12/11: Word on the Street

Oh, good morning Cuba. This morning we ran into some of the issues we were expecting yesterday - the lights flickered off, and Kera showered with cold-to-no water. Can't take running water and electricity for granted! Also, this is nowhere near the Cuba of the '90s where economic struggles and fuel shortages caused up to 14-day blackouts.

In today's Cuba, we are fortunate to be treated to pineapple, bananas, and corn flakes before our first group time session where we would sit down in an organized space just to reflect together. Here are a few of our trains of thought:

- It is so interesting to see how strongly Cuban society is intentionally organized around geographic community with neighborhoods, clinics, bodegas (food distribution centers), and CDRs (Committees in Defense of the Revolution). In contrast with our own society, we may have the luxury of having connections in different towns, cities, and countries, but we may have to work harder to get to our friends and family and feel alone in our own locality.

- While a Cuban doctor may be responsible for perhaps a thousand patients, we may feel faceless and nameless in our own system. If our doctor moves or moves on, or if we move, we just have to find a new doctor and hope for the best.

- We are fortunate to meet with some Party members during our delegation, and while this 10 percent of the Cuban population may be labeled leftist radicals in our society, we must be mindful that Cuba simply has a different way of organizing their society, and their state has chosen a different strategy for development that may seem so foreign to us. Furthermore, Party members must first be nominated as respected members of their communities (I know little about whether this process has evolved over the years, and I will also shed more light on this process in a future post), so community leaders may identify as Party members or perhaps as Baptist Christians or santeros (practitioners of the santería tradition).

We were amazed by just how much we had attempted to take in so far, and each day would be filled by other new and wonderful ways to learn from the Cuban people and get a better grasp on Cuban reality. Today we would begin refreshed, and we were off to a senior citizen university on our yellow school bus. In the world outside our windows, people were standing in line at cafes, out and about, or in their own form of transportation. Many of course were cruising, or perhaps sputtering, around in their 1950's U.S.-made cars, most of which take a lot of oil or have had their engines converted to take diesel, unfortunately for the environment.

We also see many Cubans on foot, on bike, on horse and buggy, and on public transportation. At one stoplight, our bus parked right next to a public city bus, and my window aligned with a young mom and her toddler son. We had a solid few minutes to make silly faces at each other, and when the couple of rows around the little boy and his mom noticed, we won a few smiles from these strangers as well. Innocent human interactions like those feel like fairy dust in a messy world. 

Another shining moment: How often does an American citizen get to bond with, learn from, and man-hug a new Cuban friend?

Another scene from my bus seat.

Despite getting stuck behind a garbage truck (what amounted to an over-sized pick-up and wagon) for a few minutes on a dirt road on our commute to the periphery of Havana, we made it to La Lisa, another municipality. "!Bienvenid@s Visitantes!" says the sign for the Paulo Freire Community House, using the "@" symbol as part of a trend for more inclusiveness within the Spanish language. Traditional Spanish grammar rules about the pluralization of pronouns are such that if even one male is present in a group, all parts of speech referring to that group are masculine, and therefore to refer to us visitantes (visitors), "Bienvenidos" with that "o" ending would typically be used. However, instead of the automatic usage of "o" with any male or possible male presence and thereby the automatic override of any possible female presence, this symbology connotes an intentional effort to include both the masculine "o" and the feminine "a" by looping them into one, pre-existing symbol.

"¡Bienvenidos a todos y a todas!" "Welcome, all!" Maritza greets us, one of the leaders who does a bit of everything in this house. (Notice again her intentionality in inclusive language: Where normal Spanish would refer to "all" as females and males wrapped into one masculine "todos," she says "todos y todas" to basically say "all men and all women.").

Before turning the floor over to each and every one of the community members who joined us, Maritza spoke briefly about the Casa Comunitaria and who it serves. In these outskirts of Cuba's capitol city, the population here is mainly low-income, older, and black, and about ten years ago, there was a large problem of teen pregnancy as well as residents being in and out of jail. The Comprehensive Transformation Workshop needed a space to work and serve the community, and when the casa of a family in the neighborhood opened up because they emigrated to the U.S., this group was fortunate to be able to turn the space into the heart of the community. Those involved here have been able to present issues to the local government and see improvement on problems such as with water and sewage systems and street lighting, and they have also started a school for secondary students that now teaches 900.

