100 years ago today it began, World War I books to read

One hundred years ago on June 28, 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg were assassinated in Sarajevo by a teenage assassin marking the beginning of World War I.  It is interesting to note that the assassin had a statue placed in his honor this week in Sarajevo in honor of this 100th anniversary.  Read more about what happened here.  Most things in this world are a matter of perception I suppose.  This event sparked what was once called The Great War because they couldn't believe that it could happen again.  The Great War was fought at great sacrifice with many lives lost and many others damaged forever.  I was able to visit the World War I Museum in Kansas City which gave me a new perspective and greater respect and understanding for my grandfather's experience in France.

Jacqueline Winspear, who's father fought in The Great War, has written many books based on or just following this war.  I have loved reading her "Maisie Dobbs" series of mysteries.  I just finished her latest book which will be officially released on Monday.  It is not a part of the Maisie Dobbs series.

• Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and Sophie, Duchess of Hohenb

The reason that I have already finished "The Care and Management of Lies" is that it was loaned to me by my book blogging DIL who received an advanced reader copy or ARC of the book for review.

Jacqueline Winspear's book is the story of a young couple married shortly before the war begins.  The new wife has also been a long time best friend of her husband's only sister as they were school mates.  The new husband is a farmer in Kent, his sister is a school teacher, suffragist and peace protester, while the new wife is former school teacher now farmer's wife who is struggling in her new role.

Jacqueline, in describing her inspiration for the book, cites the incredible mail system that was created during this war.  Tons of mail made its way to France and Belgium from England in a couple of days.  Much of the book is based on the letters between the young couple after the young man decides to join up leaving his wife to supervise the farm which now will also be used to help with providing food for the effort.

I love the British version of the cover for this book showing two people in completely new roles.  The letters to the husband at war include descriptions of wonderful meals the wife would like to share with her husband, while he writes sanitized versions of his experience, both trying to protect the other.

I also recently finished this book, " A Star for Mrs. Blake," which is the story of Gold Star Mothers, who through a government sponsored program, are provided a journey to France to visit the battle fields and graves of their now deceased sons.  The ships carry a diverse group of women from different parts of the United States which makes for great story telling as do the stories of those who accompany as guides and helpers.

So one hundred years ago today, as it states on the side of a museum at the corner where the assassination in Sarajevo to place, marks the beginning of the 20th Century.

The Winter Horses, a timely read

Life in Ukraine has not been easy over the last century.  Stalin caused the starvation deaths of millions as all their produce and wheat was shipped to Russia.  Now once again there is turmoil.  This book written for the middle school crowd is set in the Ukraine during World War II.  A young Jewish girl, Kalinka, has managed to evade the German soldiers once, but now must do so again.  She travels by her wits to the steppe from her city where all her family has disappeared and ends up on a wild life reserve, Askania-Nova.

It is there that she finds help from the caretaker, Max, of the reserve as well as the last of the wild horses.

 
Przewalski's Horses are the last truly wild horse which can trace its origin to thousands of years ago.  They are now on an extermination list so that Hitler can have his so called pure Aryan and animal life society.  Max manages to help Kalinka and the last breeding pair of horses escape the Germans before losing his life.  Kalinka has bonded with the horses and that relationship is both beautiful and other worldly.  Their journey and survival is a bit like an Indiana Jones movie.

I am sure that the British author, Phillip Kerr, wrote this book not knowing that it would be published during another time of turmoil for this part of the world.  It is hard for me to watch another world leader abusing his power in an attempt to prop up his image and ego.

Nothing to Envy

I am really enjoying my Provo Book Club.  We meet monthly in the Provo Rec Center library and the Provo Public Library sends a leader who brings us book sets for each month, one book for each of us.  There are usually 9-12 people who meet each month and I love the diversity of life experience in the group as well as the great comments and being with fellow book lovers.  Yesterday we discussed "Nothing to Envy, Ordinary Lives in North Korea" by Barbara Demick.

This book was most unsettling.  I feel like I've been living in a fog and have been totally unaware of a great injustice.  This is not something that happened decades ago, it is happening now!  1984 actually existed in 1984 and continues on.  That blackened outlined country is North Korea.  The brighter dot is Pyongyang and the smaller dot is Chongjin and often times there is not electricity or water available.  Food is scarce, housing uncomfortable and often unavailable, and medical care sparse.  In 1945, when Korea was divided at the 38th parallel, the great division in lifestyle began.  South Korea glows with Seoul being the bright light.  North Korea is a place of misery and corrupt leadership.

