Since moving from a study abroad participant to a leader of trips abroad, I have had some recalibrating to do. There is a difference between the risks I’m willing to take myself and those I’m willing to allow my students to take. This came rushing to the fore last summer when I was walking at … Continue reading
In October, we lost someone so magnetic that he’s still pulling us together, even in death. Someone so funny and kind that at his funeral we laughed (almost) as much as we cried. Someone so good to the core that he was donating as much time and money as he could, without fanfare or pretense. … Continue reading
Today a pretty amazing thing happened: Raul Castro made good on a promise to abolish the dreaded exit visa, or Tarjeta Blanca. Cubans will be able to leave (starting “before January 14, 2013″ or as I like to call it, January 13) without acquiring an exit visa. The exit visa was an excellent way for … Continue reading
So much about this trip, this country and this traveler is exactly as it was two years ago. I carry much of the same clothing, from my blue and orange dress to my running shoes, tinted pink from Cuba’s clay soil. I still thrive on books and music, and breaks to watch movies and television … Continue reading
Last Wednesday was a good, good day. Kade is doing his project on recreation in Cuba, so it was only a matter of time before running into the ninos, the skate kids Mi les befriended who were the inspiration for Cuba Skate. I hung back and searched faces while Kade chatted them up and started taking photos. … Continue reading
I never meant to be a return traveler. The allure of more and more exotic passport stamps is pretty strong. Almost as strong as the allure of new and different countries. But at this point, I sit firmly in the category of a return traveler. I went to France in 2006 and returned in 2010. I went … Continue reading
I never truly thought before about how disconnected Cubans are. Perhaps because I was too preoccupied with my own lack of communications. Or because that narrative is so ingrained that all I learned here last time was about the opposite of stereotypes. I found out they watch House and Gilmore Girls. They know America’s music and … Continue reading
There are some beautiful photos coming out of this group. Some, though, don’t look like the Cuba that I know. Not that they’re going to new neighborhoods or meeting new people. Rather, some students are so good with their tools that they can manipulate a country (and a people and even buildings) I know so … Continue reading
At its heart, In the Time of the Butterflies is a book of historical fiction about the four Mirabal sisters of the Dominican Republic. They went up against the dictator Trujillo and each woman became a revolutionary in her own way. This all happening in the 1930s-1960, at a time when Haitians had been massacred by the … Continue reading
Paris is like that first love that will always hold your heart. You two can fall easily back into each other’s arms, where everything comes quickly, lasts long, and feels right. Canada is like that guy from your hometown that you paw around every once in a while just to feel alive, or to remember … Continue reading
