Importance of Community Expertise to Academic Research Recognized

Hello friends,

I was recently awarded a Killam doctoral scholarship to support my pursuit of a Phd in History at University of British Columbia. This is a tremendous honor, and I’m deeply grateful for this support and the opportunities it affords me. I’m humbled to be able to learn from exceptional mentors, colleagues, and projects during my time working on my PhD.

I first began working with radiation-impacted communities as a young grad student almost fifteen years ago. In these stories of radiogenic communities I found resilience and injustice at a scale that I could not even begin to comprehend.

I do not believe that the stories of ordinary people living in radiogenic communities need to be “validated” by academics or awards: they speak to a truth held in common by radiogenic communities worldwide, and they emerge from complex and enduring systems of local knowledge that encode the history of environments and human activities in ways academics are only beginning to understand. Many of these narrators will be the first to tell you how badly health studies and robust research are needed in their communities if they are to attain the services and political change necessary to address ongoing health and environmental crisis .

I interpret the Killam award as an instance of the Academy recognizing the importance of these forms of community expertise, and the responsibility of academic institutions to work collaboratively with communities in pursuit of environmental and social justice.

A short video was made about my research in recognition of the award, and I shared with the producers of this video some images of places, people, artwork and events that motivate my research. By virtue of this video’s format, those important people, places, and events, artworks, and stories end up getting turned into visual fragments, which does them a disservice. Please take a moment to click through some of the links in captions below to learn more about a few of the incredible activists, academics, artists, and places I’ve had the honor of learning from. If you’d like to learn more or get involved, here are some places to start.

Hanford downwinder activist Tom Bailie, Dr. Norma Field, Nagasaki hibakusha (atomic bomb survivor) and activist Mitsugi Moriguchi, and Dr. Yuki Miyamoto, Richland 2018. These extraordinary activists and nuclear scholars were part of the historic Hanford-Nagasaki Bridge event, organized by the group Consequences of Radiation Exposure (CORE) and held in the Tri-Cities near the Hanford site in 2018.

Learn more:

“Nagasaki Survivor Visits Hanford, Finds Some of the Story Still Untold”

https://www.pbs.org/video/a-nagasaki-survivor-visits-hanford-gepzqn/.

Dr. Field is the editor and co-translator of Fukishima: Will you Still Say No Crime Has Been Committed. Read one of her recent works here.

Dr. Miyamoto is the author of Beyond the Mushroom Cloud: Commemoration, Religion, and Responsibility after Hiroshima.

Attendees at University of British Columbia view Hitomi Kamanaka’s stunning documentary "Little Voices from Fukushima”. I organized Kama’s May 2019 visit to University of British Columbia for this screening in collaboration with MV Ramana of the Liu Institute for Global Studies, with support from the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, the Department of History, the Department of Political Science, the Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability, the Faculty of Arts, the Department of Asian Studies, and the Centre for Japanese Research.

Article by 4 Corners journalist and artist Sonja Horoshko, published in the Four Corners Free Press, on a joint art opening of works by renowned artist Ed Singer and a book event featuring Downwind, held in Cortez Colorado in May 2019. Learn more about Ed’s incredible work here. Sonja has published numerous pieces about the legacies of uranium in the Four Corners region; read more of her work here.

The Rio Puerco River in New Mexico, in 1979 the site of the largest accidental release of radiation in United States history (roughly 3 times as much radiation was released in this accident at a uranium tailings pond as was released in the notorious Three Mile Island Nuclear power plant disaster that same year). It spilled 94 million gallons of radioactive water onto the Navajo Nation, impacting drinking water, livestock, and families across the region. Learn more.

Artist Jerrel Singer’s mural near Grey Mountain, Arizona on the lands of the Navajo Nation, featuring the words of Santee Dakota activist John Trudell: “Are they not waging nuclear war when the miners die from cancer from mining the uranium?” Read more about Jerrel’s work and follow him here!

“Radioactive Pollution Kills: Its Time to Clean Up The Mines,” installation by artist @jetsonorama. Learn more about his work here.

