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CommonLit | A Defiant Muhammad Ali Was Cherished By Black Men

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Muhammad Ali (1942-2016) was an American Olympic and professional boxer and social activist. He was a prominent figure in the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, urging African-Americans to resist white domination. In 1966, he famously refused to be drafted to serve in the Vietnam War, citing his religious beliefs and his opposition to American involvement in the war.

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2 Kids living in a fallout shelter after a nuclear blast taking care of themselves.

Write another episode in their life.

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Read plot synopsis. Write story based on one or a combo of them.

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The '80s brought their own special sauce to movies about the Cold War with premises that were hilarious and almost unbelievable.

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CommonLit | What Made Aldrich Ames Tick?

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Mike Kubic is a former correspondent for Newsweek. This informational text investigates the motives of Aldrich Ames, a former member of the C.I.A. who betrayed his country and sold secrets to the Soviet Union during the Cold War period.

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Pick an image from Nuclear Family Comic: Write a Story based on it.

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The new AfterShock series imagines an different take on the nuclear paranoia of 1950s America.

What would have happened if the 1950s Cold War had gotten far less cold? AfterShock Comics' new series Nuclear Family attempts to answer that question with a story about a Korean War veteran and his family who have to deal with a nuclear war literally in their own back yard.

The series, based on the Philip K. Dick short Breakfast at Twilight, is "about a family that seems like the ideal nuclear family in the 1950s," explained writer Stephanie Phillips. "But, when an unexpected nuclear attack happens on US soil, they find themselves propelled into an alternate future where the US has fled into underground bunkers in an unending nuclear war. The family struggles with this grim outlook of their future, while also trying to find a way home."

Phillips said that Nuclear Family is "really a collaboration with artist Tony Shasteen. We have tried to create a really weird vision for this nuclear future that is unlike anything that we have seen in apocalyptic fiction to this point," citing not only Dick, but also The Twilight Zone as inspirations.

"We really tried to create family tension to see how this family reacts to unreal and horrific scenarios," Phillips said. "It's really interesting to see this family of four change as they are put through these trials."

Nuclear Family launches Feb. 24 digitally and in print. Look below for preview artwork from the first issue, by Tony Shasteen and colorist J.D. Mettler.

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Alternate History Comic 'Nuclear Family' in the Works

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The new AfterShock series imagines an different take on the nuclear paranoia of 1950s America. What would have happened if the 1950s Cold War had gotten far less cold? AfterShock Comics' new series Nuclear Family attempts to answer that question with a story about a Korean War veteran and his family who have to deal with a nuclear war literally in their own back yard.

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Mike Kubic is a former correspondent of Newsweek magazine. In this article, Kubic explains how for three decades, the Berlin Wall stood as a symbol of the Cold War, separating families and forcing a comparison between socialist and capitalist ideals. When the wall came down in 1989, the process of German reunification was more complicated than simply re-drawing boundaries.

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DUCK & COVER: SCHOOL DRILLS DURING THE COLD WAR

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DUCK & COVER: SCHOOL DRILLS DURING THE COLD WAR

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CommonLit | Duck & Cover: School Drills During the Cold War

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During the Cold War (a period of political tension that followed World War II), Americans feared that their enemy, the Soviet Union, might attack with a dangerous nuclear bomb. To prepare, the United States government took certain measures to prepare for that possibility.

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A forgotten story: Black women helped land a man on the moon

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A forgotten story: Black women helped land a man on the moon

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"It all started with a photograph.

In 2011, Mary Gainer was a historic preservationist for NASA when she stumbled on a mysterious picture from 1943 that showed a thousand people standing in a huge building. Gainer figured that the black men posing in the front were probably machinists, and the rest of the group was mostly white men in suits and ties.

But scattered here and there was something unexpected. The picture showed women, some white and some black, in knee-length skirts."

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Newsela | A forgotten story: Black women helped land a man on the moon

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https://www.octaviabutler.com/theauthor

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Could write about a character who "emancipates [themself] from mental slavery."

