The Girl in the Picture

Source: http://digitaljournal.com/img/6/8/7/0/1/4/i/1/1/6/o/Kim_Phuc.jpg

Source: http://alivewithwords.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/viet.jpg

As I read Yocandra in the Paradise of Nada, I could not help but draw parallels to Denise Chong's The Girl In The Picture, which I read a couple of years ago. Chong chronicled the life of Kim Phuc -the girl in that iconic photograph of the Vietnam War- during and after the war. Many aspects of Phuc's life and those of the Vietnamese at the time resembles those of the Cubans in Valdes' work. Among the many striking similarities I found in the two books were the lack of food under militant rule, confiscation of funds earned by individuals (Phuc and the Traitor's) and property (seen in Havana: The New Art of Making Ruins) by their respective governments as well as a yearning to leave their homelands. 

So as to not spoil too much of the book, I will cut straight to the end where we learn that Phuc successfully managed to seek political asylum in Canada -much like how many Cubans did in the United States. However, this was only after she was sent to the University of Havana -Fidel's alma mater- to study as part of an agreement between like-minded Vietnam and Cuba at the time. Phuc spoke quite fondly of her experience on the island, in that, a substantial chunk of the book is dedicated to her time in Havana, which I personally find to be interesting, as I was able to also see Cuba through a foreigner's eyes.

All in all, I highly recommend this book if you have not read it, as it sheds light on how similar life was like under military dictatorship on the opposite side of the globe and reminds us that we are not so different after all.    

Yoani Sanchez- Generation Y

A few quarters back, I had to read a couple of excerpts from Yoani's blog. She's a blogger from Havana. She talks about the current situation in Cuba, and deals with the topics of censorship, propoganda, rationing, etc.



Some excerpts:

"I often complain about this self-sufficient little fatty  in every Cuban home — the television — and its excessive influence on our lives. This week, for example, the nightly programming has been saturated with political messages that we later hear repeated in schools, workplaces, offices… in the infinite spiral of ideological propaganda"

"“The chocolate is over!” screamed my two friends, as I opened the door that night of July 31, 2006. They were alluding, with their improvised slogan, to the latest plan pushed by Fidel Castro to distribute a chocolate quota to every Cuban through the ration market."

It's super interesting! Check it out if you have time!

http://www.desdecuba.com/generationy/

Chocolat

I just thought I would share this link for Chocolat for those who wanted to finish watching it! Just click the "Close Ad and Watch as Free User" Button to play.

http://www.solarmovie.so/link/play/570015/

Suite Havana (2003)

Suite Habana is a 2003 Cuban documentary directed by Fernando Pérez

 

 

Buena Vista Social Club

The New Art of Making Ruins

Dear Students,

Havana—The New Art of Making Ruins (2006) is a documentary directed by Florian Borchmeyer and Matthias Hentschler. The documentary tells the story of the ruins of Havana and the people who inhabit those ruins—from a homeless man who lives in an abandoned theater (in which Italian tenor, Enrico Caruso once sang to Cuba’s high society), to an expropriated landowner, to a young woman living in one of the rooms of an old hotel. We also hear from Cuban writer and poet (and ruinologist, according to him), Antonio José Ponte. In recent years, Havana’s ruins have been romanticized and valued for their magical decay, for its poetic evocation of a glorious past now lost, in particular in Buena Vista Social Club (see the post that refers to this); however, for the people who inhabit them, there is very little poetry left in these ruins. What we see is the conflation of the voice of the people whose stories we hear with the ruined city itself, a product of both the passing of time and the absolute neglect by the state. This documentary will help us contextualize Zoe Valdes’s Yocandra in the Paradise of Nada. Hunger in these works comes in many disguises and it is our challenge to make connections between the images we see in this documentary (as well as what we see in Suite Havana—the third post) and the graphic sexuality of a novel such as Yocandra.

 

 

 

Cuban ballplayers also cite over-stimulation, food, in tales of defection to U.S.

I -- and clearly many of you -- enjoyed the Professor's story about leaving Cuba today. It was great to hear directly from a primary source on the subject, and it reminded me of other similar stories I've read over the years.

I'm a baseball geek -- I not only watch, but read everything I can about the sport and used to write at a national baseball blog.

I've long been fascinated with the Cuban baseball players who defect from Cuba and come play in America, leaving their past lives behind and often their families too. Cuba is one of the few countries in the world where baseball is a major sport and selfishly as a fan, it's always disturbed me we don't get to see many of the best players in the world compete. Obviously, baseball is just a small reason to care about Cuba with so many families affected by the dictatorship, but baseball is one of the more prevalent ways Cuba is discussed in American media.

I thought I'd share some of my favorite stories of Cuban ballplayers defecting and tie them to a theme Professor Drissi mentioned -- initial over-stimulation (like at the Costa Rican market) -- and highlighting references to food as it has been a theme of this course.

Julia Child on Instagram

Saw this on Instagram...thought it was cute

Julia Child was a famous American Chef. Her kitchen, designed by her husband, is pretty famous; it's now on display at the National Museum of American History.
See her kitchen here