Friday, November 2, 2007 Commander of the Enola Gay dies at 92 By Christopher LaFuria editor-in-chief c , ,150050 psu.edu Gen. Paul W. Tibbets Jr., commander of the Enola Gay, the infamous plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, died on Thursday at the age of 92. Tibbets made history in 1945 after his plane, a B-29 Superfortress named in honor of his mother, released a uranium atomic bomb over Japan. This marked one of the crucial points in the decline of World War 11. In the past few years. according to Tibbets friend Gerry Newhouse and The Columbus Dispatch, Tibbets had been suffering from small strokes and heart failure in a local hospital. Just before daybreak on Aug. 6, 1945. Tibbets manned the cockpit of his airplane awaiting the dev astation that was unforeseen hut highly anticipated. At approximately 8:15 a.m.. Tibbets, who at the time was Colonel Tibbets. flew his plane over Hiroshima and dropped the first atomic bomb, "Little Boy,'' over the city of 250,000, killing almost one-third of the population instantly. The bomb was the result of the S 2 million "Manhattan Project." which involved a team of highly qualified scientists developing weapons to heat Germany in the war of arms. After the event, Tibbets told America in "The Tibbets Story, - of "the awesome sight that met our eyes as we turned for a heading that would take us alongside the burning, devastated city. - "The giant purple mushroom, which the tail-gun- Imad Rahman By Ariel Cooksey-Kramer staff writer taks 101 (( pql edti [mad Rahman, renowned author of the fiction I Dwain Of Microuin•es. published in 2004. deliv ered a public reading in the Smith Chapel on Thursday, Oct. 25. After 18 years of growing up in Karachi, Pakistan, he immigrated to the United States in order to obtain a degree in Creative Writing from Ohio State University, He currently resides in Manhattan, Kansas. teaching Creative Writing at Kansas State University. He read two works from his main collection of stories within I Dream Of Microwaves with the enthusiasm and substance of an author who breathes fiction in and exhales its contents into the world like smoke. In Torn Noyes' words, a Creative Writing Professor on Behrend's campus, Rahman's main protagonist is, "the best kind of character. Chock Smith Chapel offers Behrend stu- dents diverse programs and activities By Brittany Sexton staff vvriter hass 189 (a p 511.0.111 There are many things available to students at Penn State Behrend, from intramural sports to sororities and fraternities. The Smith Chapel is another center for activities in which students can meet new people and communicate through ideas similar to everyone else. The various activities held in the Smith Chapel include "Soup for the Soul," which is around lunch time. Soup for the Soul is a program which started a couple of years :ago to allow students, .faculty, and staff to come together for a free lunch and get to know one another. Soup for the Soul includes a series of speakers that come in and talk to the partici pants. This semester is focused on "face in the arts." The Smith Chapel brings in different peo ple who are involved in music, visual arts or drama and relate their discussion to spiritual things. They tend to talk about why they have become involved in music or the arts and how there is a greater cause for their involve- ment in the arts Evening activities The Smith Chapel is home to the Behrend's make the Smith Chapel Catholic and Protestant worship services. much busier. On Sunday nights there is a Protestant campus ministry wor ship group that commences at 5:30 p.m., and afterwards there are usually snacks or a meal downstairs. The services are usually casual. After the Protestant worship group has ended another mass comes into place. At 7:30 p.m. Catholic mass begins. The mass is held just like at any other church and after mass has ended the ner had described. had already risen to a height of 45.000 feet, three miles ahoye our own altitude. and was still hoiling upward like something terri bly al i Tibhets said in the inter\ iew. With the dropping of "Little Boy - and the subsequent pluto nium bomb that was dropped On Nagasaki, many began to ques tion whether the plan by Truman to drop the bomb was indeed up to ethical and moral code. Tihhets. who was 29 at the time of the flight. held the same sentiment that many American soldiers had during the war. "I was anxious to do it," he said in a PBS interview. ''l wanted to do everything that I could to subdue Japan. I wanted to kill the bastards. That was the attitude of the United States in those years." He added, 1 have been convinced that we saved more lies than we took." Before his military career, Tihbets was interested in airplanes at an earl\ age. His first recollection of delivers passionate reading in Smith Chapel full of paradoxes. seemingly motivated, sometimes k sell-interest, sometimes by integrity. He resem bles eN CI man and ever\ woman, and 110 one C er met in MN life. - Kareem Abdul-Jabbat is a Pakistani actor whose story begins when he receives a one-way bus ticket from an old girlfriend, who tells him she's constant thinking of him. Kareem tackles wild adventures including a "costumed hawker - at a dive bar, and a lonesome man craving a fresh start in life and love. Noes also commented during the introduction that. "the best fiction teaches its readers something. not talking about morality, but rather nuts and bolts." Rahman's collection of Kareem's adventures teaches its