I lived through a tornado in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on April 27, 2011, part of the second-worst tornadic outbreak in the history of the United States. Alabama long snapper Carson Tinker had his girlfriend, Ashley Harrison, ripped from his arms as they hunkered down while taking shelter from the storm. She lost her life that day, as did many others in Tuscaloosa and all across the south. But in the aftermath, I watched the Alabama Crimson Tide football team rally its community and go on to win a national championship.
That’s why as sad as I was about about the atrocities in Paris on Friday, I knew I had to go to Starkville, Miss.