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Show The Utah Daily Chronicle. Monday, September 25,1978 Page Two Fellow attends conference in Ha vana T by PATTY HART MOLEN Special to the Chronicle Editors note: Patty Hart Molen was a delegate to the International Youth Conference in Havana this summer. This is the first of a part account of her experience there. Patty is a Master of Arts candidate and teaching fellow in the Spanish Sector of the University Department of Foreign Languages. Two weeks in the tropical capital of Havana meeting people from all over the world and a chance to view first hand some of the successes and failures of Cuban socialism are the lures that enticed me to apply as a delegate to the 1 1th World Youth Festival to be held July 26 to August 9. The first festival was held in 1947 in Prague and was dedicated to continued vigilance against facism. Festivals have been hosted at r intervals roughly since then in Hungary, Rumania, Poland, Austria, Bulgaria, the USSR, Finland five-yea- and the Democratic Republic of Germany (1973). The theme of the 1978 festival is "anti-imperiali- st and solidarity, andpeace I explain friendship," on my application that as long as imperialism is defined as specific acts of agression or by any nation, that I consider myself to be relatively solid, peaceful and friendly. I make clear, however, that I am not interested in participating in a wholesale attack on the U.S., and that my most extreme political activity to date is as a delegate to the m Utah State Democratic in 1976. Convention My first application is misplaced by the festival's National Preparatory Committee in New York. The $5 "contribution to world peace," however, is duly cashed, as the returned check proves. Poorly as this augures for their efficiency, I make a couple of expensive phone calls and they send me another application, which I without another check. On July 14 a phone call notifies me that I have been moved up from alternate to delegate status. After that, the only material I receive from New York is a mailgram telling me to send You asked for it! You've got it! (6:40 a.m. Because of popular demand, some classes filled, others crowded during the day and evening and some students unable to fit in an institute class during regular hours, two earlybird sections of New Testament have been added in room 12 central. At this time of morning there is no parking problem and both classes end at 7:30 a.m. in time to get to a 7:45. Mon. Ik Wed. Teachings of Paul Dr. C. Kent Dunford 12 Central Tue. & Thu. Teachings of Jesus Dr. C. Dick Chidester 12 Some of the 177 sections still open-$- 4 for one or any number of classes Central THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DA- SAINTS ireMgiom UNIVERSITY OF UTAH $300 immediately, as testival participation fee. I send a certified check and then fight off a severe anxiety attack and my husband's mutter-ing- s about my 'leap into faith.' Another friend simply tries to interest me in some cheap waterfront property in Florida. I call New Yck several more times trving to find o-about visas, what is covered by the fee, departure and - 4 V . information I'm given is sketchy and contradictory, and when I point this out to Delegation Head, Antar Mbari, he says, "Utah, you just don't know how to hang loose." I reflect that looseness must come easier as an paid all-expen- se committee member. July 25, 1978 The delegation begins to assemble in total confusion at the Riverside Church in New York. After a few hours I'm handed a packet that contains information on packing and preparing for the festival, obviously intended as a keepsake since it is too late for it to be of practical use. The first delegate I get to n know is a named Rafael who was brought to the U.S. by his parents as a child, and as an adult decided to see Cuba for himself. Along with 55 others he returned for the first time with the Antonio Maceo Brigade in December of '77. The group toured, met with artists, athletes, writers and many other people as well as being reunited with relatives, parents in some cases, whom they had not seen in 15 or more years since being taken or sent from the country. The climax came the day before leaving when Fidel Castro met personally with the group to discuss the situation of Cubans in exile, world politics and other topics informally for four hours. As a result of the trip, the group authored Against Wind and Tide, a compilation of both memories and the difficult story of adjustment in exile. The book explores the agonizing process of the Cuban-America- post-revolutiona- ry pre-exod- us