And then each community member was given a voice to introduce themselves and what they do through this community house, following the model of popular education laid out by the Casa's namesake, Paulo Freire, based on the concept that everyone is both a teacher and a learner. This is truly a group of amazing women (and I say amazing women because there was only one man present, but he was amazing too...). Many are retired, but their goal with the senior citizen university is to get elders out of the house, using their skills and learning new ones, and finding purpose in life. One woman said she makes handmade crafts with a project called Amor Entre Las Manos, Love Within Your Hands. Another is a professor of physical education. Another helps other seniors get exercise out in el aire libre, the fresh air, to get them healthier. Another is a fine arts professor who has a taller de papel maché, a paper mache workshop, and started El Proyecto La Muñeca Negra, The Black Doll Project. Many are involved in a few of these projects through the senior university, and one woman said, "It has a hook - if you come in here, you don't come out!" Ways to get involved, stay healthy, and serve the community keep these women coming back. "Even if you are retired, you should help if you feel strong enough," said another. 

One woman presenting herself (to translate literally from Spanish) and her involvement with la Casa Comunitaria.

The Casa also has a private restaurant - a paladar - and an apron project that works to preserve that traditional art form. Abuelos y abuelas are welcome to come here with their own creativity and leave with aprons for their own homes and families. What's more, the Casa also trains people in the community to do these projects and encourages people to use their artistic spirits and talents in their neighborhoods. One woman who lived a bit further away has learned some techniques here and does cultural activities in her own community every weekend such as a street art club that puts on performances of art, ballet, and other dance forms that residents may not often get to see.

It was amazing to hear about the opportunities these community elders had and how enthusiastic they were about sharing their love for their projects, especially as one noted, "These projects are with our own hands, not a machine. What a reason to keep enjoying life!" The Casa did notice that people would graduate from the university of the elderly and then return to the same old habits of sitting at home, wasting away, so they are still in the process of trying to keep everyone involved once they graduate. 

Another aspect of community development they are working on through this center is to get more men involved. "Seriously, where are all the men?" we asked. Could the overwhelming female presence in this tight-knit community be attributed to machismo alone? These community elders said in a lot of these spaces and projects it is mostly women, and they try to bring their compañeros, their partners, but they are content to sit around and read the newspaper or talk about beisbol (baseball!). They may not want to change their life, but another component is that they do not want to be "roosters in the henhouse." A couple of the women joked though that their men all recognize that their wives have learned many skills here and are scared of their wives' new strength! The Casa emphasized the importance of needing exchanges and healthy dialogue with men to translate this new type of feminine power to society in healthy ways, and they can do that by providing even simple spaces to dance but also debate and reflect.   

I personally had not heard of the term "popular education" before coming to Cuba, but it was mentioned so frequently here, especially within the context of the question from someone in our crew about why name the house after the Brazilian philosopher Freire. "He is the first inspiration for the work we do as well as our inner transformation. We say he is always with us," one of the female elders responded. The tenets of popular education flow within all their kinds of workshops, projects, processes of communication, group work, and focus on gender, the environment, and politics. She added, "We are all here to exchange knowledge and experience. We may work in different ways, but we have the same objective... Aquí tenemos ambos Paulo Freire y José Martí en nuestros corazones, Here we always have both Paulo Freire and José Martí in our hearts... We know you can learn as long as you are alive, and here we learn to love and to share it."

We were about an hour into the discussion when one of the elders, Zardiñas, stood up and asked if we had any influence in our political system because she wanted us to give President Obama a message. (Note: This is actually Bob's photo because I was trying to furiously scribble down everything she was saying and did not get a picture of her)

“We want to tell President Obama that we love him and the American people. We know there are groups who want to hurt us, but we know that is not the US government. But your government has the power to stop it and does nothing. We are all equal. The only difference is that some speak English and some speak Spanish. We have different genders and peoples and histories, but we are all the same on the inside.

La gente de Cuba ama al pueblo de los Estados Unidos como la gente de los Estados Unidos ama al pueblo de Cuba: The people of Cuba love the United States like the people of the United States love Cuba. Why is this so difficult for us if we love each other?

I implore you to raise your voice and take a stand to end the blockade. We don’t blame you, but we suffer from the blockade, and you want to trade with us and we want to do the same. No matter the decision you make, we will still love you.”

