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New Mexicans: First Atom Bomb Test Caused Our Cancer

Residents say the world’s first atomic bomb test caused generations of southern New Mexico families to suffer from cancer and economic hardship, according to surveys gathered by an advocacy group seeking compensation for descendants.

The surveys released Friday detailed residents’ stories from areas around the 1945 Trinity Test and argue that many Hispanic families later struggled to keep up with cancer-related illnesses. The health effects of the test have long been debated in New Mexico.

“It’s the first-ever study done on the Tularosa Downwinders,” said Tina Cordova, co-founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium. “We wanted people to tell their stories in the fashion because it’s never been done before.”

Tularosa Downwinders 

Members of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium have long contended that those living near the site of the world’s first atomic bomb test in 1945 weren’t told about the dangers or compensated for their resulting health problems.

Since then, they say, descendants have been plagued with cancer and other illnesses while the federal government ignored their plight.

Chuck Wiggins, director of the New Mexico Tumor Registry, has said data shows cancer rates in Tularosa are around the same as other parts of the state. Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in New Mexico, he said.

On Friday, Wiggins said he hadn’t gone through the report yet.

“It is detailed and lengthy,” he said. “I have not had a chance to systematically review the entire document.”

Gathering stories 

Around 800 community health surveys and two community focus groups were used to collect data for the report in partnership with the New Mexico Health Equity Partnership, an initiative of the Santa Fe Community Foundation.

Cordova said the report wasn’t a scientific epidemiology study but an attempt to gather information from residents who have complained about various forms of cancers in families who had limited access to health insurance.

The surveys involved residents of the historic Hispanic village of Tularosa and four New Mexico counties. They want lawmakers to include New Mexico in a federal law that compensates residents near atomic tests.

The Trinity Test took place near what is now White Sands National Monument as part of the Manhattan Project, a top-secret World War II nuclear development program run out of the then-secret city of Los Alamos, New Mexico.

Residents did not learn that the test had involved an atomic weapon until the U.S. dropped bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the war ended.

Law compensates residents 

In 2015, U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-New Mexico, pressed the Senate to include New Mexico residents in the federal law after meeting with Tularosa Downwinders.

“The Consortium’s Health Impact Assessment Report is important work,” Udall wrote in a letter to the group Friday. “It adds to the body of evidence that people in this area were injured as a result of radioactive fallout and should be compensated by the federal government.”

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Indonesian Jazz Pianist Inspires Grammy Camp Musicians

Every year, dozens of talented young American musicians spend a week at Grammy Camp in Los Angeles. They live and breathe music, playing with their peers, honing their skills and working with some of the biggest names in the industry.

This year, they jammed with Joey Alexander, the 13-year-old Indonesian-born jazz pianist whose debut album, “My Favorite Things,” reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Albums chart and received two Grammy nominations last year, for best jazz instrumental album and best improvised jazz solo.

This year he was nominated for a third Grammy, for best improvised jazz solo with “Countdown.” The field this year also includes John Scofield, Brad Mehldau, Fred Hersch and Ravi Coltrane, son of the late jazz icon John Coltrane.

One of the campers, Geoff Gallante, played trumpet with Alexander on a ballad: “Just me and him … so that’s a great honor. We got to play for a good 15 minutes.”

Born in Bali, now a New Yorker

Alexander felt the same way. 

“It’s really my honor because to play with my peers who are close to my age … so I am really happy,” he told VOA.

Josiah Alexander Sila was born in Bali to musical parents; his dad plays guitar and piano, his mom’s sister is the Indonesian pop star Nafa Urbach. He remembers hearing jazz for the first time when he was 3 years old; at 6, he was playing the piano.

Alexander played for jazz icon Herbie Hancock in Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital, but his big break came in 2014 when trumpeter Wynton Marsalis spotted him on YouTube. Marsalis, the artistic director for Jazz at Lincoln Center, invited Alexander to play at the center’s gala that year.

Since then, Alexander has been profiled on U.S. television (CBS-TV’s “60 Minutes”) and received millions of views on YouTube. However, “I’m still me,” he told an interviewer from National Public Radio. “I play sports. Like, I play a little bit of tennis, swimming, like a normal kid. I watch movies.”

The ‘confident touch’ of a veteran

Alexander now lives with his parents in New York City, where he is home-schooled when not performing and receiving swooning reviews from the jazz press.

Alexander’s original compositions, JazzWeekly said, show that “his touch is already confident, spacious and patient.”

Or as Sylvannia Garutch, wrote in the online Elmore Magazine: “I have reached the point where I no longer think of him as an incredible jazz pianist for such a young man; I regard him as an incredible jazz pianist, period.”

This story was first reported by VOA Bahasa Indonesia.

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Students Share Stage With World-Class Musicians at ‘Grammy Camp’

Every year, dozens of talented American students are selected to join the Grammy Camp in Los Angeles, where the annual Grammy Awards are presented each year. For a week, the Grammy campers hone their musical skills and perform alongside famous professional musicians, including Indonesian jazz piano prodigy Joey Alexander. The 13-year-old is one of this year’s Grammy Awards contenders. VinaMubtadi reports.

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The Moon Is Older Than First Thought

The moon, formed when a rock the size of Mars hit the Earth, was thought to be 4.3 billion years old. It’s actually older, say scientists at University of California, Los Angeles, who studied moon rocks retrieved by U.S. astronauts. It’s at least 4.51 billion years old, they say, which explains how the Earth could recover from the collision and become hospitable to life when it did. Kevin Enochs reports.

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