Vietnam

"Television brought the brutality of war into the comfort of the living room.  Vietnam was lost in the living rooms of America -- not on the battlefields of Vietnam." (Marshall McLuhan)





Anti Vietnam War Rally at National Mall in Washington DC circa 1971 courtesy https://www.pinterest.com/pin/24980972904463946/.

It started with John F. Kennedy sending some troops into Southeast Asia.  It killed President Johnson's bid for a second term in office.  It led to a massacre at Kent State University.  It ended with President Ford's order to evacuate people via helicopter from the American Embassy roof at the Fall of Saigon.  The Vietnam War polarized the nation of America.  Some were deeply committed to the war, even laid down their lives for the cause. Others vehemently protested on college campuses.  Still others dodged the draft, even moving to Canada to avoid serving.  

Unlike the First World War and Second World War, the Vietnam War was televised (http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.ca/2012/04/girl-in-picture.html).  For the first time, the carnage was brought into people's living rooms via the evening news.  "Television brought the brutality of war into the comfort of the living room.  Vietnam was lost in the living rooms of America -- not on the battlefields of Vietnam," explained Marshall McLuhan.  Young American men were coming home from Southeast Asia in body bags at an alarming rate.  It became increasingly hard for American leaders to justify the death toll.

As Ken Burns explains:  "The Vietnam War...took the lives of 58,000 Americans and as many as 3 million Vietnamese, polarized American society as nothing has since the Civil War [and] fundamentally challenged America's faith in our leaders, our government and our most respected institutions..."  Ken Burns series, due out next year, attempts to explain why the war happened and why it polarized America.

http://kenburns.com/films/vietnam/

The Silver Birch Award

The Silver Birch Award debuted in 1994 under the umbrella of the Ontario Library Association. Honouring books geared to Grades 3 to 6, this award recognized both Fiction and Non-Fiction books. Registered classes and/or groups read at least five books from an Official Selections List. They cast their votes in the Spring.  The first winner was Daniel's Story, written by Carol Matas.  Here are some of the titles that stand out for me:

1995 Polar:  The Titanic Bear (Daisy corning Stone Spedden)

The true story of a Steiff bear that, along with his owner, a 7 year old boy, survived the sinking of the Titanic.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2157716.Polar_The_Titanic_Bear

2000 The Secret of Gabi's Dresser (Kathy Kacer)

When the Nazis conducted house searches for Jewish children in Eastern Europe during WWII, Gabi hid in a dresser in her dining room.  The only piece of furniture that survived the war, it now sits in her daughter Kathy Kacer's Toronto home.

https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/015020/f1/nlc000500-v6.jpg

2003 Hana's Suitcase (Karen Levine)

Holocaust education centre operator Fumiko Ishioka received an empty suitcase from Auschwitz. Children visiting the centre asked her about the owner, whose name was written on the suitcase.  A year of research revealed that Hana Brady, born in Czechoslovakia in 1931, was deported along with many other Jews in her town, to Auschwitz during WWII.

http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/m/episodes/inside-hanas-suitcase

2008 The Secret of Grim Hill (Linda De Meulemeester)

Cat Peters wins a soccer match and accepts the prize of going to a private school.  However, inside the halls of the old school, a mystery waits to be revealed about what happened to the last soccer team that attended the school and then disappeared.

http://grimhill.com/the-books/

2010 At the Edge:  Daring Acts in Desperate Times (Larry Verstraete)

Over twenty stroies about ordinary people who show extraordinary courage during the Halifax Explosion, the Tianamen Square protests, 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, etc.

http://www.amazon.com/At-Edge-Daring-Desperate-Times/dp/0545273358

2012 Undergrounders (David Skuy)

Twelve year old Jonathon's mom dies and his landlord kicks him out.  Facing life on the streets, he finds a group of kids living underground who steal to survive.  Jonathon steals hockey gear, suits up and is welcomed by his new "family", a hockey team.  How does he keep his homelessness a secret?

http://fernfolio.edublogs.org/2011/12/14/undergrounders-by-david-skuy/

2013 Making Bombs for Hitler (Marsha Skrypuch)

Lida is kidnapped by the Nazis during WWII and forced to work as an Ostarbeiter in a German munitions factory making bombs.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12524125-making-bombs-for-hitler

2014 One Step at a Time:  A Vietnamese Child Finds Her Way (Marsha Skrypuch)

Brought up in a Vietnamese orphanage, Tuyet is rescued during the last airlift out of Saigon. Adopted by a Canadian family, she now faces surgery to correct her leg, crippled by polio.

http://pajamapress.ca/news_reviews/?page_id=983

For more information, visit http://www.bookcentre.ca/awards/silver_birch_award.

