USD Magazine Spring 2006

[ sy l l abus ] Course: Natural Disasters Instructor: Eric M. Cathcart DESCRIPTION: An examination of natural disasters and their impact on humans; emphasis on earthquakes, hurricanes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, asteroid impacts and mass extinctions. PROFESSORIAL DEMEANOR: It’s entirely possible that professor Cathcart is the most enthusiastic geologist on the planet. Dressed in shorts, sandals and a T-shirt, he bounces with infectious glee when pointing out details of spectacular photos of erupting volcanoes. FUN FACTS: When Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980, the professor was only 10 years old. Enough ash fell to cover a football field 150 miles deep. These two items are unrelated. GRIM STATISTIC: Disasters happen on a daily basis in every one of the United States. This works out well for students, who each are assigned a state to track during the semester. Those who were assigned Louisiana and other Gulf Coast states have been particularly busy. LOOK OUT!: A pyroclastic flow is a high-density mixture of dry rock frag- ments and hot gases that move away from the vent that erupted them at high speeds. “If one of these is coming at you at 200 miles per hour, you need to get out of the way,” advises Professor Cathcart. WOOLGATHERING MOMENT: Why is it that the model of a volcano we all were assigned to construct in elementary school never erupted properly, offering up a wimpy “poof” rather than oozing magma? Even Peter Brady couldn’t make it work. IN CONCLUSION: Mount Ranier is potentially the most dangerous vol- cano in the Cascades due to its proximity to large numbers of people. It erupted 2,300 years ago, 1,100 years ago and, right about now, “we should be getting pretty close to another event.”Class dismissed. OMINOUS SENTENCE FRAGMENT: “When water and ice meet in a deadly combination.”

Stanger coached them about dating just to date, rather than expecting every date to lead to a long-term relationship. She explored their fears that dating might be a betrayal to their hus- bands, and talked with them about how their children might act out. She shared her own experience: When Stanger was ready to date again after losing her husband, her children threat- ened to rig a bucket of water to be dumped on the head of her first date. “They loved that story,” she says of the New York widows. Stanger’s research showed her that spirituality can be an impor- tant factor in moving forward. Many of the 9/11 widows that Louise Stanger met with in New York had married their high school sweethearts, leav- ing them with limited dating experience. “That’s what allows you to laugh again. And that’s what these women are trying to do — to be able to laugh again, to smile again, to feel again,” she says. Many also are trying to shake their label as cultural icons. Near the end of her trip to New York, Stanger found herself at St. Patrick’s Cathedral trying to take in the enormity of the 9/11 widows’ experiences. “I never planned on being a third-generation widow. And widow,” says Stanger, now remar- ried. “There I was in St. Patrick’s Cathedral — and I’m not Catholic — lighting candles and thanking God for the spiritual path that He took me on to be invited into their lives.” It was an experience that reconfirmed her own quiet cer- tainty: You never know where you’ll end up. For more information on Stanger’s work with widows, go to www.widowsource.com. none of the women I met planned on being a young

MELANIE GRIZZEL

of a widow. It comes from being the granddaughter of a widow. And it comes from being a widow herself. Stanger was wid- owed at age 44. Even years later, when asked about her experience, Stanger lets out an audible sigh. “Ohhh. I guess it was about as traumatic as you can get.”Her first husband died suddenly of heart disease, and just like that, her life changed. Now, years after their lives were altered forever, many of the firefighter widows are at the stage when they’re ready to talk about dating and relationships. Still, reaction from the widows at Stanger’s talks ranged from, “I’m really ready for this” to “Why are you here?” Some of the women were curious, but had vowed they would never date again because they had already found — and lost — the love of their lives.

BARBARA FERGUSON

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SPRING 2006