Cantara’s (Social) Notebook

I'm outlining a novel inspired by the life of this man. Jacques Lusseyran (19 September 1924 — 27 July 27 1971) was born in Paris. A school accident caused him to become totally blind at the age of eight. However, he soon learned to adapt to being blind and maintained many close friendships. As a young teenager, alarmed at the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazism in Germany, he decided to learn the German language in order to listen to German radio broadcasts and understand his country's perilous situation better. In the spring of 1941, during the Nazi Occupation of France, Lusseyran formed a Resistance group called the Volunteers of Liberty with fifty-two other boys; the group later merged with another Resistance group called Défense de la France. In July 1943 Lusseyran was arrested by the Gestapo, betrayed by a weak-willed member of his group. He was sent to Buchenwald with two thousand other French citizens where, because he was blind, he was exempted from forced labor. Luss...

Most of them are dead now and the handful of survivors are in their 90s, but today the Spanish goverment is finally officially honoring the veterans of the 1936-39 conflict. It’s difficult to interest a generation that doesn’t even remember Vietnam—and can’t even organize a group effort to blow up party balloons—in the Spanish Civil War, but I’ll try to break it down: Good guys: Republicans—defenders of the young, struggling, democratic, egalitarian, legally-elected republic Bay guys: Loyalists—supported by Nazi troops and Nazi state-of-the-art weapons, they wanted the king returned to the throne and everything back the way it was, which was hunky-dory for the rich/landed/influential/well-born There were a few times back in the twentieth century—that parent of all our present troubles—when people were called on to actually, you know, take a risky stand for what they believed in . One was for civil rights (Michael got knocked about in Selma over that one), another was for the Spanis...

This Memorial Day here’s honoring one man who kept his promise: General Douglas MacArthur. As the supreme commander of the American and Philippine forces in the Pacific in early 1942 when the Japanese advanced on the Philippines, he held out till the very last, until the Japanese were virtually on the doorstep of his headquarters on the strategic island of Corregidor. He left his command with great reluctance, and only when Roosevelt himself ordered him to evacuate to Australia in order to gather fresh troops. And even then , he still toyed with the notion to resign from the US Army and go up into the hills to fight alongside the guerillas. But duty was stronger. Evacuate to Australia he did, and there he vowed, “I shall return.” He did return , in 1944. My mother, a teenager then, was part of the crowd that welcomed the liberating Allied forces when they finally entered Manila. The city had been burnt to the ground by the fleeing Japanese, but after two and a half years of bombs...

From Gawker: “On 60 Minutes , Katie Couric kept asking Chesley Sullenberger whether his heroic flight was influenced by anything beside training: his gut, his terror, his God. No: “I was sure I could do it.” “Swoon. “If the Bush years were about winging it, Sullenberger is the refreshing antidote: Someone who knows how to do his job. “And not just as a pilot. Sullenberger, somehow, can handle not only a water landing on the Hudson River but also being elevated from mere mortal to the walking embodiment of a nation’s hopes for itself. ... The pilot is fully aware of the projection that’s going on and is trying his best to handle it with grace. “He’s already ensured himself a distinguished record in that regard, too.” The last clip has this exchange: Couric: You've been called a hero by a lot of people. How do you feel about that? Sullenberger: I don’t feel comfortable embracing it, but I don’t want to deny it. I don’t want to diminish their thankful feeling toward me by...