Underneath the Ordinary Lies the Extraordinary

About five years ago, I took an online writing course through Mohawk College.  One of our assignments was to put on our "journalist's cap", venture out into the streets, and find a newsworthy story.  I didn't think I'd find a story of any importance in the small city of Brantford, but I was willing to try.

http://www.discoverbrantford.com/SiteCollectionImages/mastheads/Plan-a-visit-brantford-sign.jpg

I had some time to kill while I waited for an hour at the specialist's office, so I got out my pad and pencil, and started to write, remembering that a good observer makes use of all five senses.  I made note of the paintings and posters on the waiting room wall, the conversation going on between the receptionist and the unknown caller, the occasional traffic noises coming from the street when a patient opened the door, the antiseptic smell that permeated the room.

And then it happened...a big, juicy story started to unfold itself right under my nose.  The elderly man on my right struck up a conversation with the teenage girl on his right.  "How did you break your arm?" he asked, pointing to the arm in a cast and sling.

"I was involved in a shooting," she said.  All of a sudden, I leaned in closer, all ears now.

"How did that happened?" asked the elderly man.

"Do you remember hearing about a police chase in Brantford the other day?" asked the teenage girl.
The man nodded his head.  "Well, I was riding in a vehicle that got caught between the police cruiser and the vehicle it was chasing.  I was caught in the crossfire and got shot."

http://www.wibwnewsnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/police-high-speed-chase-car-vehicle-auto.jpg

By now, I'm writing furiously, trying to keep up with the dialogue.  Thoughts were racing through my head.  What are the odds of hearing about a juicy story like this?  I've lived in Brantford for fifteen years and never heard of anything like this happening in town.  While shootings might be common in parts of Toronto, they certainly aren't common here.  And a police shooting at that...even less common.

I started to tune out as the elderly man talked about how the teenage girl's injury brought back memories of his deer hunting days.  I had the gist of the story, nonetheless.  But I wasn't finished for the day; I wasn't ready to take off my journalist's cap just yet.

After over an hour, I finally was ushered in to see the specialist.  What was on his wall?  One photograph showed the doctor wearing a gui and a black belt.  Another was a large portrait of him and his family.  He was dressed in a military uniform.  While he examined my finger, I broached the subject:  "Did you fight in a war?" I asked.

http://www.glynn.k12.ga.us/BHS/academics/junior/durham/megane23540/DUSTOFF.JPG

"Yes, I served as a medic in the Vietnam War," he answered.  We talked for a couple of minutes about the war, a war that ended when I was only 6 years old.  But I did know a bit about the conflict, thanks to my love of history.  We talked for a few minutes about the war, about the U.S. role and the fall of Saigon and the famous photograph of the helicopter on the rooftop of the U.S. embassy evacuating refugees in 1975.  

"When did you come to Canada?" I asked, moving on to a new topic.

"In 1979.  I was one of the boat people," he responded proudly.  My ears perked up -- newsworthy story #3.  "My family and I floated on the sea in a small boat until we reached land and freedom."  I couldn't believe it.  I was old enough to remember when the boat people arrived.  What incredible stamina and bravery they must have had to attempt such a journey!  And one was standing right in front of me, in the small city of Brantford.      

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/35_Vietnamese_boat_people_2.JPEG

I commended the doctor for his bravery.  But the multi-talented doctor wasn't finished yet.  Somehow we got on the topic of jazz, and I told him how my dad was a jazz musician.  As the doctor finished up his exam, he gave me a free CD that he had just made with his jazz trio.  "Thank you very much!" I said, exiting the office.

I raced home, eager to finish jotting down what I had learned in the specialist's office.  It wasn't just about the teenage girl caught in the police crossfire; it wasn't just about the young doctor serving on the battlefield in Vietnam; it wasn't about his role as one of the Vietnam Boat People.  It was how I had found, in a doctor's office in little old Brantford, not one, but three newsworthy stories.  There, lying underneath the ordinary, I had found the extraordinary.  That's what happens when you don your journalist's cap.

http://lowres.cartoonstock.com/media-newspaper-journalism-journalists-newspaper_journalism-overseas-aton1814_low.jpg