Time: What She Brings

By Anne Deavere Smith

    Many have noted how, in January, Kamala Harris will become the first woman,  first Black person, and first Indian American to become vice president. But beyond that, we need to look at who she is.

"it is her mother, a noted cancer researcher, who is frequently evoked as Harris’ influence and inspiration. 'When she came here from India at the age of 19, she maybe didn’t quite imagine this moment,' Harris said in her victory speech on Nov. 7. 'But she believed so deeply in an America where a moment like this is possible.'"

    Her grandfather was a civil servant whose passion for democracy in India's independence movement inspired her. She is not the only one in her family to be highly educated.

National Geographic: Bites That Kill

By Thomas Nicolon

    More than a hundred thousand people die from snakebites in rural communities every year, and many more end up with amputations and other disabilities. An important factor is a shortage of antivenom and storage facilities with reliable electricity, as well as a lack of money and a fear of Western medicine.

    In 2017, the WHO added snakebite envenomation to its list of neglected tropical diseases, and in 2019 announced a slashing in the number of deaths and disabilities from envenomation by 2030. Not only is it difficult for rural residents to get to a hospital, but the hospital is often too expensive or doesn't have enough equipment and expertise to treat the wound.

"Once the victim is at a treatment center, survival depends on two vital points: Is a reliable antivenom available? And if so, does the medical staff know how to administer it? Often in sub-Saharan Africa the answer to both is no."

The New Yorker: Cartoon Saloon and the New Golden Age of Animation

By Mark O'Connell

Today, most animated films are made entirely digitally.

"But Moore believes that computer graphics are subject to a built-in obsolescence. 'Computer animation is moving so fast that ‘Toy Story’ looks really ropy now,' he said. 'Whereas there are hand-drawn films from the nineteen-forties that still stand up. 'Bambi' still looks really timeless. And that’s because its language is the language of painting and illustration, rather than the language of the latest technology.'"

In the late 70s, as Disney studios went into a state of decline after Walt Disney's death, one of its animators, Don Bluth, opened Sullivan Bluth Studios, the first rival to Disney. He industrialized the film animation process, and as it began to see competition, Disney produced a string of hits from "Aladdin" to "The Lion King". Sullivan Bluth eventually went out of business, but not before it set up an animation course at a nearby university. That's where Tomm Moore, a director and founder of Cartoon Saloon, enrolled in 1995. There he met Paul Young and Nora Twomey, who went on to found the animation studio with him.

Welcome to Dongmakgol

    It's the 1950s during the Korean War, and a US Navy pilot crashes nearby the village of Dongmakgol. At the same time, North Korean soldiers trying to get back up north are ambushed by Allied forces, who kill most of them. The remaining three head into the mountains. In the woods, one lost Korean soldier finds another one. All three of them are headed for the peaceful village of Dongmakgol, lost in time.

    Dongmakgol is a place where people still live in their traditional ways, and no one has a clue about the war raging outside of their quiet home. So when Captain Neel Smith of the US Navy crashes, they take care of him and try to talk to him, and bring in the lost soldiers. Later, the North Korean soldiers show up and walk into the village, threatening a man called Teacher Kim. They and the South Korean soldiers face off for several days. The North Koreans have no ammo, so they hold up grenades instead. None of the villagers know what is happening or what the weapons are because they are removed from the world and don't even know that there is a war. A crazy girl pulls the pin on a grenade. When it doesn't blow, one of the South Koreans thinks it's a dud and throws it behind him into a storage room, where it blows.

    The next morning, they all wake up, and the leader of the North Koreans has promised not to fight and help refill and rebuild the storeroom. The others agree, and they start to learn to get along, even killing a boar that had been ravaging the town's harvests. Two of them form a very close bond, one calling the other "elder brother". The American frequently returns to his downed plane to send out a distress signal to no avail - or so he thinks. The US command in Korea receives the signal and plans an attack to get him out. A lot of their planes have been disappearing in the area around Dongmakgol and they believe it's an enemy anti-aircraft base.

    During a party one night, US/South Korea allied forces break-in and start yelling for the Communists to come out. Of course, the villagers have no idea what that means, and the North Korean soldiers stay hidden. But when the soldiers start harming people, both the South and North Koreans retaliate and take them out. They learn that the next night, the US fleet will be bombing the area, so they create a plan to decoy the bombers. They have Smith stay back as a last line of defense if it doesn't work. During the initial assault, they get the planes' attention and actually manage to take out a few. But later on, one of them is killed, and in a rage, another begins firing a machine gun and gets shot down. Satisfied that they have protected the village, the remaining three soldiers, despite being on opposite sides of a war, stand together as the bombs rain down.