Courtesy of Bill Little

Freshmen in the FOCUS class Stranger than Paradise: Cuban Experiences of Revolution explored Cuba during spring break.

While you may have spent your spring break catching up on homework or watching TV, 14 freshmen in professor Joseph Schraibman’s FOCUS class Stranger than Paradise: Cuban Experiences of Revolution spent their break in Cuba. The students had learned about the history of Cuba from colonialism to communism during the fall semester and studied Cuban cultural issues this semester. The goal of the trip was to allow the students to have an interactive experience with the culture they had been studying in depth throughout the year. The students were also encouraged to practice their Spanish communication skills.

After speaking with students who went on the trip, I learned that most of them originally held the typical views our generation has of Cuba—a country wrought with poverty, stifled by communism and crumbling to the ground. Steve Fuller, one of the 14 travelers, said he expected “animosity towards Americans, and people angry about living in poverty.” To his surprise and relief, many of the Cubans the group encountered welcomed the college students with open arms, hospitality and a vehement curiosity about life in America.

The greatest reward the trip provided was the opportunity for students to witness a society shrouded in stereotypes of mystery and hostility. The very first experience the students had was getting off the plane and walking through a group of completely silent people, who had been eagerly awaiting the arrival of loved ones they probably had not seen for years; right away, the students understood the difficulties faced by families who are completely cut off from the outside world. Upon entering the city of Havana, Antonya Gonzalez said she immediately noticed that all the vehicles parked on the road were straight out of the 1950s and ’60s; this is due to the embargo enacted in 1962 under the Kennedy administration.

While staying in Havana for four nights, the students had the opportunity to experience the Cuban lifestyle firsthand. One family across the street from their hotel let some students into the home, which was a tiny two-bedroom apartment with a bathroom. Most people in Cuba work low-paying jobs, even lower than the worst-case scenario in the U.S. Something else that shocked the students was the lack of Internet and phone access. Cell phones are non-existent, while landlines and the Internet are too expensive for the general population. Instead, the most widespread way of communicating is for people to wait in the streets, hoping that a friend may come by. Nevertheless, the majority of students said they were able to deal with the different environment.

During the trip, the students learned about Cubans’ varied attitudes toward the communist regime in present-day Cuba. Most of the elderly people with whom they spoke either did not divulge their opinions on the government or were staunch Communist Party supporters. One older gentleman revealed that he had experienced the revolution and thought it accomplished everything it was supposed to, save some minor things. On the other hand, young students at the University of Havana believed that the tragic situation in Cuba is largely due to Castro’s unconditional and unyielding control of the government. Our generation of Cubans seeks a government that is not necessarily like the American system, but one that does not restrict ordinary citizens’ access to the outside world.

Though students explained that some American stereotypes of Cuba ring true, it seems as though we should not lose hope for a better Cuban future. Many Cubans still attend school and seek higher education, even with no expectation of receiving a job better than that of a waiter. Also, though Cuban people do not necessarily like or agree with the U.S. government, most Cubans do not treat Americans they encounter with hatred; they are able to separate the people from the government, as they would want us to do with them.

The students also learned some astounding and unexpected realities of Cuba, including the fact that the Cuban people did not know about the 9/11 attacks until eight days after they happened. Furthermore, the U.S. is the fifth largest importer from Cuba. Thus, educated Cubans learn that the U.S. provides them with a large percentage of their income and appreciate the capitalist nature of the U.S. economy. Cubans are still taught in school that capitalism is inefficient and corrupt, however, while communism is for the people and will bring them security and happiness.

Students described the FOCUS trip to Cuba as an experience of a lifetime and were fortunate to have had the opportunity. Expeditions to enigmatic countries such as Cuba afford students the ability to truly understand and learn from a culture that is off-limits to most Americans.

There was also a blackout on the South 40 last week, and the cause is still unknown. I’m pretty sure, however, that a drum circle took place at the Clocktower while the lights were out.

According to Facebook, 694 people want Taylor Swift to perform at Spring W.I.L.D. Others want Taylor Swift to perform only if Kanye West will show up to interrupt her. Unfortunately for all of these people, Swift has a prior engagement that evening. Still, 694?

Despite October’s miserable weather and the fact that it is now a mere two weeks before Thanksgiving, St. Louis apparently thinks it should be 70 degrees outside. Not, of course, that I mean to complain. In fact, this is the kind of absurdity that I think should continue year round.

