" A symbol of Rebellion: Fidel Castro"

Today I found three important articles.  “Castro moving to take power”, “A symbol of rebellion: Fidel Castro” and “Exiles may take old tack with Castro”. I think “A symbol of rebellion” gives me a good overview of how Castro started the Revolution and how the United States felt about it. All Castor knew is that he didn’t like the Batista power. He had a way to speak and encourage the people. Castro got them to follow him and he over threw the government at 31 years old. I was surprised to read how Castro was described in the Times. I was expecting to hear bad things about him and how the U.S would not approve of this, but it wasn’t bad at all. An interview with Castro reveals him saying he wants a democratic Cuba not a dictatorship. Also he was no anger or regression towards the U.S. At this time I’m guess this article was so calm about Castro’s over throwing the Batista government because he is looking to make Cuba a Democratic nation. But as we know this has changed because Cuba is a communist nation today. This article makes me want to figure out what has changed and how did cuba become a communist nation.

Brainstorm Cuba

Cuba has been under the rule of Fidel Castro for about 50 years now. I want to look furthere into how the Cubans in Cuban see Fidel and the U.S government. Their opinions and what they would rather have as a rule in their country. Also I want to understand The U.S conflict with Fidel. Why has the conflict been going on for about 50 years now. Did the U.S  rather the Bista ruling over Cuba? What was The U.S government reaction of Fidel's revolution. The view of U.S citizens of the Conflict with Fidel. Also to look more into the Cuban Exile Community. I will be narrowing down my research between 1959 to 1970. That seems to be when most of the conflict got most aroused. My main reason for having Cuba as my topic is to understand the Conflict Between Fidel and the U.S governmant.

Annotated Bibliography on Cuba from 1959 to Present

“The Cuban Diet”

What will you be eating when the revolution come?

By: Bill McKibben

            The Cuban government is faced with embargo acts. The U.S has taken the out of trade with some very valuable nations. The Cuban government has to figure out how they will survive. They found that their only option is to grow mostly everything for them self. They funded back all of their earning into their education system so that the children will turn into experts in agriculture. The nation did prosper and do very well on its own.

A Nation among Nations: America’s Place in World History

By: Thomas Bender

The American government intervened in Cuba’s revolution against Spain. This reading portion helps me get a little background information on the connection between the Cuban and American governments. American government didn’t want the Cuban government to have its independence, they were making The Cuban government prove them self first. Then the American government had the Cuban government add an amendment in their constitution that America had land in Cuban, known as Guantanamo bay.  That seems to be the start of conflicts and connection between the two nations.

Lucy in America

Have you ever compared a new place to where you live? Have you ever had the experience of moving to a new country or ever imagined how you would experience moving to America from another country? Jamaica Kincaid’s novel Lucy reveals the view of America through the eyes of this young woman named Lucy. Her deepest thoughts and emotions take us into a new reality on the things surrounding us. Our everyday surroundings were like hearing new words for her; it was strange and would take some time to understand.   

As she arrives she already starts to judge and examine everything. She can’t see much as the plane descends because of all the fog.  As she leaves the airport and is being driven to where she will live, people point out important buildings, Parks, benches, and street names, etc. Then she reveals her response to how she feels about all of these wondrous places. “In a day dream I used to have, all these places were points of happiness to me; all these places were lifeboats to my small drowning soul, for I would imagine myself entering and leaving them, and just that –entering and leaving over and over again –would see me through a bad feeling I did not know have a name for. I only knew it felt a little like sadness but heavier than that”. (pg.3) Lucy had longed to come to America, nothing would make her happier. She knew there would be more jobs and she would be able to obtain a better education. That she would live a better life and more luxurious life. Kincaid is showing how immigrants depend on coming to America. They come with hopes and dreams, that they will be fulfilled. Lucy’s response is mind blowing because that one place that was a “life boat” for her soul now gives her a heavier feeling than sadness! She was disappointed upon arrival; America did not live up to her expectations. The more she observed and experienced everything she saw how dirty and ordinary it was. It was not a luxurious place or even admirable place to live.

The culture and ways of America are different from what Lucy is used to. She compares these experiences to wearing new under garments. It isn’t always comfortable at first. Everything takes time to get used to. Lucy also observes the family and the way they take to her. “It was at dinner time one night not long after I began to live with them that they began to call me visitor. They said I seemed not to be part of things, as if I didn’t live in their house with them, as if they weren’t like a family to me, as if I were just passing through, just saying one long hallo! And soon would be saying a quick goodbye! So long! It was very nice! For look at the way I stared at them as they ate” (pg.13). Lucy was the nanny for the kids. Her duties are to walk with them to school and take care of them, yet they call her a visitor. Lucy has moved to America to stay. She attends school and works for this family. They try to make her seem like an outsider and say she isn’t part of things. That is way they refer to her as “visitor”. They are trying to keep her out to show their standard of power. They are Lucy’s employers and they don’t seem to have much respect for her on account that she is an immigrant. They want to make sure Lucy feels less than them. Mariah the children’s mother has tried to down grade Lucy by saying she doesn’t know about a season. This might have been Mariah’s way of learning something about Lucy, but she says it plain that she also doesn’t like Lucy. Mariah is trying to show that because Lucy came from another country she doesn’t have the knowledge like she does. Mariah feels she is better than Lucy; she has more knowledge. I think Mariah is the one with the least knowledge for her to judge Lucy on something as small as not knowing very aspect about a season she has never experienced. The power relationship here is that Americans will always have the upper hand over someone new and will judge them. Lucy did not let anything bother her; she was just experiencing everything for the first time. She knew life had its up and downs.

