P o l y P r e p' s C h o i r

 

Proclamation

 

Travelers Forevermore

There seems to be two different types of visitors in Cuba: tourists and travelers. On Monday, at the Juan Marinello Institute we learned that there is an extreme difference between the two. The institute is committed to the development of Cuba's cultural policy through social research and academic debate. The institute has relationships with a number of universities in the United States, facilitating educational exchange between our nations. At our info session there, a masters student enlightened us on the definition of a tourist and a traveler. A tourist is a person who simply comes to take pictures and look at the landscape; they do not wish to immerse themselves in the culture or understand the historical background of the land. On the other hand a traveler is someone who walks with the people, talks with the people, and empathizes with the people. They are clearly interested in understanding what has occurred and how the people feel about certain controversial issues. I would like to believe that the members of Poly Prep's Concert Choir are travelers. Although we admired and took pictures of the colorful buildings and cars, our main goal was to comprehend why Cuba was in fact a snapshot from the 1950s. What events led to the strict and and clear separation between Cuba and the United States? What are the reasons for the embargo (commonly referred to as the blockade by Cubans) and what is the Cuban perspective of it?  Going into this trip I had many preconceived notions that through traveling I now understand to be untrue. I understand that there is a deep admiration for Fidel Castro and his memory. I understand the struggle for independence and need for revolution, which is shockingly still occurring. I understand how harmful the embargo/ blockade is on the Cuban economy and how it affects the Cuban people's daily lives (according to a large billboard, the blockade is like a noose that is constantly being pulled tighter and tighter around the necks). I understand there is no bad-blood between American visitors and Cuban residents, simply conflict between the government themselves. The Cuban people are actually quite friendly and are always interested in what it is like living in New York and how it must be extremely cold; despite the language barrier it is surprisingly easy to strike up a conversation with someone in the street or the market.  After our time in Cuba the members of the Concert Choir, myself included, can sympathize and relate to the Cuban people. We understand the history of their country and what the culture is like.  We will now and forever strive to be travelers!

-Martha Bennett

El Morro

    

Julian's Report

Hello to parents, peers, school officials, and any random strangers who have happened upon this blog and are now reading this post. Before I feed you the substance of this post, I believe I owe you all a brief preface in an attempt to adequately explain the content and structure of this long-ish report. Thus far, I assume (as I have not read any) all blogs, with few idiosyncratic omissions, have been about the events of the day and the significance of said events. This is the critical facet in which I will not be able to meet the standard set by my peers as they have had the privilege of writing about a full 16 hour period stocked full with activities that have been carefully coordinated by our guide, Paige, and choir director, Daniel Doughty. I, on the other hand, have chosen to speak about an eight hour day, with four of those hours dedicated exclusively to sitting in either an airport or a plane. However, the day that I have chosen is not without merit: I have been granted the unique opportunity to write about the trip from a holistic perspective, a conclusion of sorts, if you will. Thus, to avoid reporting on the mundane (if you must know: we ate, sat, stood, and sat again), I will focus on the political realities of Cuba. And to avoid sounding didactic, I will try to be as interesting and nuanced as a tired 16 year old boy sitting on a plane while writing this post in the notes app on his phone can be. ¡Vámonos!

Yesterday (Thursday) I was walking with my good friend Kayla while having a lively discussion centered around the qualities of autocratic and democratic regimes. Our discourse began with my remark on the authoritarian tendencies of the Castro autocracy and quickly evolved into a battle of merits between Cuba's socialist regime and the United States constitutional democratic-republic. I was surprised by the outcome: for a regime that (fun fact!) steals ~90% of its electorate's wages through currency transfers, Cuba compared almost favorably to the United States, whose record was scarred by neocon politics in economics and foreign policy. We came to an interesting conclusion: the stigma surrounding Cuba and its staunch socialist economy was, and is, entirely unwarranted. Here's why:

Coming into Cuba, I expected to see slums packed with crumbling infrastructure, and starving dogs with owners struggling to feed themselves. Meanwhile, I thought, would be a wealthier area composed of  a few high ranking government officials living the lavish life of plutocrats. What I found was astonishingly different. While there were a few starving strays that broke my heart, there was not a single person sitting in a muddy puddle on the street begging for food or spare change, an unfortunate commonality seen far too often on the sidewalks of NYC. It is true, Cubans do live on the average wage of $20 (or CUCs, which are pegged to the dollar) a month, but this money can go an exceptionally long way.