readers an abundance of - How-To's" in extremely unique ways. Examples from the readings. Noye says, include hok‘ to he mugged. in New York City, and how to carry on an old-wounds phone conversation with an ex-girlfriend. while simultaneously enjoying a Discovery Channel special on piranhas. Numerous students and whichever faculty attended have dis cussions On how they felt the mass was run. Sunday nights are the busiest for the Smith Chapel hut Tuesdays have a few activities as well. Every Tuesday a bible study runs at 5:00 p.m. where students come and study the last hook of the bible, The Book of Revelations . Besides religious services and bible studies the Smith Chapel is also used by different organiza tions on campus. Different groups come in to practice, such as the choir. Every Wednesday the worship team uses the Chapel for practices and the Catholic team prac tices there too. The sororities and fraternities on campus use the Smith Chapel for the initiation that occurs at the end of pledging experience. On special days such as Holy Week there are services every night to help stu dents keep up with their faith. This chapel is very useful to the campus because it contains so many different groups and activities for students who have strong faith to keep their believes alive and well. A forum is coming up on the Iraqi War and it is going to be held at the Smith Chapel. Rebecca McFee has invited three professors to discuss the Just War theory which is a Christian perspective and has a historical approach to the theory of this war. There will be soldiers who have been in Iraq and Afganistan recently and will discuss their personal faith and their experience in the way. This year the forum will be held Nov 15. Last year there was a great turn out and McFee along with some of the faculty involved hope for another big turn out! N - El W e)N., O ‘ Fihbets in his plane prior to his mission 110101*4*,:\ ('()N FRllit . 1 PllOlO hell he Wil , , 12 Near, old Davis. \Alio \vas a famous stunt pilot at the time. imited Tihhets to liv over the Hialeah racetrack and Miami Beach to throw Bahv Ruth candy bars at the um\ d,, The next ‘car. he :mended Western Military Academy with Hutch O'Hare (O'Hare Airport's namesakel. where he learned ‘N hat rnilitar‘ life was like. accounts of mishaps turned excitingly good and excitingly decent scenes. go incredibly had in these readings, all keeping the audience laughing, on the edge of their seats craving more. A reviewer said of the collection. it's - like sitting on your favo r ite couch and flipping through chan nels on the TV when there is nothing good on. a nd then by chance landing on a show on some obscure channel that totally captivates you and forces von to watch it till the credits arc done rollim2.- After the reading. Rahman took questions, for which many hands in the audience shot up in antic ipation. He is currently working on another noel. and is unwilling to give away an further details COMING TO PENN STATE BEHREND UNIVERSITY GATE APARTMENTS 36NEWAPARTMENTS ARE BEING ADDED TO OUR CURRENT OFF-CAMPUS STUDENT Now Pre-Leasing 3 & 4 Bedroom Apartments Featuring ALL PRIVATE BEDROOMS Located directly across from the entrance to Penn State Behrend The New apartments will also offer: • Furnished Bedrooms & Living room • On-Site Office and Laundry • Fully Appliance Kitchen w; microwave • I lieh Speed Internet in cer hedroom Construction begins this Fall CALL NOW to reserve your apartment for next year Fihhets giving a speech later in his life FOR SPRING 2008 LIVING COMMUNITY Call (814) 899-5160 1 : -Illail: td 1 i The Behrend Beacon I After the academy, Tibbets joined the military where he met then-Lieutenant Colonel George Patton. It was rumored that the two men would even spend days skeet shooting. many matches of which ‘‘ ere won by Tibbets. For much of World War 11, Tibbets flew in the 40th Squadron of the 97th Bomb Group from the United States to Europe. He continued to fly B- 17s to Europe in the war until he was called to fly the B-29 Superfortress, and ultimately the Enola Gov. Despite the controversy surrounding the event. Tibhets says he has no regrets about his involvement with the atomic arms. In an interview with The Guardian. a news source in England and Wales. Tibbets described his sentiment after the bomb was dropped. "I krieW we did the right thing because when I knew we'd he doing that I thought, 'yes, we're going to kill a lot of people,'" said "Fihhets. "But h) God we're going to save a lot of lives. We won't have to invade [Japan]." Newhouse said that the former Army Air Force General declined a funeral and headstone in fear of imminent protests. In 2005, according to The Guanhan. Tihhets wanted his ashes scattered in the English Channel. This was the place Tibbets enjoyed flying the most in the war. except for the fact that Abdul-Jabbar will not be the main protagonist in this new narrative. He does, in fact, base some of his main characters on real-life people. He also occasionally 'steals' some of his friends' words to use in his works though his friends' intentionally ramble sentences they think might end up in his next hook. Rahman was a delight to listen to, freely, unabashedly letting his own works of words flow from his tongue with passion. Watch for his next work of fiction in the upcoming years, as he is an author worth keeping an eye on. • Free Parking • Central Air Conditioning • Vt'a!king distance to class • 2 Full Baths
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