I think from this text Kincaid is describing that America to the world may be an escape for them, some sort of hope in their life. But America can’t live up to everyone’s expectations. Lucy has to get used America and aspect her expectations weren’t real. America is an ordinary place for everyone to live. It does have better opportunities but you have to work your way up. Lucy is learning, observing and understanding America better.

Looking up sources

I am going to focus on Cuba from 1959 to present affairs. We had a reading in Geography called The Cuba Diet. I think this will help me in understanding Cuba government’s will power. This reading describes how The Cuba government worked hard to make sure there nation would still prosper even through the U.S but embargo regulations on their trade with many main useful places. They have a lot of conflict with the U.S. I looked at Wikipedia an over view of Cuba’s history. This helped me to choose that my main focus will be from 1959 to present.  Well I do know that the relationship between the U.S and Cuba is an imperialist on. The U.S is always trying to control Cuba. They come into conflict over war many times.  It is very hard to find an article. I’m not sure what I’m looking for, also to narrow the results to something useful. I'm still looking through articles and sources to use.

My Reaction to Hearts and Minds

Hearts and minds was a very “eye opening” film. Many people cannot tell you all the events of the Vietnam War, many people do not even know why the Vietnam War occurred. That is why I say this film is eye opening, you a revealed so many views and opinions from all sorts of different sides. After this film, you will be able to make you own opinion and view point on The U.S government’s choices and the Vietnam people. I am a person that was lost and did not know much or understood the war. I do not keep up with the news or even global events. It is not as if I do not care, I just feel there is never anything good to hear about on the news. The actions our government makes are what we just have to deal with. We elected a president to run our nation, so we have to trust and believe in him. I just find it easier for myself not to follow everything they say. Most of the time I do not fully understand what is going on anyway. I know I cannot help the situation; Most of it is really upsetting to me. I find I am a very sensitive person so I get emotional and I feel another person’s pain right away.

            Peter Davis Directed Hearts and Minds I believe to help us have an understanding of the Vietnam War. It was a very big and important War. Many people have their own beliefs of the war. Davis shows us different points of views such as soldiers, injured soldiers, the Vietnam citizens affect by the war, government officials, and many other people. The viewpoints that affected me the most was what our soldiers had to say about their experience in the war and those of the Vietnam citizens. The soldiers had many different viewpoints themselves. At the time of the war while they were in battle they were just fighting to fight. They did not even know the reason for fighting anymore. They just knew their mission and accomplished it. After the war as they think back about the bomb droppings and the gases they start to understand how wrong that was. It was emotional for some of them because now they have families and they could not even imagine anything happening to them. I am happy some of the soldiers realized later on the abuse and destruction the war caused for innocent young children of Vietnam. Other soldiers however found the fun in killing. The War did not affect them in an emotional way they enjoyed their missions and just listened to their government. There was one soldier that I felt his reaction to his injury was very imperative. This soldier suffered from his wound and it left him paralyzed. He was a soldier with a lot of pride in his nation and the military. When he knew he was wounded, his thoughts were “wow I’m going to die and for what?” Those would have been his last thoughts. He lost everything he believed in at that moment. His pride in everything about his nation and his military was gone.  I can be sympatric to his change in heart because he was fighting a war that no one knew the real reason it occurred and why they were fighting. 

            They had a lot of interviews from the Vietnam citizen. I think it was important to get their points of views because it’s their country and family that was at stake. Many people were hurt because of all the attacks. They lost their home, families and source of income. Many young children died from all of the bombings and gases. That hurt me the most because they are just children, they probably did not even understand what was going on. To see planes dropping bombs and planes exceeding gas must of scared them and make them wonder about it also. I feel the pain each parents probably feel for losing their children at a young age. Children mean everything to their parents and for a war to make them lose their children they probably can’t cope with the pain. There was one man who did express how it made him feel. And I’m happy and proud of him to express himself because it should be know how children died from these bombings and gas releases. Other than that man many citizen were surprising to me because the mostly they expressed was their pain and grief about everything that happened to them. They did not say anything bad about the U.S government.

                I just wish that there could have been another way to handle whatever reason the U.S government did have this war. Or even if they had to have the war, they could have found a way to keep the children safe. Children have no say and they aren’t doing anything wrong. I know that the U.S government cannot take back anything that happened, but I hope they will make better decisions further on. I am also hoping they will try every alternative before turning to any form of violence.