The government provides a multitude of services that range from food subsides to full on housing to free education and social services—standard functions of any true socialist state. These features, as our wonderful tour guide Denis explained to me on one of our walks to dinner, are multi-faceted. He told me that they decrease inequality via limiting free market influence (the Cuban government owns ~80% - 90% of the economy, though Raúl Castro is beginning gradual liberalization reforms) and subsequently increasing the human capital of the masses—something which  the United States ought to consider doing.

This system of wealth distribution, a counter of sorts to the neoliberalist friedmanite ideology which plagued the 80's through Reaganism and Thatcherism, seemed to form a dichotomy between the U.S.'s current market doctrine: corporatism. I digress briefly: the rise of a corporatocratic state began with Reagan's tax cuts on big business and was marked by the creation of the Military Industrial Complex through the seceding of power towards special interest groups like private military contractor Halliburton, and "rent a government" Lockheed Martin (both of which had direct connections to Dick Cheney). Back on topic, I believe that the U.S.'s market structure favors a select few who control the economy through speculative investments and immense political capital. This has lead to the creation of a state in which the top .1% of wage earners get (as of 2011) around 103 times more than the arithmetic mean of the bottom 90%*. Such inequality manifests itself in brutal, insidious ways. Picture the scene of a billionaire driving towards his large apartment complex in TriBeCa, passing a group of society's unfortunate, huddling around a fire to keep themselves warm. You may substitute the actors or the objects, but the contrast of the scene will always remain, just as the immense wealth disparity in the U.S. has. In Cuba, while no one owns a Ferrari, it is also true that there is no one (according to my brief exposure to the urban and rural sectors of Cuba) starving on the street without a sanctuary in which to sleep at night. I draw these comparatives for you in the hope that you can visualize one thing: there is a qualitative difference in the types of poverty seen in the U.S. and in Cuba (the former being far more severe if you didn't catch that).

Perhaps that can explain Cuban's opinions on both their government and ours. I asked a few locals in Havana about their views on the efficacy of the respective governments, and the results were similar with only one dissenter. (Warning!! I am godawful at Spanish and thus I likely fudged some of the details and warranting that the five Cubans provided to back their opinions). The general consensus was that Castro wasn't an evil, maniacal man who planned his coup for self-benefit; rather he was a man who looked out for his people as best he could under the hardships imposed by the Helms-Burton Act. They believed that the government had their back—but they did want larger food rations and more political liberties like those granted in the U.S.’s bill of rights. When asked about the U.S. government, their answers completed a full 180 turn: they thought the U.S. was under immense mismanagement (all five pointed out our recent right wing shift to Trumpism) and had done a poor job with market management. The one differing opinion came from a middle aged man who was displeased with Castro's ¡Cuba libre! movement and called it "¡Cuba encarcelada!" citing his frustration with the state controlled print and broadcast media and their censorship of the internet. His response on the American government was nearly identical to those of the other four.

While I did only ask five natives—hardly a representative sample—I was able to notice that their sense of nationalism was the common climate: buildings that we passed along routes in Havana had nationalist graffiti on them that promoted the work of the government, and the shirts being sold had images of Ché Guevara or Fidel.

All of this is not to shame the U.S. and draw Cuba as a perfect state. No, my aim is far from that. The U.S. has done good things (like the Marshal plan). And Cuba is still a kleptocracy ruled by a corrupt idealist. It’s people do have frustrations with the government and the regime, and stringent state regulations on speech seem to be a difficult burden placed upon its people. The people are trapped; our very own tour guide, Denis, tried to leave three times to visit his family in Florida but was denied his visa by the government each time. Ultimately, I do intend to share my opinion on the the U.S. political dogma regarding Cuba: it’s asinine.

If you’ve read this far, thank you. I hope I didn’t sound too boring or pedantic. Anyway, my personal experience was great. The trip was  both educational and immensely fun.

My dearest gratitude to all those who made this trip possible for me and my peers. Thank you!

