Moving Toward Freedom
March 15th, 2008I attended a poetry/short story reading at Hull House last night, featuring the great writer Luis Alberto Urrea, and after he read sections from one of his books (two of which I’ve read: The Hummingbird’s Daughter and The Devil’s Highway) he graciously spent some time with any and all people who wanted a few words. The young woman talking to him before I came over was sharing some of her family’s experiences in communist Cuba and mentioned that there were numerous reforms going on in Raul Castro’s Cuba. Urrea said, “Really?” and expressed surprise that this despot (widely believed to be very similar to his brother) would change anything. I said, People always assume that little despots are the same as bigger despots but there are often significant changes in transition between leaders in all systems of government. I’m surprised they’re opening up to their people, technologically, because information will be the death of their communism. I had to go shortly thereafter but thanked him for the time and the young woman remained to have a chat. Today, I did all the things I typically do on a Saturday morning and afternoon and now I’m getting ready to head out and about, but before I do I want to link you to this article, about press groups calling for journalists’ to be freed in Cuba and this article, about the effect reform should have on that nation. I’d post excerpts but it is too good, and ultimately too short, to justify that. Go check it out.