The northern border is a river dividing North Korea from China and more and more North Koreans risk crossing that river into China.  Some travel north to Mongolia where the embassy will help them on to South Korea.  Others travel from China to other countries and eventually to Seoul or directly to Seoul with altered passports.  South Korea houses the refuges for a month helping them to make the big adjustment to a very different life style and also gives them $20,000 to help them start a new life.

This book was nominated for the National Book Award in 2010 and Barbara Demick writes beautifully as she intertwines the stories of several North Koreans who eventually make it out.  Their stories span decades as they live through the power going out, jobs disappearing, no food, and the deaths of family members along with being in a society which allows nothing of the outside world.  The stories told will break your heart and make you uncomfortable and wary.

Last evening, after book club in the afternoon, I planned on watching PBS and American Experience as it would be about 1964 and the difference that year made in the United States and history.  I turned 12 in 1964 and remember it well as it was also a time of great change for my family as we left the family farm in Idaho and moved to Arizona.  Immediately after American Experience,  Frontline, "Secret State of North Korea",  came on.  I sat mesmerized as what I had just read and discussed was visually presented.  Video, discreetly filmed, showed all the the book had shared to be real.  I wished that I had a way to contact all my fellow book clubbers, so that they could watch, too.

Since the book was written, Kim Jong-un has risen to power upon the death of his father, Kim Jong-il who followed the original leader, his father, Kim Il-sung.  This is a photo of Kim Jung-un with the military generals of his father.  Over 50 per cent have now been disposed.  Just recently he executed an uncle and aunt.  He has executed others.  He has rattled his nuclear saber over and over.  Things are not improving.  Dennis Rodman, what were you thinking?

WWII viewpoints

I've been plodding, yes plodding, through this biography on Dwight Eisenhower published in 2012.  Thank goodness for my Arizona library's generous online renewal system.  I like a good, fat, comprehensive biography every once in awhile.  No need to stay up all night finishing it as you already have a pretty good idea where the story is going and how it will end.  But all the fascinating little details and nuances, that is what keeps one coming back a few pages at a time.

Eisenhower is the first US president that I can remember as he won the presidential election the year I was born.  However, I was a bit confused as a child.  I thought there was only one president in my world, President David O. McKay, who presided over my church as well as country.  One day my mother sat me down and gave it to me straight explaining all about Eisenhower.  It rocked my world a bit but I accepted it.  I think my mother had a soft spot for both men.  She considered President McKay to be a living prophet and she had served in the Women's Army Air Corps during WWII and appreciated General Eisenhower's leadership as allied commander.

The President McKay of my youth was a tall man with a full head of beautiful white hair and he looked like a prophet.  I found this picture on the BYU web site taken in 1952 when then President Harry S. Truman visited campus during a campaign trip for Adlai Stevenson.  President McKay is on Truman's left. Truman played a part in the subtle political wrangling the eventually put Eisenhower on the Republican ticket.

 

I found the political presidential part interesting but more so the military career of Eisenhower.  It was fascinating to follow the history of WWII from the commander's viewpoint and logistics, both the seeming failures and the triumphs.

When my son learned of my current read, he recommended and lent me "Rite of Passage".  The author, Ray Matheny, had been my son's professor at BYU.  Now I had another viewpoint of WWII, that of a young enlisted man who trained as a flight engineer and top-turret gunner on a B-17.  His plane eventually was brought down over Germany and he and one other crew member survive but soon find themselves POWs in Stalag 17 under the command of the Nazis.

If I had been more interested in history when younger, I might have had the WWII viewpoints of my maternal uncles from the ground and the air.  The greatest generation doesn't like to talk much about it but I could have at least asked a question or two.  Lowell, in khaki, became a top-turret gunner like Matheny but in a B-24 Liberator.  Ray Metheny was based in England and his  bombardment group mostly dropped their wares over Germany.   Lowell D. Nyborg was based in southern Italy with the 746th heavy bombardment group as part of the 456th, or "Steed's Flying Colts," who dropped their bombs in Italy, Austria, and Romania preparing for the invasion of southern France.  Other targets included those in Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and the Balkans.  Lowell, too, survived when his plane fell from the sky over Austria near the end of the conflict.  He also was taken as a prisoner of war who eventually returned home not only with a beating heart but with a Purple Heart for valor. His brother, Elden, served in the Army as an infantry soldier marching across France.