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Bob Marley & The Wailers - Redemption Song (Official Music Video)

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80s Pop Song about Cold War in East German

"99 years of war
left no room for victors.
There are no more war ministers
nor any jet fighters.
Today I'm making my rounds
see the world lying in ruins.
I found a balloon,
think of you and let it fly (away)."

https://www.thoughtco.com/nenas-99-luftballons-song-4076776

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A War Caused by Balloons
99 Luftballons is a pop song released by the German band Nena in the midst of the cold war. Thesong was released as a voice against the impending prospect of a third world war, a voice for peace. Nena's target audience was mainly the citizens of Cold War-era Germany, but her anti-war message reached the ears of listeners all across the globe, gaining unintentional international popularity. This popularity in the U.S. and England is what caused Nena to eventually produce an English version, at the request of her label, titled 99 Red Balloons. You may be familiar with this version. Because the anti-war intentions of the song are clearer in the German original, I will use this text as the basis of this article. The German lyrics describe a story in which 99 balloons floating through the air are mistaken for UFOs. A war-hungry General fires at them, others soon join in, and just like that, a 99-year war breaks out which leaves the world in ruin. In order to persuade the citizens of post-World War II Germany of the absurdity of yet another war, Nena uses several interesting rhetorical devices:

One way that Nena gets her point across is by juxtaposing the harmlessness of balloons with the violent consequences of misunderstanding them. The beginning of the second verse begins with the words "99 Luftballons" (in English: 99 balloons). She then associates the balloons with what they are misunderstood to be, by beginning the third verse with the words "99 Düsenflieger" (99 jet fighters), which is much more frightening, and potentially much more dangerous. Still, these jet fighters are only fictitious, the figment of a paranoid mind. Nena draws attention to their fictitiousness by alluding to the popular science fiction series: Star Trek. The third verse describes how the balloons thought of themselves as Captain Kirk: (hielten sich für Captain Kirk). In this way, Nena persuades her audience that their fear of a nuclear war is imagined, just as fictitious as the characters of their favorite science fiction show. Put shortly, she says to her listeners: the only thing to fear is fear itself. She's saying that their nation's fear and distrust, bred by the silence and separation imposed by the Berlin wall, will bring far more terror and destruction than any imagined enemy will.

Nena attempts to give more sway to her argument by seeking to destroy the ethos of those who advocate war. She does this by making them seem childlike, comparing them to animals, and by accusing them of blind intolerance. The fourth verse describes the leaders of the war as playing with matches and gas canisters, a behavior typically associated with children motivated only by the desire to thrill a bored mind. By so doing, Nena discredits her opponents by making them seem small-minded and irrational. She further discredits advocates of war by implying that they are motivated by blood-thirsty, animal instincts to hunt and kill. The phrase "witterten schon fette beute" (already on the scent of a large prey" associates them with this primal behavior. By comparing her opponents to animals, she suggests that they are not motivated by reason, but by instinct alone.

Logic is then added to Nena's argument. In the fifth and last verse of the song, Nena describes the imagined effect of a third World War:

99 Jahre Krieg (99 years of war)

Ließen keinen Platz für Sieger (left no place for victors)

Kriegsminister gibt's nicht mehr (ministers of war are no more)

Und auch keine Düsenflieger (neither are jet fighters)

She reasons that a third World War would be illogical, because it is bad for all parties. There are no winners. Again, this statement would have had special meaning to her listeners, given the recent catastrophic results World War II. This claim strengthens her anti-war argument by both means of logos and pathos, by tapping into the emotional pain of lost loved ones in the hearts of those listening, brought to the forefront of their memory by these powerful lyrics. Which brings us to our next rhetorical device:

With the following lines, Nena not only accuses those who are expressly pro-war. She accuses anyone who reacts instinctively or fearfully to situations, people, or cultures that they don't understand:

Die Nachbarn haben nichts gerafft (the neighbors didn't understand)

Und fühlten sich gleich angemacht (and soon felt offended)
Dabei schoss man am Horizont (they shot at the horizon)
Auf 99 Luftballons (at 99 balloons)

Here, Nena speaks out in general against misunderstandings, intolerance, and the quickness of people to jump to assumptions and to take offense. Such mindless, reactionary behaviors, she implies, are the cause of war. She further implies that war could be circumnavigated with a little more understanding, a little more consideration. These allegations would have had considerable emotional heft to her listeners, with the memories of the needless pain and suffering of the Jews and other misunderstood, mistreated minorities fresh in their minds. She appeals to the pathos of her audience, conjuring up painful memories, giving validity to her argument by reminding them that what she is describing has already happened, and could happen again.