The photographic evidence of absurdity at Dance Marathon this past weekend almost needs no description. Almost, because I would be remiss if I did not point out that Chancellor Wrighton appears to have been wearing a balloon hat. By the way, it takes a special type of dedication to spend a Saturday dancing with hundreds of your students, especially while wearing unusual headgear. Most schools wish they had a chancellor that cool. They probably also wish they had a chancellor who invented glow sticks.

Green Action organized a flash mob last week to protest the lack of discussion about alternative energy at a University-sponsored energy conference. I think the flash mob was actually a non-absurd example of student activism. What puzzles me is that these students managed to find caution tape that says “global warming crime scene.”

On a printed sign on the edge of Mudd Field, an unknown miscreant has scribbled the word “cracker” in between “Graham” and “Chapel.” While we’re on the topic of Wash. U. signs and plaques, I hope you have all noticed by now that the DUC contains both the “Winney Window” and a plaque on the fireplace that reads “Peter Great Fireplace.” Aspiring pranksters should note that this plaque is simply crying out for either punctuation or definite articles. A Russian history textbook might be a nice touch as well.

There is no shortage of strange news off campus either. According to The New York Times, there is a trash island twice the size of Texas floating around the Pacific Ocean. In fact, there may be more than one such island.

The point, if there is one, is that our world, and especially our WUrld, is full of strange and downright absurd occurrences. In that context, attempting to reenact the Gulag is not a clever, unusual tactic guaranteed to shake people out of their mundane existences. Instead, it is a silly gimmick that trivializes the very real atrocities committed under the banner of communism. In the midst of so much absurdity, perhaps serious issues deserve serious discussion instead.

Matt Mitgang | Student Life

Sophomore Emily Piontek stands inside of a gulag created by Wash. U. Young Americans For Liberty. (Matt Mitgang | Student Life)

Members of the Washington University chapter of Young Americans for Liberty erected a mock Soviet prison camp, or gulag, in front of the Women’s Building Monday morning, but were later told by a representative from Event Services to disassemble the display.

The University said in a statement Tuesday that the students had not mentioned the display when requesting the space and built the display using power tools without permission and without oversight from the facilities office. YAL members said the display was not in violation of Event Services’ policies and that while the students did use an automatic drill, Event Services did not specify in its policies that students could not use power tools.

“We feel that this was more of the administration and faculty getting upset about the display than it was about safety issues,” said junior Dirk Doebler, president of the University chapter of YAL.

YAL members built the mock gulag to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and to condemn Soviet communism and socialist regimes. The display was a four-sided wooden structure with fake barbed wire on top and Soviet Communist propaganda posters on its sides. A large sign on the structure read “Peaceful Justice Social Reeducation Clinic.”

Several students who were dressed as prisoners stood inside the mock gulag, some of them with fake blood on their clothing. Other YAL members who were dressed as Soviet soldiers patrolled around the structure. Students played Russian opera music at the display.

YAL members at the display also handed out fliers to students that detailed the history of gulags and included a passage on resisting tyranny.

After the students had finished building the display, a representative from Event Services told them they had to disassemble it.

The University statement said the display was shut down because it had not been approved and was unsafe, not because it was controversial.

“The University has a long history of accommodating disparate and often unpopular points of view and continues to support the rights of its students and faculty to express their differences and opinions, as long as the venue has been reserved, described accurately and deemed safe and free of physical risk to themselves and others,” the statement said.

Sophomore Emily Piontek, a member of the YAL who posed as a prisoner in the mock gulag, said the main purpose of the display was to raise awareness about problems with Soviet communism that are connected with the Berlin Wall. Piontek said another reason for the display was to raise concerns held by some members of the YAL that U.S. government health care reform is bringing America closer to socialism.

“I think it was mostly about the Berlin Wall, but I think certain policies that are going on today and certain things in the government, and mostly the health care plan, were reasons that we wanted to host the event,” Piontek said.

But James Wertsch, the Marshall S. Snow Professor and director of International & Area Studies, said that the emergence of communism and socialism are not big issues today and that new forms of nationalism are currently greater issues for America.

However, he said that it was appropriate for YAL to commemorate the gulag since huge numbers of people suffered in these prison camps.

“If I would have stopped and talked to them and seen that it was a gulag exhibit I would have been interested, but for the reason of commemorating it, not because I’m afraid that communism is coming back,” Wertsch said.

John Burns, an area resident who is not a student but who is involved with the Washington University YAL and participated in the display, said he felt the University censored students in a manner similar to Soviet communists.

“I guess the students at Washington University were in a gulag all along, and the administration proved it through their stifling of free speech,” Burns said.

With additional reporting by John Scott