The photograph Nick Ut took of children fleeing a Napalm strike is one of the most searing images of the Vietnam War. Its publication in the worldwide media was viewed as a defining moment in the war and prompted antiwar activists to mobilize increased opposition to U.S. military policy. In 1998, Kim Phuc, the girl in the middle of the picture, traveled to many parts of the United States, almost twenty-five years after her ordeal, to promote peace and reconciliation.

Some members of the American press criticized Phuc for participating in what they viewed as an antimilitary publicity tour. Using the resources of a search engine on the web, conduct research on the origins, purpose(s), and impact of Kim Phuc’s visit to the United States. (You might use the web to connect to the newspaper accounts in the cities she visited.) Write an essay in which you provide an overview of her visit and then argue for–or against–the assertion that her trip was an antimilitary tour. As you develop your argument, be sure to anticipate the counterarguments of those who support the opposite side.

You might begin this exercise by searching the online archives of CNN or another news service. Or, you might explore the online archives of the Washington Post or New York Times. Part of this assignment will require you to assess the validity of the sources you find. Go to the Bedford/St. Martin’s site for a guide to evaluating sources on the web.

More and more Americans are publishing on the web the ordinary and extraordinary moments from their own daily lives. In the spring of 1998, for example, http://www.ahn.com was flooded with hits from web users wanting to catch a glimpse of a live showing of a Florida woman giving birth. At the JenniCam site, you can watch the events that take place in a woman’s living room. Other sites allow Americans to share humorous workplace anecdotes (http://www.myboss.com), first date successes and failures (http://www.bittersweet.org), and favorite family stories (http://www.bubbe.com/) . Choose a web site that captures a memorable moment of some kind. You might decide on a common category of a type of moment–weddings, first job, proms, grandparents’ stories–and search for these on a search engine (http://www.google.com, or http://www.altavista.com/, to name two), and then skim through the search results for a site that attracts your attention. Write a one-page characterization of the ways in which the medium of the web enhanced or inhibited the presentation of this moment. How does the medium affect the telling of this particular story? How would you understand the moment differently if it had been narrated to you in person? written in a book? published in a magazine?