Nena turns the pathos knife with her next lyrics, painting a painfully familiar picture for her listeners:

Heute zieh ich meine Runden (today I make my rounds)
Seh' die Welt in Trümmern liegen (and see the world laying in rubble)

These lyrics would have reminded her listeners of the bombed-out carcasses of the once beautiful cities of Germany, cities like Dresden, Berlin, Kiel and Hannover. Nena takes advantage of these fresh and powerful images in the minds of her listeners, by suggesting that the same thing would happen again, if they allowed themselves to become victims of their own fear.

Nena had a message to send to the world, and especially to the citizens of Germany. She voiced her message in the language she knew best: 80s German pop. Within 99 Luftballons she uses all rhetoric devices available to get her point across: Pathos, by conjuring up recent painful memories of war and lost loved ones. Ethos, by belittling her opponents' reasoning and making them seem child-like and instinct-driven. Logos by reasoning that a World War III would mean destruction for her country and others. She jam-packed that song with as much rhetorical persuasion as she could. But can we really expect anything else from someone whose life, and millions of others, were on the line? Although you may or may not feel the immediate threat of a third World War at this time, her message rings as true today as it did then: There are no winners in war.

See the full German lyrics and their English translation here.

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A War Caused by Balloons 99 Luftballons is a pop song released by the German band Nena in the midst of the cold war. Thesong was released as a voice against the impending prospect of a third world war, a voice for peace.

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Classic country song with ideological response to nuclear weapons

https://archive.org/details/78_atomic-power_riley-shepard-the-cowboy-philosopher-fred-kirby_gbia0072497b

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Soviet Base under American Mall

https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/stranger-things-cold-war-nostalgia-and-bringing-the-past-to-2019

Mall = symbol of American ideology: capitalism, freedom, & consumerism

Base = symbol of Soviet ideology: communism & bellicose science

Both mall & base force sameness or conformity while deceiving (tricking) citizens into thinking they're equal individuals.

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Strange Fruit & the execution of the Rosenbergs, a US married couple who spied for U.S.S.R.

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Strange Fruit & the execution of the Rosenbergs, a US married couple who spied for U.S.S.R.

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"One of Billie Holiday's most iconic songs is "Strange Fruit," a haunting protest against the inhumanity of racism. Many people know that the man who wrote the song was inspired by a photograph of a lynching. But they might not realize that he's also tied to another watershed moment in America's history."

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One of Billie Holiday's most iconic songs is "Strange Fruit," a haunting protest against the inhumanity of racism. Many people know that the man who wrote the song was inspired by a photograph of a lynching. But they might not realize that he's also tied to another watershed moment in America's history.

The man behind "Strange Fruit" is New York City's Abel Meeropol, and he really has two stories. They both begin at Dewitt Clinton High School, a public high school in the Bronx that has an astonishing number of famous people in its alumni. James Baldwin went there. So did Countee Cullen, Richard Rodgers, Burt Lancaster, Stan Lee, Neil Simon, Richard Avedon and Ralph Lauren.

Meeropol graduated from Dewitt Clinton in 1921; he went on to teach English there for 17 years. He was also a poet and a social activist, says Gerard Pelisson, who wrote a book about the school.

In the late 1930s, Pellison says, Meeropol "was very disturbed at the continuation of racism in America, and seeing a photograph of a lynching sort of put him over the edge."

Meeropol once said the photograph "haunted" him "for days." So he wrote a poem about it, which was then printed in a teachers union publication. An amateur composer, Meeropol also set his words to music. He played it for a New York club owner - who ultimately gave it to Billie Holiday.

When Holiday decided to sing "Strange Fruit," the song reached millions of people. While the lyrics never mention lynching, the metaphor is painfully clear:
Southern trees bear a strange fruit, Pastoral scene of the gallant South, Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for a tree to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh,
And the sudden smell of burning flesh!
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black body swinging in the Southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.
In 1999, Time magazine named "Strange Fruit" the "song of the century." The Library of Congress put it in the National Recording Registry. It's been recorded dozens of times. Herbie Hancock and Marcus Miller did an instrumental version, with Miller evoking the poem on his mournful bass clarinet.

