The picture -- with the words "Scott & Barry 3rd grade 1969" scribbled at the bottom by Inoue's mother -- shows Obama almost a head taller than Inoue, with their arms around each other.
http://www.starbulletin.com/news/20091228_third_grade_photo_captures_obamas_grin.html
On February 9th, 2010, I received the following email from "Northeast Elizabeth":
On your site's "Education" page, you post a photograph identified as "Barry, 3rd Grade, 1969" which is identical to this one appearing in the Honolulu Star Bulletin in December, 2009 (in an article revealing that Obama spent at least part of third grade in Hawaii and not solely Jakarta as widely reported). Did you add it to your site after that date, or was it there before? I ask because in the article, Obama's former classmate Scott Inoue indicates that he didn't receive the photo back from Obama until November 2009, and I had assumed that Star's publication of the picture the next month would have been the first appearance of it. However, the page on your site on which it appears indicates copyright, Beckwith, 2008" at the bottom so I wasn't sure if it was from back then (and if so, how you would have it if it were a private picture of Inoue's, unless Inoue got it elsewhere and was playing a trick).
Unfortunately, I have no memory of when I added that photo. However, I checked the properties on that image and it was created on Sunday, October 18, 2009 -- so it was clearly before. So, I had it before it was returned to Inoue in November, 2009.
However, it's clear I acquired the photo without the back story, prompting me to archive the photo as an Indonesian-Besuki-period artifact.
Somehow, I missed the Star Bulletin report. This was the first I'd heard of Obama being in the 3rd grade -- and in Hawaii? He was supposed to be in Indonesia -- the report contradicts Obama's own autobiography, as well as multiple biographies, that say he attended grades 1 through 5 in Jakarta, Indonesia. From the report:
The picture taken on Jan. 21, 2009 shows a combined photo of the past and the present United States President Barack Obama and his schoolmates at SDN Menteng 01 elementary school where U.S. President Barack Obama studied during his time in Indonesia in Jakarta.(Xinhua/Yue Yuewei)
Looks like Scott and Obama went to school in Indonesia together too...
Surely, someone has the 3rd grade picture showing the whole class.
1967 to 72 - the years Maya says Hussein was in Indonesia
1967 - Kindergarten picture in HI. To make the age correct (age 5 = 196-67 school year), it would have to have been taken in the springtime however some claim he was only there 2-3 months before the move to Indonesia.
1968 - article about statue claims he attended 3rd grade in Jarkarta and there almost two years. Smart kid to go from kindergarten to 3rd grade the next year.
1969 - Picture of “Scott & Barry 3rd grade 1969” classmates at Noelani Elementary School, HI. Fall ‘69 would be accurate for an 8 year old 3rd grader.
1970 - ?
1971 - ? - Maya born in Jakarta but later obtains a HI COLB.
1972 - Some accounts say Ann took him back to HI in ‘71 but some say ‘72. Note the airport pictures with Sr. are at Christmas so perhaps everyone arrived sometime around Dec. ‘71 or Jan. ‘72 when he was 10.
So he was a homo even then.