A shot of my television screen, showing KSTP coverage of the May 22 Minneapolis tornado.
YOU’RE A NEWS JUNKIE,” he says.
I don’t deny it, especially on this stormy Sunday when a tornado has swept through north Minneapolis, killing one and injuring around 20 others, according to the latest news reports.
Much of the afternoon, after hearing of the storms, I parked on the sofa, eyes fixed on the television screen. I also texted my oldest daughter, who lives in south Minneapolis.
When she finally replied to my “Are you in a safe place?” text, she asked, “No, why?”
So I clued her in that a tornado was moving through north Minneapolis. She was at a friend’s house after attending a concert and apparently not near the storm’s path.
But how was I, the concerned mother, to know? To me, Minneapolis is Minneapolis and my daughter could be anywhere.
My husband, the one who called me the news junkie, claims south Minneapolis lies 10 miles from north. I have no idea.
Once I knew that my oldest daughter was OK, my thoughts shifted east to Wisconsin, where the second daughter lives. I really wasn’t too worried, until 4:49 p.m. when she sent a text: “Sirens just went off.”
At that time my husband and I were wrapping up a shopping trip to pick up hardware and gardening supplies and a few groceries before filling up with gas and heading home.
The daughter who lives in Appleton on Wisconsin’s eastern side said the area was under a severe thunderstorm warning and flood watch and that she was at her apartment, but not in the basement.
Uh, huh. “Did I not teach you to go to the basement when the sirens sound?” I thought, but did not text.
Her follow-up message mentioned an unconfirmed funnel cloud in a nearby town.
That text reminded me that I really wanted to watch the 5 p.m. news. And that is when my spouse called me a news junkie.
What does he expect from someone who watched the CBS evening news with Walter Cronkite as a child and wanted to emulate the television news anchor? What does he expect from someone with a mass communications degree, emphasis in news editorial? What does he expect from a former newspaper reporter and now freelance writer and blogger? What does he expect from someone who is nosy and curious by nature?
Yes, I am a news junkie.
But I’m also a mom and a Minnesotan—two equally good reasons for staying informed.
© Copyright 2011 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
If i had loved ones that could have harmed, I would do the same thing. I’m with you, to me Minneapolis is one big area. I don’t think of it as having different parts. I also hate driving down there, but no need to go into that.
Glad your girls are safe.
My Minneapolis daughter did call later in the evening to check in to make sure I wasn’t too worried about her. I appreciated that.
Minneapolis and the surrounding burbs have always simply been “the Cities” to me. My daughter loves it up there. Give me a smaller town or the country any day. And, yes, the traffic up there is one of the reasons I rarely travel into the metro. A lot of us from outstate Minnesota feel that way about the traffic.