Snow Falling on Cedars

FACTS:

Why do they suspect Kabuo Miyamoto, a Japanese-American fisherman?
The local sheriff, Art Moran and his deputy, Abel Martinson, found Carl Heine’s body, a fisherman, trapped in the boat’s fishing net underwater. They discovered an odd wound on his head. A practicing physician, Horace Whaley, notes that the wound resembles wounds he saw during the World War II, on soldiers who had fought in hand-to-hand combat with Japanese soldiers.
Of particular interest is a dead engine battery that was found on the boat. The type of battery is different from the type that Carl normally used to power his boat but it matches the type of battery that Kabuo used on his boat.
Art Moran found one of the mooring ropes on Carl Heine’s ship did not match the other three ropes but did match those on Kabuo’s boat. Furthermore, one of Kabuo’s ropes is brand new. Art thinks that he lost one and had to replace it.
Art soon discovers the blood-covered gaff. Dr. Sterling Whitman, a haematologist testifies that the blood on Kabuo’s fishing gaff is human blood, type B positive. This type matches Carl Heine’s and is relatively rare. Kabuo, on the other hand, is type O negative, so the blood clearly did not come from him. But Dr. Sterling admits that he did not find any bone splinters, hair, or skin on the gaff. He says that it is more likely that the blood came from a minor wound the coroner found on Carl’s hand.
Etta Heine, Carl's mother, accuse Kabuo of murdering Carl for racial and personal reasons. Because Kabuo wants to buy the Heines’ strawberry farm but he simply showed up too late to buy the land.
Ishmael Chambers, a reporter, realizes with the help of the radio at the lighthouse archives that a large freighter, the Corona would have produced waves easily large enough to upend Carl’s boat and knock him overboard. He steals one of the carbon copies of the lighthouse report from that night’s log so he proves Kabuo’s innocence.

Ca. 340 words

(In fact it was an accident: Carl was in the midst of tying a lantern to the mast when a massive wave from the Corona crashed into his boat, throwing him from the mast. As he fell, his head struck the boat, knocking him unconscious. He fell into the water and drowned.)

Task 2:

I think real art always says something about human passions or feelings. For me, art is something that makes me see something in a different way. If someone just throws a lof of paint onto a canvas and you can't even see what it's meant to be how can you call it art? It doesn't shows your emotions. Also a photo isn't art for me. It can't convey your feelings. This photo is very simple. In the foreground there is a woman with a white dress, light green shoes and a red shovel. The very special thing is, that you can't see the whole woman, but only her legs. In the background there is a blurred garden with many flowers. In my opinion this photo isn't art because art is when you create something.

ca. 135 words

Task 1:

Dear Lisa,
How are you? I must tell you about a very interesting picture named "The Problem we all live with". It depicts a skinny black girl with a white pleated dress with a bow. She's a bit off centre. In her left hand she holds her school stuff: two or tree notebooks, a ruler and pens. She also has two white ribbons in her hair and white sneakers with white socks. On the right side there are marching two policemen with police badges. One has a dark suit with cuffs and the other behind him has a light grey suit with a laple and a tie. In front of the lean girl there are also two policemen with a dark and a light grey suit and polished shoes. All four policemen have a turn-up and a yellow arm band on their left arm. The white writing reads "Deputy Us Marshall". It's very illegible, unfortunately. The first man with the light grey suit on the left side has a writ in his suit pocket. In the background there is a wall with a ledge. On the ground there lies a smashed tomato who hurled at the wall. There are tomato spatter and bits of.
In my opinion the artist wants to express the racism of his time. I find the atmosphere the artist creates quite effective. What I find fascinating is the stark contrast between the black small girl and her dazzlingly white clothes. Never have I seen such a intriguing painting before.
Yours, Angela

ca. 250 words