Zardiñas and many other elders also called for the US to free the Cuban 5. They added that “our leaders want to sit down with your leaders to have a dialogue.” They reminded us that 188 countries out of the 193 countries in the United Nations assembly voted in November, 2012 to end the blockade, saying that is the best expression of support for the Cuban people.

That is what happened after Judy had stood up and introduced our group beautifully, including that we are a delegation of professional organizers who want to work for peace and justice in the Americas. When she added that last piece, a chorus of voices shouted, "End the blockade!"  

Of course we want to do what we can to thaw the relationship between our two countries, and we did in fact want to raise awareness in our own United States about the messages of love and hope for a healthier political relationship built on our common humanity, but the political reality in our own country can be frustrating and daunting. Kera, a labor organizer, took on the responsibility of reiterating our vows to work for peace and justice but within the complex nature of our system. 

"One of our issues is that we have a representative democracy, which 200 years later, we take for granted. We forget that we can petition our government and we can talk with our representatives! Lots of people just do nothing." She went on to elaborate that there is a very powerful Cuban-American lobby in the US that has a loud voice, but there are other Americans and Cuban-Americans who love Cuba and feel as we do. At this point President Obama needs to hear from Cuban-Americans who want the system to change. Kera said we would do our part to try to get their message to our president and our leaders, but she also asked them to tell their friends and families in the US to raise their voices too if they want change. 

An additional difficulty we discussed is that in the US, we hardly hear anything in the media about Cuba so most of our citizenry is rather detached from it, but the United Nations has been voting against the embargo forever. The world is talking about it and advocating on behalf of the Cuban people, recognizing that our embargo has clearly not resulted in the kind of political change our government set it in place for and instead only serves to hurt the Cuban people and provide a scapegoat for the shortcomings of the Cuban government. "La Guerra Fría ha terminado. The Cold War has ended," this community told us. "Our leaders want to sit down with yours para dialogar, to have a dialogue." It certainly will take more effort to overcome political inertia to ease travel restrictions and end the embargo, but both leaders will need to see that their peoples care and want them to take steps towards reconciliation.  

This experience to be here and learn from the Cuban people is like no other. To just be in the presence of these amazing community elders and soak in all of their vision, their humility, and their knowledge is to know this delegation is worth it. To make connections with the Cuban people and see their community organizing firsthand. 

We had to wrap up our talk because we had another meeting scheduled for us at the MLKC, but the women wanted to first proudly show off some of their projects. Here is Elise with a number of the community elders. Notice the Proyecto La Muñeca Negra behind them with paper mache art of mainly Afro-Cuban women and saints.

This is their corner dedicated to the messages of Freire that they try to embody here in the Casa, along with a basket of artwork and maracas. 

Bob's photo of all the women waving as we drove away, with hopes that we could go back to our country and do something.

Back to the MLKC we go.

The following block was more like a standard class lecture, especially in comparison with the profoundly emotional connections we had made with the Casa Comunitaria. For me, a June college graduate, this is more of what I am accustomed to in my recent history, and in fact, I could nerd out a bit in this session because, hey, I have already learned this! Professor Al Montero went into such great depth on so many aspects of Cuban politics and culture in our eight-student seminar in my junior winter trimester, and I would further nerd out during this session political history because I recognized the name Alfredo Prieto in our delegation schedule, realizing I had read some of his work in my Cuban Politics seminar.

My academic experience was coming to life wherever I turned here, and today the stacks of readings for Al's class appeared before us in the form of an older Cuban version of a Ken doll: Prieto strolled into our classroom in a sky blue polo, track pants, dyed black hair, and aviators and proceeded to explain why our two countries have the relationship that we do. Ready for some schooling?  

First of all, we have a long history with Cuba. Fun fact time:

- Cuba was an anomaly for the Spanish empire. Usually the power lies in the metropolis of a colony as well as its mother country, but Cuba's power lay in the countryside due to its sugar boom, the product of which it exported not only to its colonial power, but to the U.S. as well.

- In our own Revolutionary War, we faced funding issues, so Havana sent jewelry to help us, and in return, many North Americans came to help Cuba in its first Independence War against the Spanish (this one failed though).   

