About the Story Tsunami project
The first "Story Tsunami" was a wave of storytelling benefit concerts for the victims of the December 26, 2004 earthquake and tsunami in Asia. The goal was to create a wave of love and compassion in response to the wave of devastation. The American and International storytelling community held 58 events and raised a combined total of $56,460.

Learn about the first Story Tsunami.

Currently, this same community is considering whether to hold a new "Story Tsunami" to benefit the victims of the Katrina Hurricane in the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. Please check back!

I Will Rise Above
By Dianne de Las Casas

Dianne de Las Casas is a New Orleans-based storyteller. She and her family took shelter in Texas during Hurricane Katrina. She wrote this poem for an elementary school yearbook in response to the crisis (which she kindly allowed me to reproduce here):

Though the trees are uprooted
And buildings fall to the ground
Though the waters keep rising
It will not hold me down

Though my house is submerged
And my belongings are gone
I still have my family
And we rejoice the coming dawn

Though my eyes remain wet
From the tears that still fall
I have the strength of my faith
To get me through it all

And through terrible tragedy
Comes great kindness and grace
Communities come together
Hand in hand, face to face

Human spirit will not sink
It rises above adversity
And though Katrina is strong
She is not stronger than me

I will rise above
With friends, family, faith and love

"Rainy Days and Rainbows" at Ithaca College

New Orleans storyteller Angela Davis came to Ithaca to perform “Rainy Days and Rainbows: Riding out Hurricane Katrina,” at Ithaca College on Wednesday, November 2, 2005. The event was a fundraiser for the American Red Cross. Adults and high school students were invited to attend. Donations were accepted at the door.

An energetic and spell-binding performer, Davis is beloved in her native city of New Orleans. The Times-Picayune of New Orleans wrote, "Angela Davis knows how to pull you in and hold you transfixed. You are powerless in her storytelling spell." Her stories of surviving the Hurricane take a positive spin on the disaster.

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