orichalcum

So, most of you who know me well have heard the story of how my dad was born in a Japanese internment camp in Weihsien, China, during World War II, while my grandparents were held there as civilian prisoners-of-war.

As it turns out, there's now a blog and website dedicated to the survivors of Weihsien, complete with paintings and maps of the camp and other internees' journals. There's also apparently currently an exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History in D.C. about Weihsien, called "The Price of Freedom," featuring artifacts from the site (but someone else's baby bonnet, not my dad's.)

It's really cool to be reminded that a private family story also involved hundreds of other people and is, in some sense, of historical importance. There's even a reunion of Weihsien internees in August.

I don't mean, btw, so soon after V-E Day, to compare this to the much harsher experience of people in European concentration camps. My dad and grandparents were given regular if simple rations, allowed to continue to worship freely, and mostly just kept from leaving and guarded. But all the same, I'm glad that their stories are also being remembered, 60 years later.

I'm grading term papers. Lots of them. I was frustrated enough when one of the early ones cited the Encyclopedia Britannica as a major source, but now I have hit new lows - someone cited Wikipedia.

I need an oelker to explain to them what serious, reliable sources are. And I need a good high school English or history teacher (hey, Stu?) to teach them that phrases like "Enter Cato the Elder, who wasn't actually Elder yet" are inappropriate, and for heavens' sakes, look up words before you use them, or you get horrific messes like "it is her fragrant display that causes Tacitus' repulsion."

This shouldn't be my job. They should know this before they get to me. But clearly, they don't. So the question becomes what can I do to make it better?