What You Said About …

ROBIN WILLIAMS

Richard Corliss’s tribute to the actor-comedian in the Aug. 25 issue struck a chord with many readers. “The ultimate irony in Robin Williams’ death is that he gave so much to others, yet he could see the day when he might be unable to give to himself,” wrote Steve Eklund of Salt Lake City. Reader Nancy Tanke was especially moved by Dick Cavett’s piece on mental-health issues (“Boxing the Black Dog”), calling it “the best article on depression I have ever read.” “Richard Corliss, James Poniewozik, Eric Dodds and their colleagues have provided Robin’s many fans with a eulogy as unforgettable as the man himself,” added E.W. Brody of Germantown, Tenn. “Their work is the journalistic equivalent of Mork, Garp and Aladdin rolled into one. Congratulations!”

GAZA VS. ISRAEL

Karl Vick’s primer “The Accidental War” was an “excellent article on the endless war between Israel and Palestine,” wrote Mike Wilson of Lomita, Calif. But Gerry Gingles of Canby, Minn., called it “one-sided,” in part for not mentioning Israel’s blockade, “which controls water and electricity.” Greg Hirsch of San Diego also objected to the suggestion that Israel’s creation caused the Palestinian refugee crisis. It began, he said, at the behest of neighboring Arab countries that “immediately declared war on Israel and told their people to leave–and that they could return after the Jews were driven into the sea.”

CORE CURRICULUM

Haley Sweetland Edwards’ story on Mississippi’s debates over core-curriculum standards sparked its own debate. “Local districts deserve the right to determine what’s best for their communities,” wrote retired teacher Joe Henry of Puyallup, Wash. But Linda Aragon, a third-grade teacher in Santa Cruz, Calif., said the standards were misrepresented by the “emotional and uninformed” and were so basic as to be noncontroversial. “Your article … perfectly illustrates the very reason we need those core standards. They are designed to teach critical-thinking skills based in logic and fact.”

BEHIND THE STORY

For this week’s feature on Fukushima, Japan–site of a catastrophic nuclear meltdown after a 2011 earthquake and tsunami–TIME’s Hannah Beech toured the devastated Daiichi power plant. The workers there “are toiling under uncomfortable and highly dangerous conditions, but they are helping save Japan,” says Beech. “My hard hat is off to them.”

NEXT UP

Want to talk politics? In September, Joe Klein’s annual road trip heads south, where voters will determine whether or not Republicans take the Senate in 2015. If you want to put a group together and chat with Joe, email him at Joe_Klein@timemagazine.com

NOW ON LIGHTBOX

When she covered the Spanish Civil War with her friend Robert Capa, photographer Kati Horna focused her lens not on the battlefield (where Capa made his name) but on the everyday lives of war-impacted civilians, many of them women. For more on Horna’s Surrealist-inspired images (now part of a Paris retrospective), including Woman With Mask, left, taken in Mexico in 1963, visit lightbox.time.com.

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