Lowell is the hat less blond on the front row in this picture of his crew in front of their B-24 Liberator.  I found online a scanned hand typed page with 5/2/45 at the top listing each crew members' name and rank along with the name of a family member and their home address.  My guess is that it was in preparation for the notification of the next of kin about the plane going down.  They came from New York to Kentucky and Washington, D.C. to Drummond, Idaho.  My grandmother's name, Rhoda, is on that list.  I can only imagine her worry and despair.  There is also a scanned page of an "Individual Casualty Questionnaire" given by Lowell Nyborg.  It states when questioned about the bombardier, "Went down with the plane."

It is pretty amazing how much one can find by browsing the Internet but I know it would have been so much better if I could have just sat down and visited with the uncles.  Too bad my interest and questions came later.  They are both gone now, but miraculously they both came home and my grandmother's family, though marked forever by their experiences, remained intact.

The Sandcastle Girls

This book was released last summer, but it is not a summer beach read kind of book.  The sand referred to in this book lies in Syria. It is not just in the present that there was blood drenched sand in Syria.  The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohialian is set in 1915 as well as the current day as the narrator tells her own tale as an Armenian growing up in the United States while sharing the details of how her Armenian family came to dwell here in the first place.  Her discovery of the horrendous burdens suffered by her ancestors mirrors that of the author who is also Armenian.

Our world has a history of mass destruction being leveled upon people because of their ethnicity.  The Armenian Genocide perpetuated by Turkey may be one of the lesser known genocides but it is just as horrific.  The first wave occurred in the 1890's and by 1915, 1.5 million Christian Armenians had lost their lives, with many of the women and children being marched to their deaths through the sands of Syria to Aleppo.  The United States has yet to formally denounce or sanction Turkey for their actions.  So much for human rights.

This book may have saddened me, but it is beautifully written and is also character driven as well as historically derived.  Boston Brahmins are drawn to Aleppo to provide help and relief.  One falls in love with an Armenian engineer who because of his skills has joined the Germans in railroad building after escaping his own death.  He is in Aleppo hoping against all hope to find out what happened to his wife and daughter as the refugees straggle into Aleppo.  There is a plot twist that totally took me by surprise.  These are main characters that you can cheer for and several are based on real people in real circumstances.  Chris Bohialian has had several of his books made into movies.  The Sandcastle Girls may be next.

Human family stratified

I just finished A Wedding in Haiti by Julia Alvarez. It is a simple telling of two visits to Haiti from the Dominican Republic, one just before the earthquake and another 6 months after.  Julia Alvarez was born in the Dominican Republic, currently owns and operates an organic coffee farm there with her husband Bill, and also watches the demise of both parents with dementia who live in a home created by her father years ago in his homeland. Julia and Bill live and work in Vermont, but as time allows, they return to the Dominican Republic.

 As in the United States with illegal border crossings, it is common for Haitians to illegally cross the border into the DR to work.  That is how Julia and Bill come to know and love Piti and are extended a wedding invitation when Piti returns home to Haiti to marry the mother of his daughter.  It is thus that their Haitian adventures begin.  Julia is an author of several books and a journal keeper.  She keeps a journal of their journey by four wheel drive pickup deep into northwest Haiti, never planning to write the memoir that eventually emerges.  We are plunged into the culture and lives of Haitians as she writes for us from that journal.  After the earthquake they return with Piti, his wife, and child to bring supplies and to check on family members.  This time as they also venture south to Port Au Prince, we are immersed once again into the horror that was post earthquake Haiti.

I have been thinking a great deal about this quote, "When we have seen a thing, what then is the obligation?"  Julia Alvarez shares these words from a friend who had traveled the world and seen hard things.  What truly is our obligation? Bill's answer to his wife is, "We do what we can. We try to be generous wherever we find ourselves."