Miller says he was surprised to learn the song was written by a white Jewish guy from the Bronx. "Strange Fruit," he says, took extraordinary courage both for Meeropol to write and for Holiday to sing.

"The '60s hadn't happened yet," he says. "Things like that weren't talked about. They certainly weren't sung about."

New York lawmakers didn't like "Strange Fruit." In 1940, Meeropol was called to testify before a committee investigating communism in public schools. They wanted to know whether the American Communist Party had paid him to write the song. They had not - but, like many New York teachers in his day, Meeropol was a Communist.

Journalist David Margolick, who wrote Strange Fruit: The Biography of a Song, says, "There are a million reasons to disparage communism now. But American Communism, one point it had in its favor was that it was concerned about civil rights very early."

Meeropol left his teaching job at Dewitt Clinton in 1945. He eventually quit the Communist Party.

And that's where the second part of Meeropol's story begins. The link is the pseudonym he used when writing poetry and music: Lewis Allan.

"Abel Meeropol's pen name 'Lewis Allan' were the names of their children who were stillborn, who never lived," says his son, Robert Meeropol. He and his older brother, Michael, were raised by Abel and his wife, Anne Meeropol, after the boys' parents - Ethel and Julius Rosenberg - were executed for espionage in 1953.

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death for conspiring to give atomic secrets to the Soviet Union. The Rosenbergs had also been Communists.

The couple's trial and execution made national headlines, and there was also something of a salacious element, given that the Rosenbergs were a married couple. News accounts described it as "the first husband and wife to die in the electric chair."

At the time, the Rosenberg sons, Robert and Michael, were 6 and 10, respectively. News photographs of the boys show them dressed in suits visiting their parents in prison.

"They're these little boys and they're wearing these caps, and they look so young and so vulnerable. It's really a very poignant image," says Margolick.

Robert Meeropol says that in the months following his parents' execution, it was unclear who would take care of him and his brother. It was the height of McCarthyism. Even family members were fearful of being in any way associated with the Rosenbergs or Communism.

Then, at a Christmas party at the home of W.E.B. Du Bois, the boys were introduced to Abel and Anne Meeropol. A few weeks later, they were living with them.

"One of the most remarkable things was how quickly we adapted," Robert says. "First of all, Abel, what I remember about him as a 6-year-old was that he was a real jokester. He liked to tell silly jokes and play word games, and he would put on these comedy shows that would leave me rolling."

There is something else about Abel Meeropol that seems to connect the man who wrote "Strange Fruit" to the man who created a loving family out of a national scandal. "He was incredibly softhearted," Robert says.

For example, there was an old Japanese maple tree in their backyard, which sent out many new seedlings every year.

"I was the official lawnmower," Robert says, "and I was going to mow over them, and he said, 'Oh, no, you can't kill the seedlings!' I said, 'What are you going to do with them, Dad? There are dozens of them.'

"Well, he dug them up and put them in coffee cans and lined them up along the side of the house. And there were hundreds of them. But he couldn't bring himself to just kill them. It was just something he couldn't do."

Abel Meeropol died in 1986. His sons, Robert and Michael, both became college professors. They're also both involved in social issues. Robert founded the Rosenberg Fund for Children. And he says that even after all these years, he still finds himself unable to kill things in his own garden.

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The Strange Story Of The Man Behind 'Strange Fruit'

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One of Billie Holiday's most iconic songs is "Strange Fruit," a haunting protest against the inhumanity of racism. Many people know that the man who wrote the song was inspired by a photograph of a lynching. But they might not realize that he's also tied to an iconic event in America's history.

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Cowboy Philosopher's Atomic Power song

Bob Marley's Redemption Song

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Could write about a character whose contribution to the Space Race was overlooked because of racism or sexism.

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Newsela | Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughan: scientists with NASA

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How three Black women changed space travel using math and science.

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Why Muhammad Ali refused to go to Vietnam

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Why Muhammad Ali refused to go to Vietnam

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Could write about a character during the Vietnam war who refuses to fight because of civil right or pacifism.

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Newsela | Why Muhammad Ali refused to go to Vietnam

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A look at Muhammad Ali's career-altering decision to refuse to take part in the Vietnam War.

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Pick a character from a Cold-War theme video game. Write a story about that character.