Map from National Cancer Institute Study of thyroid cancer related to Iodine-131 dispersed by atmospheric nuclear testing in Nevada 1951-1962. View the study here.

Eugene, Oregon community reading of “Exposed,” a play by Utah downwinder Mary Dickson, held in commemoration of the 2018 anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This event was organized by Oregon WAND (Women’s Action for New Directions). Learn more about Mary’s play and WAND.

“#waterislife #goldminespill #noDAPL #WaterisSacred” Street art/Mural in Shiprock, New Mexico. Navajo Nation. Artist unknown. (If you know the artist please contact me at sarahalisabethfox@gmail.com!)

Downwind author Sarah Fox to speak at 2018 Remembering Downwinders Events in Salt Lake

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 7, 2018

Author Sarah Fox to speak at 7th Annual Remembering Downwinders Day events

in commemoration of the 67th anniversary of the inception of nuclear testing in Nevada

Salt Lake City, UT, January 7, 2018– Seattle author, historian, and professor of environmental studies Sarah Fox will speak at the Downwinders Remembrance Day event at 6:30 pm on January 20 as a guest of UCAN (Utah Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons), and UNAU (United Nations Association of Utah).  

The Remembering Downwinders Day event will be hosted by Congregation Kol Ami at 2425 East Heritage Way, approximately 2760 South. Fox, author of Downwind: A People’s History of the Nuclear West (University of Nebraska Press, 2014, www.downwindhistory.com), will address the history and health and environmental impacts of nuclear testing in Nevada. Songwriter Kate MacLeod will also be featured in this program, along with candle lighting and sharing of stories.

January of 2018 marks the 67th anniversary of the first nuclear test conducted in Nevada; over 900 additional nuclear explosions followed by 1992.  For the first 11 years, the tests took place in the open air; Atomic Energy Commission policy dictated that tests go forward only when the wind blew east, away from Las Vegas and California and out across Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Arizona, Montana, and states beyond. Massive amounts of toxic radiological pollution entered into the environment, contaminating the air, food, and water that local citizens relied on, and creating a legacy of health problems that ripples forward to the present day. The tests weren’t the only source of radioactive pollution in the West; the uranium industry that sprang up to fuel the bombs contaminated thousands of sites, communities, waterways, and families.  Many of these uranium-affected regions also bore the brunt of contamination from nuclear tests in Nevada. Remembering the downwinders requires that we do more than mark the past: we must reckon with the persistent and dangerous ways this history of contamination impacts us today and looms over our childrens’ futures.

The Utah Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons is a collection of concerned citizens who join a growing and diverse group of leaders and fellow citizens from across the political spectrum who believe that now is the time for the United States to lead the world in nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. United Nations Association of Utah seeks to heighten public awareness and increase knowledge of global issues and build support for constructive national policies on global concerns.

Fox will speak at the following public events (all are free and open to the public):

Saturday, Jan. 20, 6:30 pm, “Remembering Downwinders” at Congregation Kol Ami, 2425 E. Heritage Way, approximately 2720 South (just south of I-80).   Kate MacLeod will also be featured in this program, along with candle lighting and sharing of stories.

Sunday, January 21, 1:30, “Bearing Witness: Retelling the Past in Pursuit of Social Justice” talk, potluck lunch at 1, St. Marks, Deans Hall, 231 East 100 South.  

Monday, January 22, “Stories from Downwind: Investigating the Nuclear West” talk at 11:00 am at Utah Valley University, Classroom Building room 317.

Monday, January 22, Tea with the Author, Jane’s House, 3:00-5:00 pm. A chance to ask in-depth questions and share stories at length. 444 E 200 S.

Tuesday, January 23, 12:30 pm, “From Personal Narrative to Policy: Downwind Stories Shifting the Status Quo” Pizza and Politics with the Hinckley Institute of Politics, 332 S. 1400 East, Building 72, room 102 (The Old Law College Moot Courtroom).

Tuesday, January 23, 7 pm, “Raising our Voices Downwind: Citizen Narratives as a Force for Nuclear Policy Change.” United Nations Association of Utah, talk at Millcreek Community Center and Library, 2266 E. Evergreen Ave.

