Page 56 - Sonoma County Gazette 6-20
P. 56

    She Was A WWII Photographer Behind Enemy Lines
 By Diane McCurdy
Some people just have the knack. They are born story tellers. It is a rare talent.
They could give you a run down on
the biscuits that they made for breakfast and you listen raptly. Local author, Jeane Sloane, has that gift. The story she tells
is about Adeline Peterson who was a war correspondent during WWII when women were definitely not encouraged to photograph the atrocities of war. She was feisty and courageous and broke gender biases . Her story is fictionalized but the events she covers are real.
 California Poets in the Schools (CalPoets) first-ever Youth Poet Laureate. acknowledges a student who has achieved excellence in poetry, allowing them to be a leader for the county in raising the profile of poetry and developing its audience.
The author starts at the very beginning.
Adeline was born into a conservative
and a rather emotionally cold family. She
led a sheltered life and accidentally was
allowed to participate in her father’s hobby,
photography. She continued her interest in college and having extricated herself from a suffocating marriage, she went to New York and was able to get jobs using her photographic skills.
Zoya Ahmed, an incoming senior at Maria Carrillo High School,
was selected from a qualified pool of applicants by a judging panel of distinguished poets and teachers including Maya Khosla, the outgoing Poet Laureate of Sonoma County. Zoya Ahmed was the 2019 winner of Sonoma County’s Poetry Out Loud recitation contest and went on to become a finalist in the California State Poetry Out Loud contest. She was also the first winner of the statewide Poetry Ourselves contest, competing against other POL countywide winners from around the state, each with an original poem.
Adeline was engaged to photograph The Depression, the dance marathons
as well as the soup lines. She was sent on location to Oklahoma and sent back pictures of dust storms, jack rabbit drives and locust swarms. She was always altruistic about her profession and used her images to raise awareness of many human and natural disasters.
 Phyllis Meshulam, current Poet Laureate of Sonoma County, and longtime Poet-Teacher with CalPoets, is spearheading the Youth Poet Laureate Program in Sonoma County. Meshulam states: “Zoya Ahmed is a brilliant performer. Empowering a young person with a microphone to reach out and address the many special concerns that others of her age may experience, is a very significant gift to the community.”
does get caught in the Blitz in London. She observed the first bomb that hit Moscow and a ship she was on was torpedoed in the sea near North Africa. All the while she is toting cumbersome photographic gear that we in the digital age can hardly even imagine.
Zoya’s one-year term will begin June 1st, 2020. Within that time, Zoya is committed to conduct at least five public appearances/readings/workshops – ideally one within each supervisorial district, however virtual events are now highly likely and encouraged. Zoya will receive a $500 prize and an opportunity to publish a collection of her own poems or spearhead a broader, youth publication opportunity. Schools and community organizations are encouraged to contact Zoya (through California Poets in the Schools) if you are interested in hosting her at a public event.
Peterson frequently disregards rules as a way
of getting that perfect shot. She was there for the liberation of France and was privy to the unspeakable horrors of Buchenwald and Dachau.
In Zoya’s own words: “I embrace my diverse background as a first generation South Asian American, having both roots in Pakistan and India. This colorful heritage is my drive. Everyday I am empowered to work hard towards achieving my goals, humbled by the opportunities I am given,
and inspired to give back to the community. My biggest motivators are my parents and my family, who encourage me each and every day.
Throughout, there are black and white snapshots to support the text. The novel abounds with mind-boggling research from camera equipment to war timelines. Name dropping adds authenticity, Ernest Hemingway, Eleanor Roosevelt, fellow recorders of history Virginia Cowles and Dorothea Lange.
Requesting special papers, she went over seas and witnessed the Nazi take- over of Czechoslovakia. Able to flee Paris before the arrival of the enemy, she
Switching military theaters, she was almost hit by a sniper on Mt. Suribachi in Iwo Jima. She toured ground zero on Nagasaki and photographed the insidious disease X that was caused by radiation.
Each chapter is headed with a pithy quote which sets the tone. The protagonist knows she has given up any thought of a normal life with a husband and children but feels her contributions has been significant and worthwhile. The last chapters has our gal taking pictures and working with Quakers on refugee relief and after being so close to the horrors of war, she makes an impassioned plea for peace.
56 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 6/20






































































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