Monthly Archives: November 2017

Journalism, politics, Reporting

Why journalism matters

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The survival of any democracy depends largely on a press corps that doggedly holds our leaders accountable. These people may be PTA members, council members, state senators or congressmen.

As newsrooms shrink, there are fewer watchdogs available to keep us informed- so we too can hold them accountable. It’s something that troubles me immensely, and I thought about that a lot during our trip to Cuba, where there is no free press to speak of. It’s a frightening thing to think of, to think we could live in a country where you don’t have watchdogs to do the hard and important work that is journalism.

If you need a sobering reminder of the role the press plays in our lives or any doubt that it is critical for the survival, success and stability of our country, please read the latest stories by The Washington Post on the woman who approached reporters with a false story about Roy Moore.

 

Cuba, Family, Family history, Photographs, photography

Go old school and use a real camera

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As I reflect on my recent trip to Cuba, I think about how fortunate I am that my grandmother, great-aunts and other relatives had the foresight to take dozens of pictures with them when they went into exile.

Without their vision, I wouldn’t know what my great-grandparents looked like, what my paternal grandmother and grandfather looked like as children and young adults, what my father looked like as a child. A picture of my paternal grandparents’ wedding day sits on a bookshelf in my home.

The black and white photograph below was taken on the portico of my father’s family home in Cienfuegos, Cuba. He and my grandmother are pictured on the far left.

BARBARA AND HANK IN CUBA

Nearly seventy years later, my husband took a photograph of me by that very lion statue.

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That is all to say, to encourage you, that as you gather with your friends and family this weekend, take photographs with an old-school camera. There’ll be more than one that you’ll want to print and frame or print and mail (yes, mail) to loved ones.

Taking photos with our devices is well and good and fun, but not as well and good and fun as holding a printed photograph in your hand.

 

Cuba, Travel

Aquí, todo es un misterio

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Cubans have a variety of expressions to describe the government’s secrecy, its repression, its inefficiency and the hardships of their lives. A family friend said Eastern Europe may have had an iron curtain, but Cuba had one made of smoke and mirrors.

“Aquí, todo es un misterio”.

Here, everything’s a mystery.

That appears to be a popular expression and one of my favorites.

No one knows, for example, why you can’t go inside the airport’s baggage claim area to greet passengers. Or why passengers are let out in groups of two or three.

 

Cuba, politics, Travel

U.S. Cuba restrictions

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This week, we commemorate the twenty-eighth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.  For decades, the wall divided Germans from friends and family.  During that time, many Eastern Europeans seeking freedom from Soviet repression were killed trying to get past that wall into West Germany.

As they reflect on that seminal moment in our history, it would behoove U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven  Mnuchin and others in the Trump Administration talking tough about sanctioning Cuba to remember the Caribbean Island does not have a Berlin Wall.

Cuba doesn’t have good fortune, as a handful of Eastern Bloc countries did, to share a border with a democracy. The United States mainland may be ninety miles away, but that’s certainly not comparable.

For decades, Cubans desperate to escape the economic, artistic and personal repression of the Cuban government have tried their luck at sea- many unsuccessfully- in hopes of reaching the United States. They have no wall they can tear down or climb over, no Checkpoint Charlie they may be able to get through in a secret compartment of a car.

Mnuchin and others who support the embargo and tougher policies apparently have not been to Cuba.

Or if they have, they apparently have not had the conversations we had with small-business owners who are hurting in part because U.S. tourism has slowed since this summer, when President Trump first tightened the screws on travel to the Caribbean Island.

According to an Associated Press story, Mnuchin said of the new sanctions:

“We have strengthened our Cuba policies to channel economic activity away from the Cuban military and to encourage the government to move toward greater political and economic freedom for the Cuban people.”

These restrictions will do little to persuade the Cuban government into giving more freedom to entrepreneurs. In fact, successful businesses that compete against government-owned enterprises that may not be as lucrative are shut down.

The ineffective policies they’re supporting will do more harm than good to the Cuban people.

This post is an updated version of one posted 11/09/17.
Cuba, Travel

‘Hu’s on First’ on the Way to Cienfuegos

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My husband, two friends and I recently traveled to Cuba and in addition to spending time in Havana, we went on a couple of side trips.

I was reminded of the incident I describe below when I saw this fire extinguisher while pumping gas at a gas station in Dallas.

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Almost 45 minutes into our trip from Havana to Cienfuegos, our driver was stopped by a police officer. As I watched the exchange from the back seat, it became clear he was giving Rodolfo a hard time over some nonsense. Cab drivers are subjected to heavy controls in Cuba, and though I didn’t know him well, I figured Rodolfo wouldn’t risk not having his permits in order.

Apparently, cab drivers must carry a fire extinguisher in the car. Except that, as Rodolfo later explained to us, you can’t find functioning fire extinguishers in Cuba and that’s why he didn’t have one.

The officer repeatedly told Rodolfo he needed to have an extinguisher. Rodolfo told the officer he wanted to comply with the law, but could he tell him where to buy one?

This circular exchange went on for about fifteen minutes.

It took everything I had to stay in the car and not get involved, given my proclivity to want to run my mouth when I have no respect for authority. I was ready to pay a bribe, but wasn’t sure this cop was the type to take it and didn’t want to get Rodolfo in trouble.

In the end, the officer let him go with a warning.