# # #

If you would like more information about any of these events please contact Deb Sawyer of UCAN at dsawyer@xmission.com or Sarah Fox at 206 930 3921, email at downwindhistory@gmail.com.

Day of Remembrance for Downwinders: the 65th Anniversary of the Inception of Nuclear Testing in Nevada

January 27, 2016 marks the 65th anniversary of the inception of nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site.  The test, a 1 kiloton bomb code named Able, went off at Frenchman Flat at 5:45 am local time. 

Frenchman's Flat, Nevada Test Site

Within eight days it was followed by four additional nuclear tests. In the forty years that followed, those first five tests, known as the Ranger series, were followed by another 923 nuclear detonations in Nevada. Massive amounts of toxic radiological pollution entered the downwind environment, contaminating the air, food, and water that local citizens relied on, and creating a legacy of health problems that will continue to ripple forward for generations. At 1 kt, Able was a comparatively small test, (if you consider 1000 tons of TNT small).  Subsequent tests in Nevada were frequently upwards of 50 kt, sometimes even surpassing 100 kt. Atomic Energy Commission policy dictated that tests go forward only when the wind blew east, over the communities of southern Nevada, southern Utah, northern Arizona, and often northern Nevada, northern Utah and southern Idaho. Testing from 1951 to 1962 took place atmospherically, or in the open air, dumping massive amounts of radiological pollution into the winds to be carried across the country.

Areas of the United States crossed by two or more clouds from atmospheric nuclear tests, 1951-1962. Underground testing from 1962-1992 also created airborne contamination. Map assembled by Richard Miller.

Testing in Nevada was only part of the problem.  Massive amounts of uranium were mined, milled, transported, and processed to fuel the bombs (225 million tons between 1950 and 1989, some of that destined for the nuclear power industry), a process that left its own legacy of catastrophic pollution and health problems across the American West.

In memory of those who have been lost to radiation-related illness, downwinders in Salt Lake City and Emmett, Idaho are holding memorial gatherings today.  The 5th annual SLC "Day of Remembrance for Downwinders," will take place from 7-8 pm at South Valley Unitarian Church in Cottonwood Heights.

The Emmett, Idaho downwinders group will be holding their event at 4:00 pm at the Frontier Cinema, where the official release of the documentary Downwinders will take place.  To view a clip of the documentary, click here.

A contribution to HEAL Utah is a great way to help keep nuclear testing in Nevada a thing of the past, and a wonderful way to honor the memory of those who have been lost to radiation-related illness.

In memory of those who are too many to name.

Bringing Downwind to Idaho: October Book Tour midpoint

During the early years of my research into the impact of nuclear testing in Nevada, I operated under a common misconception: that Southern Utah had borne the brunt of the contamination from the Nevada tests.  During the atmospheric testing era in Nevada (1951-1962) the Atomic Energy Commission tested only when the wind blew east, away from densely populated Las Vegas and California, and over the more sparsely populated regions of the American West.  While this meant that Southern Utah did receive more than its fair share of fallout, as it was sited directly east of the Nevada Test Site, the wind didn't always follow the same course.  Contamination was frequently carried south, into Arizona and beyond, and north, into northern Utah, southern Idaho, and the states that lay beyond to the east. In 1997 the National Cancer Institute released a study on fallout-related thyroid cancer,

providing a sobering look at all the far flung places the wind travelled to.

The NCI study concerned itself with only one of many radioactive isotope produced by the nuclear tests: Iodine 131.  I-131 has a relatively short half-life of only eight days, but it remains very dangerous during that time. It began to make its way into the food chain as it drifted down on grazing lands and alfalfa crops which were subsequently consumed by cattle.  The contamination bioaccumulated, which means it increased in concentration as it moved up the food chain.  When humans consumed that I-131 contaminated cows milk, they received doses of radiation to their thyroids, particuarly dangerous in the developing bodies of children.