- In 1803 Jefferson wrote a letter that due to Cuba's geographic position, it would be the most interesting acquisition the U.S. could have. In the 1820's, John Quincy Adams the "Ripe Fruit Theory," named as such because the Spanish empire was rotting and Cuba would be left defenseless when it disintegrated, so all we had to do was sit around and wait for Cuba to fall into our outstretched arms. Adams' quote is rather priceless, so I dug it up for your pleasure: "There are laws of political as well as physical gravitation; and if an apple severed by its native tree cannot choose but fall to the ground, Cuba, forcibly disjoined from its own unnatural connection with Spain, and incapable of self-support, can gravitate only towards the North American Union which by the same law of nature, cannot cast her off its bosom."

- We helped defeat the Spanish in what we call the Spanish-American War and would only recognize the independence of Cuba if Cubans accepted the imposition of the Platt Amendment in their new constitution. This provision allowed for the U.S. to come into their country and intervene when our government thought it necessary. It also allowed us to lease Guantanamo Bay for roughly $2000 per year, and since the Revolution, the Cuban government has refused to cash those rent checks, arguing that agreement is illegitimate. We tended to use the Platt Amendment to keep our hand in Cuban politics and make sure we could keep guys we liked in power. 

- After Cuba gained its independence, they basically transferred their economic dependence on Spain to the U.S., which independence hero José Martí warned his country about in a letter the day before he was killed in battle. But Cuba needed capital to rebuild and sustain itself. The U.S. took vast lands in Cuba to invest and expand in the 1900's, and when the Revolution took over, one of their first undertakings, the Agrarian Reform, not only redistributed land from the wealthy with egalitarian intentions, but also took back U.S. land on the island.

- Prieto framed the Revolution like this: Until Castro came to power, relations were fine. Nationalism is always a response to foreign threat, and he came to power on ingenuity, intelligence, and luck. The Revolution led to true independence for all Cubans. You cannot limit the U.S.-Cuba struggle to one man. 

Extending these historical factors to the current situation, we still have an asymmetric relationship. Today, Cuba is not even close to a priority for the U.S., but if you see the situation from the Cuban viewpoint, it is completely the opposite! What is tricky these day is that the U.S. has conditions for negotiating with Cuba, saying their government needs to change, but the Cuban Party is not interested in the U.S. telling them how to organize their system and their country. 

From the standpoint of yet another Cuban expert, the embargo no longer makes sense, if it ever did. From the 1960's to 1991, the U.S. saw Cuba as a puppet of the USSR. But when the USSR fell, why did we not normalize relations with Cuba? The second piece of the embargo rationale was that we were afraid of Cuba exporting revolution, but things have changed dramatically since the days of Che Guevara and his attempts to transplant the concept of armed guerrilla insurgency to revolutionary groups in Latin America and Africa in the 1960's. Cuba now has normal relations with other Latin American countries as well.

 

Another condition the U.S. harps on the Cuban government for is to move towards better environmental protection, but if we argue about Cuba's need to clean up their act before we negotiate with them, Prieto asks how we are doing business with China and Vietnam? Cuba is no China, but we have trade opportunities, cercanía (closeness in distance), history of economic relations. And this policy "works" for us? Only a handful of countries agree with the U.S., and the rest of the world thinks we should end the blockade, but he acknowledged it would take more than a waving of Obama's hand to get rid of the embargo. Rather, it would take an act of Congress to expel the infamous Helms-Burton legislation that tightened the embargo in 1996. As for where it would make the most sense to move politics in the right direction, Prieto advocated U.S. citizens work for their right to travel to Cuba. 

Cuban society is affected by our political measures every day, not just in business and dollars and potential medicine lost to the embargo, but also by political issues within families and communities. Some communities were split by emigration. Some families were split by ideology. And now many Cubans are split by the 90 miles between our two countries for economic reasons but have more ties between them than ever because of technology and U.S. cultural influence on the island. The media is still run by the state, but some U.S. TV is available, and Cuban society is also changing with an increasing prevalence of pirated cds and dvds. He noted, "To my knowledge, Cuba is the only country without regulation against pirating," which also hurts Cuban artists and musicians as well, and he added the need for intellectual property rights is being discussed in political and social fora.

What is promising is that Prieto highlighted the latest polls in Miami are showing evolution from their historically anti-Castro stance to reflect the views of the rest of the country that we should normalize relations with Cuba. "Therefore, U.S. policy is not very democratic!" When you put it that way... "Fidel Castro has the same effect as the full moon has over the wolf," he joked. The current trends are such that the older generations of the anti-Castro exile community are dying off, the latest waves of immigrants to the U.S. are coming for economic rather than ideological reasons, and the newest generation of Cuban-Americans to vote did so for Obama.

