This year at the Mattress Factory was an outstanding year for me. On top of graduating from high school and being accepted to Penn State University, I had the privilege of watching the new Cuban show evolve and created my own addition to the web site in reflection of my interests about Cuba. The results of this eight-month project are outstanding, and the opportunity of meeting and interviewing many great people has also been rewarding. I've learned many new facts about Cuba through tons of research and entertaining interviews.
My very first intriguing interview was with 24-year-old Michelle. During the interview, Michelle stated that she had cousins living in Cuba and had recently gone to visit them. The experience was interesting but peculiar, she recalls. Michelle would stay with her cousins while she visited Cuba. Her cousins were her age and were still living with their parents. Even though they all had professional occupations, such as lawyers, doctors, and teachers, because of the communist society the name meant nothing. They all made the same amount of money. With all of their wages combined, they still could only afford the one roof they were currently living under.
She also talked about the boxes of movies that were bought from the black market, hidden in her cousin's house. Many videos and magazines were banned from Cuba because they spoke out against Castro's government. Any item that diplayed opposition toward Fidel Castro or talked about the freedoms Americans had compared to Cubans, were banned. If you were caught with any of the items you would be face incarceration, become a political dissident (a person who publicly disagrees with and criticizes their government), or both.
I also had the chance to see some Cuban magazines. Many of the articles were written about José Martí, a famous Cuban poet of the revolution. Though Martí died in 1895, he is still considered one of Cuba's Greatest Heros and is loved by many (if not all) of Cuban residents.
While Michelle was in Cuba, she wrote an e-mail to a friend living in the United States saying that she didn't like Cuba and the way the goverment was run. Her e-mail was read by the government. They thought that Michelle was a Cuban speaking against the government. She then had to apologize and prove that she was an American. Because of this, Michelle's family almost lost their home.
After Michelle, I had a difficult time trying to find other people to interview. With the help of a few contacts, I was able to interview someone who had lived in Cuba as a teenager and teachers who took a trip to Cuba to learn about the education system, which happened to be one of my main interests. I conducted interviews over the computer with two of the teachers. Their interviews happened to be very beneficial. I didn't get the opportunity to meet them in person but I appreciate thier concern and help with this project. I learned many new things and had the opportunity to hear the opinions of others who had been to Cuba and had actually experienced what I was researching.
I've gathered a lot of new ideas and viewpoints about Cuba throughout this project . In the beginning I had many assumptions, questions, and a lot of research. Now that I am at the end, I feel that most of my research is complete though there is always much more to learn.
Creating this website also gave me the opportunity to meet and interview someone who fled Cuba when Castro came into power and someone who is still living in Cuba. I wanted to get the chance to meet some of the Cuban artists that would be a part of the new show this coming fall, but unfortunately they will not be able to come to the United States. However, we can still be excited that people from Cuba can visit the website an dtheir wonderful installations will still be displayed in the Cuban Show for all visitors and people accessing the website to see.