The NCI study revealed the extent to which contamination had reached areas beyond southern Utah, and Idahoans struggling to make sense of alarming cancer clusters in their communities found the data particularly enlightening. They've been fighting for years to expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to cover those counties in Idaho that we know were severely affected by radiological contamination from atmopsheric testing in Nevada.  During a gap in my Utah book tour events, I was able to dash up to Idaho to visit two community libraries to speak about these topics. 

I spoke to a lovely audience at the library in Malad City, Idaho. A copy of Downwind has been donated to the Oneida County Library.

Sunrise behind a wind farm. Early morning drive across Idaho from Malad City to Emmett.

In Emmett I had the honor of sitting down with four different residents who grew up in Gem County and interviewing them as a group about their memories of farm childhoods, early mentions of nuclear testing, and patterns of health problems in their community.   

The stack of cards in this photograph represent one year of medical appointments for Emmett downwinder Billy Reynolds.  He has mylofibrosis, which his doctor believes could only have been caused by radiation exposure.  He lived in Emmett on a farm from 1951-1961, during the bulk of atmospheric nuclear testing to the south.  Emmett is located in Gem County, which ranks in the top five counties in the United States for fallout from atmospheric nuclear testing. "It seems like death is just a part of life here in Emmett.  My mother lived to be the oldest of her five siblings.  She died at 47.  Three of her siblings had brain cancer."   Billy's father and brother have also died of cancer. I first met Billy two years ago.  At the time he was receiving regular blood transfusions to stay alive. Today he's on a new experimental medication that's improved his quality of life a great deal. It was dear to see him in Emmett.  A copy of Downwind has been donated to the Emmett library. 

Emmett downwinder organizer Tona Henderson has copies of Downwind for sale at her bakery, the Rumor Mill.  

Snapshot of the tour midpoint. 

Bringing DOWNWIND to the City of Salt

Sunset from the roof of the Salt Lake City Public Library, Tuesday October 20

In the past three days I've been able to present Downwind: A People's History in three different and really special Salt Lake City venues.  Tuesday night I visited the beautiful downtown library in SL and had a conversation with downwinder activist, playwright, KUED Director of Services, and all around force of nature, Mary Dickson.  It was a great format. Attendees sat in a semicircle of chairs and we sat in the center, sharing stories and fielding some fantastic questions.

Mary and myself speaking to a lovely audience at the SL Library. Thanks to Christina McWhinnie for this and all other photos from this event.

 I met Mary over ten years ago, when I was first begining my research on these issues.  I'd gone to hear writer and downwinder Terry Tempest Williams speak at USU in November of 2004. After her talk I waited in line to meet her and I told her that I was thinking about writing my master's thesis on the downwinders. She clasped my hands, gave me her best wishes, and told me I'd better call Mary, whose number she scribbled down on the margin of a program.  Mary immediately agreed to let me interview her, but she quickly became more than an informant for my project. She took me out to eat, she took me to the movies, she shared everything she knew. We spent one long night sitting up eating Girl Scout cookies and making postcards to send to elected officials in protest of the planned Divine Strake test.  Several years later Mary wrote a remarkable play, Exposed, about her journey to awareness as a downwinder, which was performed in SL and around the state to critical aclaim.  It was an honor and a pleasure to be reunited at this event to talk about our respective journeys and our work. This event (and in fact, most of my Utah tour) wouldn't have been possible without the help of several key folks. Rob DeBirk (who happens to be Mary's nephew) who worked for many years with HEAL, connected me to Michael McLane of Utah Humanities. Michael set up this and most of my other Utah tour events, lending his passion for the subject and his extensive connections around the state.

Michael McLane, the organizer of the Utah Book Festival and most of the Downwind Utah tour. Michael is an exceptionally talented writer and a particularly kind human being, to boot.  

The SLC Public library audience was full of really lovely people. I so appreciated each of their questions, comments, and stories, and their willingness to come out and participate in this event. Also, big thanks to SLC's Weller Book Works, who sold books at this and my Utah Archives Event. They have signed copies available in their store. 