And then Julia writes:

"And tonight it happens -- what seldom happens in a human family so scattered and stratified, so divided by opportunity that sometimes it's difficult to recognize the critter at the top as kin to the one at the bottom.  Tonight, oh holy night: a disparate group has gathered like pieces of a story under one roof, all having eaten enough, all safe enough for now, all asleep or ready for sleep. . ."

Beauty and Belief, all Truth is Beauty

I am currently slogging my way through "Cronkite" by Douglas Brinkley.  It is a thick book, 820 pages including the footnotes and index.  It is an interesting foray into history from a journalistic point of view as well as a telling tale of the influence of differing kinds of media over the last 80 or so years.

I'm only a quarter of a way through the book, but far enough to follow Cronkite to the first two televised presidential conventions in 1958 and 1960.  He was on the cusp of televised reporting which forever changed these political conventions from their free wheeling roots to the carefully planned and scripted "infomercials"  that we just watched.  CBS held workshops to help the candidates with such things as make-up and clothing to how to play to the camera.  Television really changed everything about how we go about selecting a president.  Our current generation is watching the impact of the Internet on presidential campaigns.

So over the last couple of days as I've listened (NPR) and watched (TV) about the death of a United States Ambassador to Libya resulting from the sharing of an offensive video via the Internet. I wonder that a world so connected is still so ignorant of each others basic tenets and beliefs. I ponder about revenge and fanatical behavior and actions.
  

On September 22 the Louvre  will open its Islamic Wing. It will another chance for the public to better understand this ancient and long standing culture.

The public will learn about the importance of calligraphy and the written word to the Islamic world just as I did at the BYU Museum of Art's exhibit, "Beauty and Belief: Crossing Bridges with the Arts of Islamic Culture."  They will be charmed by the beautiful patterns and symmetry.
 

They will become aware that in the Islamic world beauty is truth as I did upon attending a lecture, "Islam: Truth and Beauty" given by this man, Professor of Islamic Studies at George Washington University Seyyed Hossein Nasr, last week at the MOA.

Photo courtesy of BYU MOA

My eldest son traveled with us on our last trip to Utah.  He had heard about the lecture, wanted to attend, and had brought a CD by Daniel C. Peterson entitled "Understanding Islam" for us to listen to in the car in preparation for the lecture. After the lecture as we viewed the exhibit "Beauty and Belief." We both commented on how grateful we were for the added perspective that the CD had provided. Daniel C. Peterson is a professor of Islamic Studies and Arabic in the Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages at Brigham Young University and I would highly recommend his book and CD.

Now I know in better detail why the burning of the Koran is so offensive.  Now I better understand the current unrest in the Middle East.  Now I better understand the diversity of the Islamic world verses the fanatical factions which receive so much attention, but also cause so much grief.

"Beauty and Belief" will end on September 29, 2012.  It will then travel to other venues.

Last days of summer

The summer has whizzed by.  All these little sweeties are back in school and one grade older.

We managed to get in a sleepover before they had a school schedule to keep. This included ebelskivers for breakfast, a trip to the public pool with it's water slides and high dives, and grandpa's latest gadget.

We also watched us some Olympics.  I thought the 2012 London Olympics were grand.  It was something to look forward to during the hot days of summer.

Diamond Jubilees

The stars have lined up again!  I requested from the library, Elizabeth the Queen, The Life of a Modern Monarch, several weeks ago.  It became available for pick up just in time for Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee celebration.  Elizabeth has now been Queen for 60 years, being crowned at age 25 in 1952 which is also my birth year.  I guess I will be celebrating my Diamond Jubilee as well this year.

What else was happening 60 years ago?  My parents married early in the year and I was born 9 months later on Prince Charles, Elizabeth's oldest son's, 4th birthday.  No wonder my mother often talked about Elizabeth's wedding and coronation days when I was a child.  They were contemporaries.

I haven't gotten far in the book yet, but I do already know that one of Elizabeth's lifelong friends and a trusted helper with her horses was Henry Porchester who became the 7th Earl of Carnarvon.  That is correct, Elizabeth socialized with the caretaker of Highclere Castle.  How many seasons of Downtown Abbey would it take to include that story?

This picture showed up on Amy Smart's quilting blog yesterday.  I love this Union Jack quilt top she just finished.  Amy is honoring the Queen as well as the coming London Olympics.  I think I must share my mother's love of following the Royals.

