Related story: Postcard from Havana

By KAREN ZINER
Journal Staff Writer

Getting to Cuba was the first hurdle. I chose to go legally, which meant signing up for a U.S. Treasury Department-sanctioned trip. Which meant doing some research. I finally zeroed in on a trip led by a local art professor.

My plan had been to write about artists in Cuba, in particular, a woman videographer who had been on an exchange to Providence through AS220, an organization that promotes local artists. I had interviewed Bert Crenca of AS220 before leaving, about the exchange program.

Our guide screwed up, and I never did get to meet the woman, but there was plenty else to write about. I kept a diary, which helped.

The difficulty was writing a piece that might have something to offer to our readers. I'm not an expert on Cuba (clearly stated in the piece); I have done some reading but not nearly enough.

But after I came home, so many people kept asking: Should they visit Cuba? Is it dangerous? How hard is it to get there? How do they get there?

That people had those questions, and that much interest, made me choose the simple message.

People ought to be pushing the issue and visiting Cuba, before we Americans get hold of it and turn it into the next Foxwoods Casino, or the Europeans trash it completely with big overdone hotels, and all the fabulous historic architecture and soul of the place disappear.

I tried to use language to set tone and draw a picture of Cuba's beauty, lushness, bawdiness, and passion, and inject some humor about dire subjects, like lack of food ("boiled eggs clattering like cue balls") and romance ("dancers sashaying like schools of fish").

At the same time I wanted to raise fundamental human-rights issues. Shouldn't people be allowed to see the rest of the world if they choose? Think what they want? Say what they want?

By the way, I didn't name the person I quoted who said he feared he'd never see anything but Cuba. He was frightened of retribution.

Thanks to Bob Whitcomb, Providence Journal editorial pages editor, for his enthusiasm and the nice display on the commentary page.