On Wednesday I visited the Utah State Archives as a guest of Archives Month, where I spoke to a great crowd of archivists and community members about some of the archival documents that informed Downwind. (A link to a video of my talk can be found in the caption of the slide image below). Prior to my talk, Justin Sorenson and Heidi Brett of the University of Utah Downwinders Archive offered a short presentation about the remarkable work they are doing to preserve and share Downwinder oral histories, documents, and data. 

Click here to access a video of my presentation at the Archives. 

After my talk, archivist Jim Kichas gave me a fantastic tour of the facilities. People, there are SO MANY BOOKS in this room waiting to be written.  Get yourself to an archive and ask a brilliant archivist like Jim what's good. Its pretty magical when they set down that box on the table and you get to pull out those folders and see the literal pieces of history tucked inside.  

Behind the scenes at the Utah State Archives.  

Thursday I joined staff and several very special supporters of HEAL Utah for a luncheon to discuss Downwind and the work of building awareness and action around these stories.  Whenever I feel overwhelmed by the enormity of the work to be done on this issue, I take great comfort from clicking over to HEAL's website to be reminded of the incredible work they are are doing every day to advocate for the environment and the people of Utah. It was amazing to meet them in person, and to hand over my small, heartfelt donation from the first year of Downwind's royalties. Keep up the good work, you amazing people. 

with the fantastic staff of HEAL Utah: Laura, Ashley, Matt, and Sophia. (Their official titles with HEAL are in caption below).

HEAL staff and some of the remarkable people who support HEAL's work through their own extraordinary activism, scholarship, civic engagement, and political work.  Back row: Professor Danielle Endres of U of U, Matt Pacenza, Executive Dir of HEAL, downwinder activist Eve Mary Verde, former Utah State Representative Jennifer Seeling. Middle row: Ashley Soltysiak, HEAL Senior Policy Associate, Jean Welch-Hill of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. Front row, Laura Schmidt, HEAL Outreach Coordinator, Mary Dickson, downwinder activist and KUED Dir of Services, and me. Not pictured because she was taking the picture: HEAL Associate Director Sophia Nicholas.

I've had the great pleasure of staying with dear friends in SLC... thanks Christina and Sadiki! Now its on to events in Malad, Idaho and Emmett, Idaho this weekend.

Historical Treasures and an Unexpected Interview

Tuesday morning I had the unexpected pleasure of sitting down with Bruce Brower and Jan Arnell, children of Stephen Brower, who readers of Downwind will remember from Chapter 3 "Home on the Range," which discusses the Cedar City sheep die off of 1953. Jan graciously allowed me to look through her father's papers about the incident, which span several decades and have been assiduously preserved and organized, thanks to Jan. 

They document the career and efforts of a principled and earnest individual who spent years advocating for the ranchers of Iron County.   

I was thrilled to look through his papers, which included ample correspondence between Brower and AEC officials, public health officials, elected officials, private contractors brought in by the AEC to help assess the afflicted livestock, and later, Governor Scott Matheson of Utah, who also advocated strongly for the people of his state who had been affected by radiation. Brower saved his copies of meeting minutes with the livestockmen and the AEC, reports on the sheep deaths, and newspaper clippings documenting years worth of controversy around the sheep case. He even corresponded with former Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall about Udall's efforts to organize Downwinder plaintiffs and "embarass the government into acting."

Press clippings from around the nation Brower saved in his files.  

It was an unexpected pleasure to get to interview Jan and Bruce about their father.  Here's hoping some day I get a chance to do another edition of Downwind  that includes some of the fascinating data from his personal papers. 

DOWNWIND: A People's History Utah tour set to begin soon (with special appearences in Idaho!)

This week, Downwind: A People's History of the Nuclear West author Sarah Fox will be returning to the region where her book research began ten years ago, to speak at libraries and universities across Utah (with a side trip to two communities in Southern Idaho) during the Utah Book Festival.  Her visit is made possible by the generous support of Utah Humanities, the Charles Redd Center for Western American Studies, and the libraries and institutions that will host her on this trip. Fox will be available to record oral history interviews for residents who are interested in sharing their memories of the Cold War in three different locations (noted below). Learn more about how to sign up for an oral history session here. 

