Hiroshima Survior, Truman Grandson Talk Reconciliation By Nick Garber Senior Writer Hundreds gathered in Mead Memorial Chapel on Monday, May 2 to attend “Responsibility, Reconciliation and the Dropping of the Atomic Bombs.” The event’s primary participants were Shigeko Sasamori, an 84 year-old survivor of the 1945 Hiroshima bombing, and Clifton Daniel, grandson of U.S. President Harry S. Truman. Their discussion was moderated by Stephen Snyder, Dean of Language Schools and Professor of Japanese Studies. “Tonight’s event is important for learning and knowing about responsibility, and for engaging in a dialogue that is integral to reconciliation,” said Tamar Mayer, director of the Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs, who gave opening remarks. “For learning lessons from the past, and for acknowledging that war has devastating impacts on victims, perpetrators, their children, their grandchildren and on the globe as a whole.” Mayer also read a statement from President of the College Laurie L. Patton, who could not attend. “These two people are descendants of the best and the worst policies and mindsets of the twentieth century,” Patton’s statement read in part. “They’re taking the legacy of their ancestors and transforming them into a positive force for good. And they’re doing so through conversation, perhaps the most powerful tool that we have.” The discussion then began
with a speech by Sasamori, in which she recalled her own experience of the bombing and its aftermath. “That day, all the students at my school had to help in the city,” she said. “Just starting to clean up the gutters, I heard an airplane and I looked at the sky — Hiroshima that day was beautiful blue sky, with no clouds. A silver airplane flew by, and it looked so beautiful. So I told my girlfriend, ‘Look at the sky!’ I pointed, and at the same time, I saw the airplane drop something white. Later, I found out that was a parachute, so the bomb don’t explode closer to the airplane.” “When I saw the white thing drop, it pushed me down. I don’t know how long I was unconscious, probably a long time. When I became conscious, I looked around — pitch black, I couldn’t see anything,” she said. After a fog lifted, Sasamori said, she began to notice other victims. “Everyone is different, everybody’s completely changed. All over the hair, ashes, and burns, clothes hanging, bleeding, red all over and walking very slowly,” she said. “I didn’t hear anything, I didn’t feel anything.” Eventually, Sasamori lost consciousness again, and was taken to a school auditorium. “I stayed in the auditorium five days, four nights,” she said. “I keep saying, ‘Please give me water, please tell my parents my name, address.’ It was very hard for me to say. I said to myself, ‘One more time, somebody pay attention.’ Suddenly, a man
May 5, 2016 | Vol. 114 no. 24 | middleburycampus.com
RAIN CAN’T STOP THE MAPLE RUN
Michael O’hara
Over 500 runners embarked the on Middlebury Maple Run Half Marathon on Sunday, May 1. Lee Berube of Syracuse, N.Y. and Phoebe Novello of West Windsor, VT were the top finishers. heard.” “Then, my parents came, holding candles, saying, ‘Shigeko, Shigeko,’ looking at people on the floor, like a fish market. Then finally, my mother heard, ‘Here I am!’ … My mother told me many years later … she said my face was so swollen, it looked like a burned toast. Couldn’t see where’s the nose, where’s the eyes, where’s the mouth?” “Several months after, I came out and looked at myself…When I saw myself in a little broken mirror, I couldn’t believe it … that wasn’t a human face, it was like a big monster.” Sasamori ultimately came to the United States in the 1950s to receive reconstructive plastic surgery. Here, she gave birth to a son, Norman Cousins Sasamori, who also attended the event. “When he was born, I was so happy,” she said. “I said to him, ‘Thank you for coming to me on this Earth … I won’t let you go to war. Kill me first.’” Sasamori has since become increasingly involved with movements for peace SEE HIROSHIMA, PAGE 8
RELAY FOR LIFE SERVES UP FUN TO FIGHT CANCER
Rachel Frank
inside
The Battell Loop hosted the Middlebury Relay for Life on Saturday, April 30 to raise money for the American Cancer Society. In total, participating teams raised over $50,000.
Faculty Email Discusses End of Semester Stress By Catherine Pollack Contributing Writer On Wednesday, April 20, Vice President for Student Affairs Katy Smith Abbott, and Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty Andrea Lloyd sent an all-faculty e-mail to draw attention to reports of increased levels of stress on campus. The e-mail also encouraged faculty to engage in conversations with students to address sources of stress on campus and discuss potential solutions. Recent reports from Residential Life staff, the College’s counseling staff and faculty have indicated an increase in incidences of mental health situations across campus. These reports, combined with the rising workload at this time in the semester, prompted Abbott and Lloyd to reach out to the faculty. The e-mail included a number of recommendations for faculty to address the rising stress. It reminded faculty to guide students to the resources available across campus dedicated to supporting struggling students. It also suggested increasing flexibility and honest conversations in the classroom. Another suggestion was that faculty help to work towards “fostering a sense of joy about learning in the classroom” in order to remind students that “the classroom does not have to be solely about stress and performance anxiety,” Lloyd said.
RUTLAND WELCOMES 100 SYRIAN REFUGEES
ALUM STARTS ‘FOOD PORN’ INSTAGRAM @EATVT
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Lloyd clarified that these ideas were suggestions, not mandates. “Small actions, small moments of honest and meaningful engagement with one another as humans, can make a difference at times like this,” Lloyd and Abbott said in the e-mail. In their closing message to the faculty, Abbott and Lloyd said, “stress is reaching a peak for all of us at this time in the semester, and all of us – students, faculty and staff – need to care for, support and watch out for one another.” While there have been many conversations concerning stress this spring, the issue has been part of many discussions throughout the year. In the first faculty meeting of the fall semester they organized focus groups to address stress on campus, according to Lloyd. The Faculty Council also recommended that President of the College Laurie L. Patton appoint students and faculty to a working group focused on continuing the conversation of stress throughout the year. “The goal of the working group is to bring together people from different constituencies to talk holistically about stress – its causes and, ultimately, solutions,” Lloyd said. Professor of Psychology Carlos Velez said that every group represented in the working group has to assume some responsibility for the issues on campus. Although the group has only met twice this year, Velez forecasted more conversations SEE FACULTY, PAGE 2
FASHION SHOW DEFIES MAINSTREAM IDEAS PAGE 13