Tale of Atom Bomb Doubts

Doubts Raised on Book’s Tale of Atom Bomb

By: William J. Broad

Published: February 20, 2010

          Charles Pellegrino is the author of a book about the devastating atomic destruction of Hiroshima. Although it has won critical acclaim, there is a problem.  Part of the book and details of the mission are said to be false.  There are recollections of Mr. Joseph Fuoco as a last minute stand in on one of the two planes to deliver the bomb. However, Mr. Corliss’s family denies that what the book says is true. Mr. Corliss died in 1999. His family kept all the documents of his historic flight and offered them as evidence that Mr. Fuoco never flew on the bombing run, nor did he stand in for Mr. Corliss when he was said to become ill.

                Mr. Corliss’s family was distraught about the fraud. They claimed that Mr. Corliss was very proud about being the flight engineer for that historic flight. The two surviving members of the flight crew agreed with the family. The flight’s navigator declared that he was close enough to shake Mr. Corliss’s hand.  He also insisted that there was no way Corliss was going to miss the mission.

                There seems to be a contradiction between the two families. One insists that Mr. Corliss was the one and the wife of the other family demands that her husband wouldn’t have lied about something as critical as that, even though she has no proof that he stood in for Mr. Corliss.   

         

Slander or Censorship?

Officials See Slander in Uzbek Photos, but Artists See Censorship

Author: Ellen Barry

Published: February 10, 2010

                A photographer and filmmaker by the name of Umida Akhmedova, was convicted of slandering and insulting the Uzbek people. The government complaints declared that the photos were unflattering to the country and depicted it as poor, grim, and sour. She was set up to get three years in prison, but the judge gave her an amnesty instead, in honor of the Uzbek independence.

 With the charges came many protests from fellow photographers and artists. They started petitions in Ms. Akhmedova’s defense and sent her work to Belarus and Russia, to be put in exhibits. Daniil Kislov is the editor in chief to the website that has been following the case. He declared that the case was a warning to photographers and artists that they need to show Uzbekistan the way the government wants it to be seen.  He also said that the people really care about opinions.

This article influences you to think about your own government. For instance, what do you think would happen if a photographer took pictures that depicted poor education, illness due to bad health care, or homeless families due to small amounts of jobs?  It would cause controversy.

If you want to learn about this topic, check out CNN or other reliable news sources.

God said multiply, and did she ever!

 

God said multiply, and Did She Ever

Author: Joseph Berger

Published: February 19, 2010

            Yitta Schwartz was a 93 year old woman who gave birth to 15 children, 200 grandchildren, and who could claim 2,000 living decedents. Before passing away last month, she told her children that she didn’t want them to keep any pictures of her. Instead, she told them to keep her in their hearts. 

Mrs. Schwartz was very devoted to her family and religion. She believed that bearing children was a tribute to God. It’s said that she never forgot any of her family’s names or their faces. Although she gave birth 18 times, she lost one in a summer camp accident and two in the Holocaust. During World War II, her and her family was sent to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

Some things I find interesting are after so many children and grandchildren, she didn’t forget their names. She went to every wedding, engagement, and other any religious get together. She even had her son arrange a calendar for the family so that she could spend equal amount of time with each of her children’s families. She was a genuine caretaker for her children and believed that family always comes first. As a stay at home mom, she didn’t leave the house very often. This made her very committed to the well being of her family. For these reasons, I admire her.

While reading this article, it made me wonder how it was like raising a family of that size. They obviously had a strain on income and food because of it. However, what I’m more curious about is how the children felt about it. Did they like having such a large family? Did they feel like they never got enough attention?

If you want to find more information on Yitta Schwartz and her family, you can research them using any news websites or even Google.