On that note, we all moved down to the comedor for a late lunch, and Prieto joined us for a little while to keep answering questions as we all wrapped our heads around the context in which the U.S. is still actively blocking other countries from trading with Cuba. If it were just between our two countries, the term "embargo" would be appropriate, but because our legislation forbids any product more than ten percent produced in the U.S. from being sold in Cuba, and because we refuse to allow any ship to dock in our ports if it had docked in Cuba's within the previous six months, "blockade" is actually what we have on our hands. 

We can use the economic argument against the blockade because we are wasting U.S. resources diverting everyone else from trading with them, losing a potential U.S. market, and also creating a market for goods produced less than ten percent in the U.S. We are therefore losing potential U.S. jobs, and if our country is a proponent of economic freedom like we claim to be, it is ludicrous to be actively working against free economic relations with this country and all other countries tangentially involved.    

It was only the beginning of the afternoon, and we had already had two very intense meetings - one very heart-y, and the other very head-y. But our delegation schedule provided a wonderful sense of balance and reflection time in our next activity. We were to be whisked off to see a different facet of Cuban culture: La Opera de la Calle, Street Opera. Along the way... 

  

... I finally got a snapshot of a sign we passed frequently: "Long Live Cuba, 50 Years of the Vanguard" with the creatively painted Cuban flag within the outline of the country's name itself.

Contrary to perhaps popular American belief, at least current Cuba does not force anyone to display patriotic signs in their store windows. They would not be allowed to put up anything anti-Revolutionary, but they would have the option to hang nothing at all. This storefront shows its support for its country, for Venezuelan president Chávez, for Fidel, and for the 26th of July Movement (the group that swept Fidel, Che, and Raul into power in 1959).

And thumbs-up from strangers are always awesome!

When we arrived at the Street Opera, they were just warming up, and I was so struck by the power of their voices that just resonated in this huge warehouse space. We, and a couple other groups, had the opportunity to attend one of their rehearsals, so the actors/dancers/singers (all rolled into one) were not in dress, but they seemed to be in tip-top shape! Their performance is moving through dance and opera history, traversing various styles and adding Cuban flare.

I unfortunately was not able to get great pictures due to the dim lighting and also my wanting to just sit and be amazed, but here is one semi-up close. Not only was the center of the action spectacular, but if you shifted your focus to wide-angle or narrowed it to supporting characters on the outside that could easily be assumed to be messing around while waiting for transitions, you would see that every single action and interaction was choreographed and intentional.

Midway through, after stunning renditions of a multitude of Latin numbers and then neighborhood fights set to Queen songs "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "We Are the Champions," Diego whispered, "Remember, it's not over until the fat man sings..." The theme of the final couple of songs was love and love of humanity, and the director, the short, stocky baritone jumped in just as Diego had predicted. 

He then took questions from the audience with the help of an MLKC interpreter who happened to be Betsy's father! (She talks about his work with reverence and aspires to be as smooth as he is, but we think she is doing a fabulous job as well). In response to a question about style and origin of the movements in the show, the director said that pure African music does not exist in Cuba, so no dances are African, but all of their dances are Afro-Cuban, signifying how art and dance have evolved on the island in culture, festivities, and meaning.

The Street Opera is seven years old, and 2000 Cubans applied after the founders swept the streets for people talented in performance, singing, and dance. They chose thirty in the first round and twenty in a second round, and these lucky fifty rehearse Monday through Friday, five hours per day. "Seven million Cubans have already enjoyed our performances, and we have also been to Colombia," the director added, sharing their obra, their "work of significance." That is a hard word to translate to English, but opera and obra are one in the same. While opera in English may make us picture an elegant date-night event centered on high-pitched, intense vibrato in languages we do not understand, opera is supposed to mean "acting out culture," which they do here by acting out singing and drama, as well as the baseball, basketball, and rock & roll that are a part of Cuban culture!     

Re-energized, we re-emerged into tangible Havana, where I just had to take a picture of the irony across the road. The government promotes its message of "Unity, Productivity, and Efficiency," while the reality on the street is the 1950's car could probably use an upgrade to "efficiency."

