Read the prologue from Voices From Chernobyl, an oral history by Svetlana Alexievich, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. This interview was the source material for Lyudmilla's story in the mini-series. Consider:

• How do you experience the story differently in this format as opposed to film?

• Can oral history count as "literature?" What specific elements of this interview would make it "literary?"

Begin by reading this article from FactCheck.org on how to spot fake news.

Then play one of these three games to test your own ability to navigate the landscape of disinformation:

• Factitious 2020 -- test your ability to discern real and fake news about the COVID epidemic

• Bad News -- learn about how false and misleading tweets are constructed

• Fake It To Make It -- test your hand at creating a fake news empire

In January of 2021, Russian police raided the home of Anastasia Vasilyeva, a doctor and an anti-Putin dissident. She insisted on playing the piano as they searched her home and prepared to arrest her. What do you think of her act of defiance? How might it be connected to the stories of resistance that we saw in Chernobyl?

Compose a 500-word response to one of the following stimuli:

• Compare and contrast the Soviet reaction to the Chernobyl disaster to the Chinese and U.S. response to COVID.

• Compare and contrast the Soviet reaction to the Chernobyl disaster to the 2021 power failures in Texas.

• Consider the extent to which it is important to uncover the truth of a disaster or atrocity to be able to move beyond it (you might look at South Africa’s truth and reconciliation process or the controversy surrounding the 1619 Project in the United States).