Kansas - Day 6

It seems most appropriate to share Day 6 on Memorial Day.  Once again we drove to Kansas City to visit the National World War I Museum which is south of the Kansas City Convention Center. "Officially designated as the America’s World War I Museum by the 108th Congress, the facility is the only museum in our nation solely dedicated to preserving the objects, history and personal experiences of a war whose impact still echoes today."

This is not a Kansas City museum honoring those who fought in WWI.  It is a national (perhaps even international judging by the visitors) museum built to tell the story of ALL who fought in this horrific first world war.

We had the opportunity of climbing the stairs to the top of the 217 foot Liberty Memorial Tower which provided excellent views of downtown Kansas City from its observation deck.

In the background left to right are the new Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts and next to it the Kansas City Convention Center where we had spent the last two days at Spring Quilt Market.

Now turning toward the northeast view.  Kansas City was the birthplace and national headquarters of several well known business including not only Hallmark, but Western Auto, H and R Block, and TWA.

This lovely building directly north of the memorial was finished in 1914 and was the train station called Union Station.  It is now a museum and cultural center.

When it was announced that there would be a memorial built in Kansas City "in honor of those who served in the World War in defense of liberty and our country" which was to be called Liberty Memorial, over $40,000,000 was donated in matter of days.  It was an astounding amount of money for the early 1920's.

There were two Exhibition Halls and two stylized sphinxes one facing east as a symbol of looking back on what has happened and the other facing west toward a better future.  The tower stands between the exhibition halls.

I borrowed this photo from this web site to help with the scale of the memorial.  It is very art deco in appearance and was finished and dedicated in 1926.

I purchased this postcard with a black and white photo of that day.

In 2006 the new National World War I Museum was officially opened.  It is underneath the Liberty Memorial, construction made possible by the discovery of a cave in this spot.  It is divided into two parts, 1914 - 1917 and 1917 - 1919.  The first part includes uniforms, weaponry, and the story of all countries involved from the beginning of the war in Europe.  The second part is the story of the United States entry into the war and of its armed forces.  If you go, don't miss the introductory film.  It provides a concise and well written introduction into the influences and reasons for the war.

Being in this subterranean museum seemed a bit appropriate as this was a war of trenches.  The 1914 - 1917 part included a reconstructed trench winding its way for several feet along the outside wall.  There were peep holes with sound effects along the length which gave one an impression of how it might have been.  It made the story of my grandfather, Andrew Percy Nyborg, all the more real.

Remembering 9/11

My sister, Lynette, bought the fabric in Denver so that we could each make and quilt a wall hanging as a remembrance of September 11, 2001. Lynette celebrates her birthday on September 10th. She expressed to me her gratitude that her birthday occurred the day before and not on 9/11.

Yesterday as I was cleaning wood floors I was lamenting to myself that they didn't look so new anymore. I clicked through the calendar of my mind to check how old that floor really was and as I went through the memorable events that keep that mind calendar in order, I stopped at 9/11. Yes, the wood floor was installed the summer before 9/11. That floor deserved to show some use. It was 10 years old!

Just like I can reflect on where and who I was during the Cuban Missile Crisis or when JFK was assassinated or his brother Bobby shot down in LA, I will always remember 9/11. In fact, it is probably the most memorable of my national memories, perhaps because I was an adult or more probably because it was horrific for so many and made us all feel so vulnerable.

The TV was on in my bedroom tuned to the Today Show as I prepared to leave that Tuesday for a brand new Augusta Ranch Elementary where I was the new librarian. I listened in horror as I dressed, combed my hair, and prepared to leave the house as the events in New York played out live. I remember driving the 12 miles or so east on the US 60 feeling so numb. Our numbers that day were lower as many parents elected to keep their children at home. I remember the drive home that afternoon without one jet in the sky heading for Sky Harbor. Here I was almost 2000 miles away and yet it was so hard to process mentally what had happened, what was happening.

Fridays at school were Spirit Days. Usually that meant wearing your Augusta Ranch t-shirt to school on Friday. After 9/11, it was announced that a special spirit day would be held that week and that we should wear red, white, and blue to show our support and respect for those affected by the current events. Unfortunately, that day was also a previously scheduled fire alarm practice (unknown to the students.) As I left the Library and headed outside to the playground, my first thought was, "These lines of students will look like targets for a terrorist." And then I saw something that made my heart turn and my eyes water.