Highlights of Fox's tour include:

Utah State University, Logan, Monday October 19, at 3:30 pm.

Salt Lake City Library, conversation with Mary Dickson, Salt Lake City, Tuesday October 20, at 7 pm.

Utah State Archives, Salt Lake City, Wednesday October 21, at 12:00 pm (Courtyard Meeting Room, 346 South Rio Grande (450 West), Salt Lake City, UT).

HEAL UTAH visit, Salt Lake City, Thursday October 22.

Oneida County Library, Malad Idaho, Friday October 23, 5 pm.

Emmett Library, Emmett, Idaho, Saturday October 24, 12:00 pm.

Oral History Gathering Session, Emmett Library, October 24, 1:30-4:00 pm. (email the author at downwindhistory@gmail.com to sign up for a time.)

Washington Branch Library, Washington City, Monday October 26, 7 pm.

Southern Utah University, Cedar City, Tuesday October 27, 7 pm.

Oral History Gathering Session, SUU Library, Tuesday October 27, 1-4 pm. (email the author at downwindhistory@gmail.com to sign up for a time.)

Enterprise Library, Enterprise, Wednesday October 28, 7 pm.

Oral History Gathering Session, Enterprise Library, 5-6:30 pm. (email the author at downwindhistory@gmail.com to sign up for a time.)

Charles Redd Center for Western American Studies, BYU, Provo, 11:00 am.

Downwind author Sarah Fox's Radio West interview with KUER's Doug Fabrizio

On October 15 Downwind author Sarah Fox sat down at Seattle's KUOW studios to chat with KUER Radio West's Doug Fabrizio about some of the stories in Downwind: A People's History. Listen to the program here.

Would you like to share your story of life downwind?

Author Sarah Fox will be available on three dates during her upcoming tour to record oral history interviews with residents who are interested in sharing their memories of the Cold War.  Digital recordings of these interviews will be donated to the University of Utah Downwinders Archive and the SUU archive.

Oral History Gathering Sessions will take place on the following dates:

Emmett Library, Emmett, Idaho, Saturday, October 24, 1:30-4:00 pm.

Southern Utah University Library, Cedar City, Utah, Tuesday October 27, 1-4 pm.

Enterprise Library, Enterprise, Utah, Wednesday October 28, 5-6:30 pm.

If you or someone you know is interested in sharing a story, please email the author at downwindhistory@gmail.com to sign up for a time at one of these sessions. If you aren't able to make it to an oral history gathering session, but would still like to share your story, you can submit a written history to Fox for donation to the archives (email downwindhistory@gmail.com to learn more), or you can contact the Utah Downwinders Archive directly to see about having your story preserved. 

Your stories matter. They are helping to change the historical record of the Cold War as it played out in the American West.  They are helping to bring awareness to the health problems, environmental contamination, and family tragedies that are still playing out across the downwind and uranium-affected regions. Thank you for telling them, and keeping this history alive.

Downwind reviewed in Environmental History

It was an honor to read Leisl Carr Childers' review of Downwind (excerpted below) in the July 2015 issue of Environmental History, a preeminent interdisciplinary journal published by Oxford University Press.  A former assistant director of the Nevada Test Site Oral History Project at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Childers is intimately familiar with the stories associated with this period in history.  She's a well-respected scholar of the American West at the University of Northern Iowa and author of the upcoming book The Size of the Risk: Histories of Multiple Use in the Great Basin, due out this fall. You can read her full review of Downwind online if you subscribe to Environmental History, or access it online at a public or university library.

Excerpts from Review of Downwind by Leisl Carr Childers, Environmental History (July 2015), pp 527-8.