Anyways, we then hopped into our less-than-efficient school bus to take us to our last appointment for the day: the Grand Lodge of the Free Masons with David, an MLKC employee. Here we were given insight into free masonry and its role not only in Cuban society, but our own as well. In the U.S., the Free Masons sneak about our history and their organization seems to currently only come up attached to historical lore and exaggerated conspiracy theory. In building the foundation of our country, they left symbols and meaning everywhere, but the Masons are a more secretive society with an identity shrouded in mystery, while in Cuba, David explained Martí was a Mason and most of the people who took part in the Cuban revolutionary process were Masons. 

From the structure of the building down to the rungs of the spiral staircase, there are symbols everywhere. The museum guide who took us around for the next couple hours explained that there are three main symbols: the compass, the square, and the Bible. The compass represents controlling your own emotions. The square is to take charge of how you act. And the Bible is one of their guides to being better human beings. David explained that inside this building, one does not talk about either religion or politics because those are things that divide people. Rather, they talk about building their inner temple to become better people. 

Ariel hanging out with Simón Bolívar while we awaited our museum guide.

David first took us into the temple space, pointing out a chain that traces around near the ceiling of the entire room, symbolizing that we are all strongly linked. The pattern on the floor means all Masons are equals and brothers no matter what you do as a worker or what religious or other tradition you may come from.

David (pictured with our group here) also pointed out that Mason temples usually have three statues: Aphrodite, Hercules, and Venus, representing love, strength, and justice.

Our tour guide met us here, and on behalf of the Gran Maestro de Cuba, Cuba's Grand Master, he welcomed us to la Gran Logia de Cuba, Cuba's Grand Lodge.   

The concept of fraternity has a long tradition, he began. In 1804, the first lodge was created by French immigrants who came here during the first inklings of revolution in Haiti. These French immigrants had brought with them their social traditions, of course, and by the mid-1800's, free masonry had gained enough in popularity in Cuba to form their own Gran Oriente, the institution that represents all the lodges in a country or region. The Gran Oriente would be directed by the great master elected by all of the lodges in that jurisdiction, and he serves for three years, to be followed by a compulsory six-year recess, only after which he could possibly be re-entered into the election process.

There are now 318 logias in Cuba and upwards of 29,000 Masons. Additionally, there are two grupos para-Masonicos, two para-Mason groups. One is Las Hijas de Acacia, a complementary feminine group based on the ideals of masonry, and he other is La Asociación de Jóvenes Esperanza de la Fraternidad, the organization for 14- to 21-year-olds hoping to join the fraternity when they are old enough. When they turn 21 they can then decide if they would like to join or they can retire. 

Otherwise, to become a Mason, one does not ask to join, and the Masons do not prostheletize, but if it seems you have the qualities to become a Mason, a godfather-figure will bring you in and be responsible for presenting you to the Masons and training you. When asked, our guide said the Masons do not accept homosexuals or women because the organization is based on the tenth century notion of fraternity and limits laid out by the brotherhood who traveled all over Europe building cathedrals without paying taxes to any country. That, my friends, would be the origin of the name "Free Masons." 

Once you are in the organization, the intent is to be a part of this brotherhood to take care of one another within the Lodge and to sharpen their skills to be better men out in the world. Within this building, they are all equals, while they may practice another religion outside or practice nothing else at all. Here they focus on the actions and attitude needed to get closer to the entity call the Great Architect (and while many of us perhaps did not agree, our guide did indeed specify man) who created the universe and all life.    

He then took us on an extended tour of their museum, beginning with the hall of famous Masons of the Americas that included such figures as Simón Bolívar, Abraham Lincoln, and George Washington. He elaborated that many of the fathers of the revolutionary process were Masons, though of course, he qualified his statement that we can never know if, for example, Carlos Manuel de Cespedes freed his slaves because of what he was taught and practiced as a Mason, or if the leanings of his heart led him to become a Mason.

The hall leads straight to Martí, father of independent Cuba.

Here's Nino with our guy Lincoln.

Our guide further explaining the significance of some of Martí's articles.

There was so much more information to take in, but I will just highlight a couple of things. Here Diego reads a plaque dedicated to our president FDR, another famous Mason.

An ancient but real, working fire engine that was dissembled and reassembled by experts once brought into this room.

