If you follow me on social media, you probably saw my posts just after tornadoes ripped through Nashville early Tuesday morning. We were incredibly, unbelievably lucky – the twister cut through the alley behind our house, just a couple of houses away from us. We escaped with no damage. Hundreds of our neighbors were not so lucky.

I wrote an essay for The Atlantic about the tornadoes, and Nashville, and how our city dealt with both the flood in 2010 and these tornadoes in 2020. You can read it here.

In addition, if you would like to help, but don’t know how, here is a guide published by the Nashville Scene, which lists many ways to support those who have lost so much. I especially want to point out that, with East Nashville and Germantown getting most of the attention, my neighbors directly to the west and north are hurting especially badly. Those neighborhoods are primarily poor and black, and they are not getting the press that the more gentrified neighborhoods in Nashville are receiving. By sending a donation to Gideon’s Army, you’ll be directly helping people who are in disproportionate need.