"In this riveting narrative about the experiences of those who suffered in the shadow of atmospheric nuclear testing and uranium mining, Sarah Alisabeth Fox offers readers a glimpse into what it meant to be part of 'all those little communities' in the American West downwind of military test sites and big corporate mines.  For Fox, downwind is at once a concept, a state of being, and a geographic location.  During the latter half of the twentieth century, downwind meant hazardous exposure to radiation; to be downwind meant to be rural, pastoral, Native or Mormon; to live downwind meant abiding in an undesirable place, proximate to dangerous activities, with no refuge or recourse.  Given these parameters, Fox argues that Downwinders, those who share in this concept, state of being, and place, represent the human cost of national security during the Cold War." 

"Navajo artist Edward Singer's 2008 painting Dear Downwinder on the cover captures the essence of her study---the problematic intersection of bodies and radioactive contamination."

"Written in an accessible literary style rarely seen in works that employ rigorous theoretical analysis, Downwind offers students and scholars of the Cold War a new perspective on the resilience of Downwinders despite efforts to obfuscate the effects of radiation exposure."

"Current works on the same topic... offer similar insights but do not interrogate the meaning of downwind.  Combining the intricacies of the official record with the complicated narratives of the individuals she interviewed, Fox provides texture and insight into becoming and being downwind within the framework of both nuclear testing and uranium mining."

Ten days till Downwind debuts in Bellingham!

Bellingham friends! In ten days I'll be heading north to one of my favorite places...  Village Books. I grew up choosing titles there as a kid and a young adult, and I haunted the aisles when I lived in Bellingham in 2003, just before I headed off to grad school in Utah.  I'm especially thrilled to be speaking there during Village Book's 35th Birthday week.  (They're only 53 weeks older than me.) I can think of few independent bookstores I've loved or respected more. I look forward to seeing lots of familiar and beloved faces on Thursday, June 11, 7 pm!.

This week: Support the West Seattle Historical Society by purchasing Downwind and other titles!

This Friday, June 5, Downwind will be featured in the Words, Writers & West Seattle series at the Barnes & Noble in Westwood Village.  From 5-7 pm, I'll be speaking about the journey of writing the book, answering questions, and signing copies. It's my neighborhood so I'm particularly thrilled to be a part of this series, and I'm looking forward to seeing fellow WS faces. The best part though?

"Any purchases made by those attending the talk that afternoon and for the next five days will result in a contribution of 10 percent of proceeds to the Southwest Seattle Historical Society under the Barnes & Noble Bookfair program."

Please come on down and support Downwind: A People's History and the wonderful SW Historical Society!

Springtime in the Southwest, 1953

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Iron County Record, March 19, 1953

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Washington County News April 30, 1953, Iron County Record, May 7, 1953

The spring of 1953 was a busy time in the Southwest. Southern Utah ranchers were herding their sheep back across southern Nevada for lambing.  Baby-boomer families were raising children in the small communities scattered across the region.  Upwind, the Atomic Energy Commission was busy conducting its Upshot-Knothole atmospheric test series, which included eleven large-scale nuclear weapons. (For purposes of comparison, Hiroshima, Japan was bombed with a 15kt device- approximately 15,000 tons of dynamite. Several of the Upshot-Knothole tests topped 60kt).  Enlisted men from every branch of the armed services participated in the tests in order to condition themselves for atomic warfare.  Pigs were dressed up in military uniforms and caged in the blast zone, and AEC monitors gathered samples of radiation in wild animals, water, and agricultural products. Citizen concerns were dismissed by government representatives and assurances were repeatedly made that the tests posed no danger to human health in downwind communities. 

The Upshot-Knothole series in spring of 1953 released multiple dangerous radioisotopes, many of which were not fully monitored at the time.  Perhaps the most comprehensive data exists for Iodine-131, which swiftly entered the food chain via cows milk.  The spring 1953 tests account for approximately 25% of the total I-131 exposure to American civilians over 50+ years of weapons testing.  That exposure is conservatively estimated to have caused 28,000 cases of thyroid cancer. 

Spring of 1953 figures prominently in the stories of downwind residents, many of whom witnessed the mushroom clouds on the horizons from their playgrounds and remember the catastrophic livestock die-offs and miscarriages that followed in subsequent months.

Thanks to Theresa Trebon, who helped comb through hundreds of feet of microfilm to survey newspapers from the downwind region.