Their Eyes Were Watching God
by Zora Neale Hurston

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Detail from Tall Sassafras Slice I, by Alison Moritsugu, Courtesy Littlejohn Contemporary, NYC

Katrina wasn't the first hurricane disaster of its kind. In 1928, a hurricane burst the levee of mighty Okeechobee Lake in Florida's Everglade, killing over 2,000 people. Not unlike today, the victims were mostly the poor, living in low-lying shanties. The "white folk," whose large homes were built on higher ground, survived.

In this dramatic audio reading, Zora Neale Hurston tells us what it was like to be in the midst of the catastrophe, waiting, waiting...

Hurston's story follows two migrant workers, Teacake and his wife Janie, caught in the gigantic force of the hurricane. This passage opens with Teacake and Janie still deciding whether to leave their flimsy cabin in the pickers quarters, and fearing that the levee holding back Lake Okeechobee could burst at any moment, releasing the "monstropolous beast."

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oices in Nature is Orion's edited online version of Voices in the Wild, a series in development for public radio, celebrating our relationship with nature through the literary works of our most admired authors, naturalists, and poets.

If you would like to link your website to this feature, requests may be directed to editor@orionsociety.org

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