FOR UNDERGRADUATE BIOLOGY STUDENTS 507 t return dates, etc. The ANNOUNCING A NEW COURSE BIOLOGY ti " Opening cermonies at the International Youth Conference Havana, Cuba. Cuban-America- ns "Extraordinary Youth be to Prize," presented during the festival. Many of the Antonio Maceo Brigade members form part of the American delegation. Although buses for Montreal are scheduled to leave at 6 a.m. the next day, the National Committee leaders keep us at the church for three hours of orientation speeches. At first there is a mixture of useful information (don't expect to find ur toilet seats; they're a import to zero-priorit- y Cuban-American- Fidel's capital) and cheerfully zealous untruths (Comrades have gone without ice to save it for delegates none of the Cubans I asked had heard of this). More serious to me are other inaccuracies and exaggerations about the nature of the revolution. A Chicago delegate told me 20-od- after d coffee plantation, the orientation: "There's plenty positive to about the revolution without exaggerating. The imprecision annoys me.") Toward the end of the session, the talks degenerate s into about such monumental issues as the "obscenity of a white Miss South Africa as Miss one-liner- Universe." I comment woman next to wearily me that since the honor is to the FABER CASTELL TECHNICAL PENSETTC1167 7 PENS & INK INCLUDED J? 25 OFF KOHINOOR RAPIDIOGRAPH SETS: 30 DRY CLAMP SELECTOR 4 PENS, DESK CLAMP & INK ii SET INCLUDED OFF 3065SUMPACK3SET 3 PENS & INK INCLUDED 25 OFF Expiro October FRIDAYS, 12:00 NOON ROOM 202, SOUTH BIOLOGY JOih i 123 East 2nd South Phone 3551713 Sail Lake City, Utah 84110 and with swollen bellies, mothers with babies, FALL QUARTER SAVINGS! 20 s. although my father wasn't a doctor, he knew something about making sutures, so the workers always came to him for treatment, there wasn't a real doctor for miles, and the injuries were somethimes pretty horrible. "We usually went to church on Sundays, and outside there was always a line of beggars, children say UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH SEMINAR (1 Credit) This course will consist of a series of seminars given by Biology faculty members on their own research work. The plan is to better acquaint you with the variety of work being done in your department and with the scientists involved in these projects. (Course is CreditNo Credit Offering) traditionally given to the stupidest entrant available, it might just as well be viewed as a comment on the intelligence of the white apartheid government, if one wanted to take the time to view it at all. She gives me a look that seems to say "you look too dumb to be a CIA agent, but that might be a good cover." I shut up. July 26 Although the Committee swore that anyone not ready to board the bus by 6:30 a.m. would have to thumb to Montreal, not one of them shows up at the Sloane YMCA for the rendezvous before 7 a.m. The buses leave at 8 a.m. It is the beginning of a tedious pattern. At the airport in Montreal there is a five-howait. I spend the first part of it in the bar with five of the They come from five different U.S. cities, and a variety of jobs from government positions to real estate. Miren, a woman whose Basque ancestors migrated to Cuba, summarizes memories of the country she left at age ten: "We lived on the edge of a as young to they attempt demythify the revolution as presented to them by relatives and other refugees and traces their eventual radicalization. The House of the Americas, Cuba's largest publisher and literary association, selected the account for the 1978 221 East Broadway Downtown 8 6 4800 South Holladay 278-4II 920 East Eon Union Blvd Midvale 561 8481 but . Latin American Stadium, cripples, blind people asking for alms." When I ask her about the changes, she tells me to wait and see for myself. After a few hours the bar grows festive with the arrival of Haitian and Canadian delegates. The Puerto-Rica- n Americans sing "Que bonita bandera," and the Cubans answer with "Cuba linda." A snakes massive conga-lin- e around the terminal chanting "Cuba si, bloqueo no." (Cuba yes, blockade no). I try to let go and participate, but from my earliest boring moments at Whittier Elementary's Kindergarten in Berkeley I've suspected I have no group spirit whatsoever. The Icelanders, newly ai rived, throw arms around anyone available and sing "The International," in Icelandic of course, and since I'm not even sure exactly where the clenched fist comes in the English version, I end up scratching my ear instead. I feel like the chorus toToni song, "Snow" white uptight, ("Frigid, Brown's . |
