowly at each other (my life is very dramatic, you see) and with that we turned on our heels and ran up the hall to my dorm room, where the giddiness rose in my gut at the thought of my first tornado experience ever. Minutes later, our resident assistant ran down the hallway and told everyone to get their butts to the basement. I followed everyone else toward the stairs when I realized...I left my computer on and facing the window! By golly, I needed my computer! All my creative writing manuscripts were on there....my whole life was on there! I ran back toward my room with the resident assistant on my heels, barking at me to get my booty to the basement. But I was adament about getting my computer. And I did. I took it to the basement where I and hundreds of other twenty-somethings waited for the tornado to touch down. It didn’t touch down in Iowa City until several years after I graduated, and took out the sorority house across the street from my dorm building. And I mean, took it out. Gone. My friend’s apartment roof, too. Luckily, not many people were hurt.

And now, a tropical storm is sweeping through the Jacksonville area tonight and tomorrow. I’ve been absolutely crawling with anticipation for over 24 hours now, unlike in an earthquake or tornado when one has little or no time to prepare. We’re going to press this Friday, and unfortunately, we had to cancel our Sip with Skirt! tomorrow at Twisted Sisters because of the flooding and power issues that might ensue (I am so sorry about having to cancel that! We have the coolest goodie bags prepared. We will reschedule it--check back on the left bar for updates!)  

But, like the journalist that I am, all I can think about is taping the storm and posting it for you all to see who, like me, may have never seen this kind of weather before! (Actually, to amend that statement: I admit that I forced my little sister to watch like six videos of hurricane weather in Florida before we moved down here. Just so she knew what we were getting ourselves into.)

So, stay safe today and tomorrow!! Fay, you are such a party crasher, girl!