-Julian DeMann

*Ritholtz, Barry. "Forget The Top 1% - Look At The Top 0.1% - The Big Picture". The Big Picture. N. p., 2011. Web. 25 Mar. 2017. http://ritholtz.com/2011/10/forget-the-top-1-look-at-the-top-0-1/

Habana Vieja

     

bryce's account

cuba has been a great experience in both an individualistic focus and a holistic focus. trips like these invoke an out of comfort zone atmosphere as you are forced to socialize with people who you wouldn't normally converse with in everyday settings. for me, i was around my regular group of friends however i still found myself creeping out of my box, venturing out to make new acquaintances and friendships. on top of this i personally broke through a barrier as i delivered my first solo in a concert. normally i remain in the background holding down my part with my other baritones but i was pushed to perform a solo and it was a new out of shell experience for me that i really enjoyed and look forward to doing in the future. overall i saw firsthand how seamlessly people could be united despite a difference in culture and a language barrier. throughout the trip music and dance served as such: uniting factors. as we listened to various choirs, bands, and orchestras of different ages and skill levels and they listened to us we found a common love for music and performance. also as we danced out best salsas and tried our best to imitate the cuban people who danced with us we merged becoming one people united by music and dane. as we roamed the street shops and immersed ourselves in the cuban culture delving into the history of cuban u.s. relations and the juxtaposing stereotypical portrayals we understood a way of life that had previously not been shown to us. as shakaa, derrick, shanniah and i played soccer with some high school kids in a rained out park we were united in a common love for sport and competition. this trip provided new experiences for me and proved that we have the ability to unite regardless of language and varying culture.
-bryce edwards

Nate's Observations

The mellow final day of our journey concluded a trip in which we were forced to step out of our boundaries and enter a world without cell service. Disheartening to many, yet leading to our heads being less glued to a phone screen, we were able to truly open our eyes at the wonder of our world around us. An island stuck in time after a socialist revolution and a trade blockade, Cuba, while seeming quite unlucky from the outside, house some the greatest fine arts and music that is known to man, as we would discover over our time here. Free education and university lead to the flourishing of musical talent and culture, represented by the mind blowing choirs and musicians of all ages that we witnessed around the provinces. 

As well as music, we were also able to indulge ourselves in traditional dishes and foods, as well as learn a little bit of dancing along the way. From figuring out how to chisel through a coconut, to attempting to communicate to someone who doesn't know a word of your language or you of their, we all found ways to test our minds and intuition through a trip to a neighboring country.

While having a great number of new experiences with friends old and new, my best moment of my trip came during our time in Cienfuegos, a city four hours from Havana. On the afternoon of our first day there, me and four friends were sitting by a dock in the port that lead out the Caribbean sea. On land, the area was covered with tall coconut trees, many bearing fresh coconuts for consuming. A gleaming sunset in the background and the thirst for new experiences in our head, we decided to try and crack a coconut from one of the  trees. On a quite unsuccessful journey, we were able to scrounge up three coconuts, none of which looked particularly ripe. Yet, not stopping us, we decided to attempt and crack them open for the sweet water that lay trapped inside. Our first attempts were to slam the coconuts with brute force against a red staircase that had been half swallowed by the rising tide. With multiple attempts we created dents in the shell, yet further attempts lead to no avail. So, in a fruitless hour, four city kids slammed coconuts against a staircase until we were able to crack the shell. Yet, we had only cracked the outer shell, still much work was to be done in order to obtain our refreshing reward. In a turn of events, we attempted to chisel the shell with a sharp rock lodged in nut, while we used a blunt rock to slam it and penetrate the shell. 

As the sunlight faded into dark, we tirelessly worked to gain the essence inside the coconut. Finally, after three large slams, four city boys, with no prior experience, had, on our own, managed to conquer a goal without using our smartphones or technology. Of course our success was short lived, yet our pride not diminished, as one of the local men helped us out by providing us fresh coconuts straight from a tree, which he split with ease with a large machete. Nevertheless we considered our endeavor a success in multiple fashions. As the sun lowered on the horizon of our final day, I reminisced on all of the memories and experiences I had created for myself and my friends in a seemingly forbidden country. From the color filled streets and the cultural endeavors and talented people, my experience in Cuba was completely positive and totally worth it. For me, I can most definitely categorize this trip as one, if not my greatest and most eye opening journeys, ever to be had.

-Nate Lewis