Trying to convince us that the decision-making in the crafting of the Cuban flag was based entirely on Mason significance. I am not sure we entirely bought that one, but what is certain is that there is influence of Masonic fraternity, equality, and symbology evoked throughout Cuban society. What was vitally important to hear at the end of the museum walk-through was David's intentionality to emphasize that what we heard was the official spiel of the Masons, and everyone has their own take on what it means to work to be a better person, of course. He brought up the notions of equality and inclusiveness in reference to this fraternal organization and felt the need to assure us that the Masons, like the rest of Cuban society, have work to do in terms of tackling issues and traditions of exclusivity for a more just society.

We returned back to the King Center with loads more questions, but we were to have an exciting opportunity to share a meal with a few students from the University of Havana to talk about whatever we wanted to talk about. These students are my age, so for me especially, it was wonderful to gain insight into the renowned Cuban education system and their personal views and feelings on how it prepares them for life in their society. Our group started off rather segregated with the two female students at my table with Elise, Kera, Betsy, and Judy and the two male students with most of our male delegation members at the other table, so then one girl and one boy switched to continue our conversations on life and their fields of study. 

We got to know each other over malanga soup and spaghetti, talking about majors and what that means in terms of the actual course tracks, but it was rather hard to hear (and also practice language conversion) over the chatter in the comedor, so the students and a few of us agreed to spend some more time conversing out on the porch with Betsy attempting to simultaneously interpret a couple of threads of conversation, and it was fun for me to practice my Spanish and do some interpreting as well, but Betsy is a vocabulary pro so it was great to have her there as well. 

For me at least, it was fascinating to both hear about their education system and also the questions they had for us as representatives of our country and culture. Starting with education, in Cuba you basically have to decide your career at age eighteen and then study that in the university if you get in. Here, the government decides how to allot the number of places for each program. Yes, sometimes the government does make mistakes, but it feels similar to how students in the U.S. make judgments on what track to pursue based on if they can foresee there being opportunities in that field after they graduate, and sometimes we make mistakes too, like the recent overflow of graduates in nursing for more jobs than are available in the current market. 

There are other tradeoffs, of course. In the U.S., we have more freedom and flexibility to choose our courses in a standard undergrad experience, but this freedom can also leave some students just messing around without direction. In Cuba, once you choose your program of specialized study, you have five years of set courses in your field, and then the government gives you a job in your field that you have to stay in for three years (basically civil service in return for the free education), and then you can decide if you want to stay there or do something else. Our four students were studying journalism (and she hopes to go into sports journalism), history, graphic design (which is relatively new to Cuba, so this student noted the benefit that Cuba does not have the lens of history clouding where this field could possibly take them), and urban restoration. This last student had originally gone into electrical engineering, but he changed his major when he realized more of his calling was to beautify this old, historic city. The unfortunate part is that he had to completely start his five-year process over again, but at least you can change your major and are not locked into a program that does not fit you. 

We touched on an incredible breadth of topics on that porch, but one that I must highlight was about 9/11. These Cuban students were very aware of international news and current events, and their social reality has shaped their experience as ours has. So one of the girls rather timidly broached the subject, wondering if it was a U.S. conspiracy because there are people around the world that think the U.S. government planned it. I, for one, felt so fortunate that we could have this open dialogue because there are so many misconceptions about Cuba in our own country, and this is one misconception that apparently exists about the U.S. in the world. This brought us down the incredibly interesting avenue on how the media shapes perceptions, and we had the opportunity to discuss how much we know and care to know in society. And also to address the apparently international rumor mill that our country would have planned or instigated something so vile and awful as the attack on our own people to create an excuse to go to war. 

They also asked us numerous questions about our education system, the concepts of community education and technical schools, and living at home. These kids are around my age, facing graduation and careers and negotiating independence. We have the commonality of wanting to take what we have learned, fit into society, and serve our peoples with our skills. There were still so many thoughts running through our minds as we had to bid these students a goodnight and pack up for a day trip the following day, but as I tried to remember the main threads of conversation before laying my head down to rest, I think the sense of security these Cuban students had about their post-graduation future struck me the most. It was pretty amazing, actually. Our systems are just different. Coming out of college in the U.S. can be both exciting because of all the possibilities out there, but you face the world, leap into the great unknown, and hope for the best. And while it may seem like a negative to have your path laid out for you once you have chosen your major, these Cuban students were able to rest easy knowing they could focus on their studies, not have to worry about being jobless or being saddled with debt, and then get experience in your field to truly know if that is where you want to be.  

This is why we are here. Tackling misconceptions of and misunderstandings between our two countries. That is why we need the word on the street.