History and Hamilton fans: The Hurricane letter was written Sept 6, 1772.

[politicat]

https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/Letter_by_Alexander_Hamilton_on_the_hurricane_of_August_1772

The hurricane hit on 31 August 1772. It was one of the most devastating to have hit the Caribbean, but we really don't know what CAT it would have been. It was absolutely very, very bad.

It began about dusk, at North, and raged very violently till ten o'clock. Then ensued a sudden and unexpected interval, which lasted about an hour. Meanwhile the wind was shifting round to the South West point, from whence it returned with redoubled fury and continued so till near three o'clock in the morning. Good God! what horror and destruction—it's impossible for me to describe—or you to form any idea of it. It seemed as if a total dissolution of nature was taking place. The roaring of the sea and wind—fiery meteors flying about in the air—the prodigious glare of almost perpetual lightning—the crash of the falling houses—and the ear-piercing shrieks of the distressed, were sufficient to strike astonishment into Angels. A great part of the buildings throughout the Island are levelled to the ground—almost all the rest very much shattered—several persons killed and numbers utterly ruined—whole families running about the streets unknowing where to find a place of shelter—the sick exposed to the keenness of water and air—without a bed to lie upon—or a dry covering to their bodies—our harbour is entirely bare. In a word, misery in all its most hideous shapes spread over the whole face of the country.— A strong smell of gunpowder added somewhat to the terrors of the night; and it was observed that the rain was surprisingly salt. Indeed, the water is so brackish and full of sulphur that there is hardly any drinking it.

(That was a single paragraph. It's also the lede. The rest of the letter is extremely 18th century, but also written by a 17 year old who had survived more trauma than most and was doing his damnedest to survive.)

It looks like Irma will hit Nevis on the 245th anniversary of that letter.

May it brush past the Leewards, dodge the Dominican Republic and Haiti, skip Cuba, and concentrate its full force on Mar-a-lago and nothing else.

[nycbos]

1. "Then a hurricane came, and devastation reigned...

Our man saw his future drip, dripping down the drain
Put a pencil to his temple, connected it to his brain
And he wrote his first refrain, a testament to his pain.

Well, the word got around, they said, “This kid is insane, man”
Took up a collection just to send him to the mainland
“Get your education, don’t forget from whence you came, and
The world's gonna know your name. What’s your name, man?”


https://genius.com/7917496

Couldn't resist.

[Lucinda]

2. ...

[politicat]

4. It's a lovely part.

I just find the resonances in history fascinating. Obviously, most hurricanes hit in season -- duh -- and yes, there were bad ones before we started naming and predicting them. But with the Leewards and Puerto Rico in the hard threat zone, it made me curious, and because Hamilton is, in many ways, the Original Dreamer. Definitely an unaccompanied minor.

There is a kid in Houston who will write their way out of their own hell. There will be a kid in the Caribbean who will do the same. People will keep doing that, because narrative is how humanity makes sense of horror and chaos. We keep doing this, and each time, we do it a little better, with a little more finesse. It's that long cycle resonance I keep trying to remember.

[lisby]

7. Alexander Hamilton. My name is Alexander Hamilton.

And there's a million things I haven't done
But just you wait.
Just you wait.

[Lucinda]

3. thank you

[Angry Dragon]

5. KICK

[elleng]

6. and the ear-piercing shrieks of the distressed, were sufficient to strike astonishment into Angels.