Augusta Ranch Elementary was home to a very diverse population. The English language learning program was servicing students speaking 13 different languages. As I watched the students stream out from the building my eyes were drawn to two brothers of Middle Eastern descent. They were searching each other out and they were dressed head to toe in brand new red, white, and blue clothing. I could tell that their parents had made a special effort to show that they supported the United States of America. Tears flowed as I realized that these parents were trying to protect their sons from hate and prejudice. They had purchased new "armor" so that their sons might be protected in this new reality.

That will always be my most personal memory of that week 10 years ago. As a parent I could understand parental love and the need to protect one's own. My mother's heart wept for everyone.

Isn't is ironic?

I just finished reading a book about this young woman.

The book tells her true story of being a teenage student in Kabul as the Taliban take over and begin their 5 years of terror and torture. Kamila Sidiqi, as a woman, can no longer travel at will, attend school, or work outside her home. When in public she must be accompanied by a male escort and wear the blue chadari covering her from head to foot. To defy Taliban commands is to invite death.

Kamila is a strong, smart woman and she soon finds a way not to only provide for her family but to also support the neighborhood women as dressmakers working at home in their family compounds. It is a great story of resiliency and courage. To read more about Kamila on NPR go here.

I find it ironic that Osama bin Laden spent the last 5 years if his life living as Kamila did while under his influence and that of the Taliban. He was sequestered in a walled compound dependent on others to venture out and return with food and supplies knowing that his life would be in danger if he were found on the outside. Perhaps that is the true payback.

I also recently finished this historical novel of a Civil War nurse. Mary Sutter is also a strong, smart, and resilient woman who struggles against a man's world. Trained as a midwife her true dream is to become a doctor. She continues to follow her dream as she endures the horror and medical crisis that follow the soldiers. Her dream is finally realized.

The author, Robin Oliveira, provides very detailed descriptions of medical practices of this time including the research which takes place during that same time period. Again ironically, just years after the war, enough is known about infection and fighting it, that many lives could have been saved from the simple washing of hands and instruments before the next amputation. Important historical note; there were 20 Civil War nurses who went on to become female doctors after the war.

Women around the world continue to struggle to obtain basic human rights and the opportunity to develop their talents. I am grateful for strong, courageous, and resilient women who continue to make a difference.


I am grateful that my mother was such a woman and I honor her this Mother's Day. She served her country and used the GI Bill to become an educated woman with the skills necessary to work as a medical technologist. She raised six children mostly as a single parent while also caring for a husband with multiple medical issues. I am grateful that she lived in a time and place that allowed her opportunities. I am grateful for her unselfish love.

I also love this talk given last September by Julie Beck to the women of the world.

Downwinders

I am a "downwinder." A downwinder is someone who is exposed to nuclear radiation, specifically during atomic testing in the 1950's and 60's. I spent my childhood living on a dairy farm in Idaho. We drank raw milk from our Jersey cows who grazed on grass from the meadow by the house and ate hay harvested from our own farmland, thus concentrating any exposure from nuclear testing in Nevada in the 1950's. It seems that radiation caught the wind patterns and fell hundreds of miles away just like the government thought it would, mostly on less populated parts of the United States. This was information which would take decades to become public knowledge.

When I first read about downwinders and realized that I qualified as one a few years back, I had also just been diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroid disease. Thyroid issues are common in downwinders (Hyperactive thyroids are medically destroyed using radioactive iodine.) Interestingly, 4 of my 6 siblings are currently taking medication to treat thyroid problems. Both of our parents had thyroid issues, but on opposite ends of the spectrum. Thyroid cancer is common in downwinders. I insisted that my endrocirnologist place copies of articles that I had collected about downwinders in my medical file. There was no resistance on his part.

I was born in Fremont County and our dairy farm was in Madison County, both of which are in the red northeast corner of Idaho just below Montana and west of Wyoming as you can see in the map of the United States at the beginning of this post. I find this map to be fairly sobering. I've been thinking more about being a downwinder lately as I read, watch, and hear about the nuclear energy plant disaster in Japan. I also find it hard to trust those who are reassuring us that there is no danger.