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The newest installment in the Call of Duty video game series, "Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War" drops you into the fight on two fronts: the Vietnam War and 1980s clandestine conflicts between the U.S. and Soviet Union.

With its single-player story campaign, the first-person shooting game, which is out today for PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, and PCs on Battle.net (rated Mature for ages 17-up), transports you back to Vietnam to investigate a crucial encounter in the proxy war involving the superpowers. Somehow, the Russians swiped a U.S. nuke in 1968 and now that mistake has come back to haunt the Reagan Administration.
Marvel's Spider-Man: Video games: Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, or Nintendo Switch? How to pick the right console Miles Morales review: An amazing adventure for the PlayStation 5
That trip back in time nets intelligence needed to track Perseus, a Soviet mastermind who aims to use the bomb to attack the U.S. The search takes your character across the globe with stops in a Berlin still separated by the wall, Cuba, the Ukraine, Russia, and even into the heart of KGB headquarters.

That nerve-wracking mission within the security agency is only one of many mind games awaiting players in this highly-entertaining sequel to 2010's "Call of Duty: Black Ops." In that earlier game, you played primarily as Alex Mason, a CIA operator who we learned was brainwashed by the Soviets.

"Black Ops Cold War" makes you a bigger part of the team. You get to create your own character, giving them a name - your code name remains "Bell," and that's how you are referred to in the game. You can make your character male, female or gender neutral, and you choose a psychological profile. That gives your character improved speed, aiming or health.
Xbox Series X and Series S review: PlayStation 5 review: A powerhouse video game console with innovative controls New game consoles attempt to lighten the load
For instance, if you are a newbie to Call of Duty games, the game designers suggest choosing Survivor and Dependable within your psych profile - choices that increase your health by 25% and reduces damage by 30%, respectively.

At the outset, you are immediately thrust into action tracking terrorists after an early meeting attended by President Reagan and Secretary of State Alexander Haig, along with Jason Hudson and Frank Woods, both who appeared in the first Black Ops game, and newcomer Russell Adler of the CIA. It's this assignment that reveals Perseus has put into un unknown plan into motion.

As your team advances, you wield a multitude of weapons: machine guns on helicopters and vehicles, sniper rifles and RPGs, and, at one point, you even deploy and direct a bomb-laden remote controlled car. There's plenty of stealth required, too, to make progress.

In addition to the story's ten missions, there are two additional side missions, one of which involves tracking a spy helping Perseus set up a network within the U.S. Each mission has unique challenges beyond blasting your way through.

Gathering intel as you dodge bullets can pay off as the story goes along. You can impact the outcome of the game with your character customization choices and other interactions throughout the game.

Playing the game on the Xbox Series S and the PlayStation 5, the scenes are stunning. You get spectacular scenic backdrops as you fly over water and through canyons.

When you are on foot, trodding through snow or wading through water feels authentic. And your enemies aren't simply cannon fodder. Some heavily armored Soviet soldiers prove extremely tough to take down.
Follow Mike Snider on Twitter: @MikeSnider.
It's not all running and gunning. Your ability to utilize the game's lock-picking function is satisfying, especially when you have to complete the task before a sentry returns. Multiple difficulty settings let you choose the level of challenge - and provide an opportunity to replay missions at higher difficulties.

And it wouldn't be a Call of Duty game without a twist or two. This story, which packs a whopper, was written with the help of screenwriter David Goyer, who assisted on the first two Black Ops games and whose movie credits include Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy.

"Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War," developed by Treyarch and Raven Software, doesn't simply soldier on for the multibillion-selling video game franchise. The game is an exciting, smart addition to the series.

And, of course, there's plenty more packed into the game including a new Zombies mode and the ever-popular multiplayer online mode, too.

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'Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War' review: A spy game worthy of your time, regardless of your video game system

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The newest installment in the Call of Duty video game series, "Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War" drops you into the fight on two fronts: the Vietnam War and 1980s clandestine conflicts between the U.S. and Soviet Union.

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Newsela | Images from Cold War fallout shelters

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During the Cold War era, the threat of nuclear attack was very real. President Kennedy advocated for the use of fallout shelters, which provided protection against radiation.

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Discover how the Cold War and Civil Rights movement collided when America asked Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman to travel as cultural ambassadors and combat racially-charged Soviet propaganda through their music.