Maybe they can all wear Ché shirts donated by Urban Outfitters
The director, staff, students and parents of the Greenwich High School Band are excited at the possibility of experiencing first-hand the wonders of Castrolandia.
The Greenwich High School band has visited and performed in exotic international locales, but next year they will be going where few Americans, let alone students, have gone before -- Cuba.
The trip, which will overlap with spring break next April, was announced this week by GHS Headmaster Christopher Winters in a letter to band parents and students.
The idea to travel to the Communist-ruled island nation, which has been under a U.S. economic embargo for 50 years, was the brainchild of Band Director John Yoon. Yoon said his interest had been piqued by a feature on the television news show "60 Minutes" about Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra traveling to Havana a couple of years ago. The GHS band has a relationship with Jazz at Lincoln Center, participating in their annual high school jazz band competition.
Certainly, the children will be allowed to see that which Cuba wants them to see, and they'll return filled with wonder, at the sight of yet another Caribbean Island where people live below poverty levels.
"What they don't realize is that Cuba is this amazing culture because of their isolation. In some ways they have kind of doubled down on their culture, especially when it comes to music and dance and art."
Yeah...and they have also developed exciting new dishes to add to the already rich Cuban cuisine, like the fabulous "Picadillo sin picadillo" (A.K.A. Picadillo de cascara de platano), bistec de toronja empanizado, and the ever so popular croquetas de huesos de pollo.
"Many Americans have kind of a wrong impression of what Cuba as a country is," Yoon said.
Mr. Yoon is certainly among one of those "many Americans" with the wrong impression of what Cuba as a country is.
What Cuba is, is a pathetic shadow of its former self. A collection of crumbling buildings and streets in dire need of repairs, or at the very least a coat of paint, with the exception of those places where tourists and the elite spend their vacations. Sort of like damned near every other island in the Caribbean, except that Cuba was not like every other island in the Caribbean.
"With its rich musical history, Cuba offers a fascinating destination for our students."
Maybe next year, they can travel to Bedford-Stuyvesant and take in some of the culture there.
Luis,
I knew the Greenwich area many years ago, it is very rich, very upscale. Lies across the border from NY. Lots of money and million dollar states in that town. It is probably the wealthiest town in the state of Connecticut and according to Money Magazine one of the best places to live in the US and #1 in the "Biggest Earner Category". At one time George H. Walker Bush(and family) lived there.
How ironic that a place filled with so many filthy rich, freedom loving, affluent capitalists would like to establish ties with such an anti-capitalist Communist tyranny that preaches on destroying rich people by stealing their wealth and liberties.
Goes to show you the level of idiocy prevalent in our country today and that idiocy has even managed to invade the highest levels of our society.
Slumming at its worst.
Yes, Greenwich is one of the richest towns in the world, not just the U.S.A. More billionaires and millionaires per square mile than anyone dares to count.
I had a student from Greenwich a few years ago. She was driven to class in a limousine.
"I had a student from Greenwich a few years ago. She was driven to class in a limousine."
Gosh, that's riding to school in style, lol...
It's snob anthropology.
It's going to be like visiting a zoo to them.
Yes.... but I should have added that the kids who go to the public school are, of course, at the bottom of the barrel in Greenwich, a town that sends more kids to prep schools than any other in the country. These public high school kids are the "poor" ones.
I think I posted the wrong draft of this thing.
Fixed now.
Plus there is a good fifty minutes ride from Greenwich to your school professor.
I remember shopping around Greenwich Ave and the many states sprawling the area. Also remember the Ferrari dealer on US1 (Boston Post Road), now called Miller Motors.
Correction,
US1 is Putnam Ave on the Greenwich, CT side, becomes Boston Post Road on the NY side.
Professor...when I first got here from Cuba in 1967, I used to get driven to school in a limousine.
Everyone else called it a 1962 Impala, but to me it was a limo.
Luis,
We all have different and interesting stories of our early exile days and the struggles we experienced.
And yes WE BUILT our future with the sweat of hard work and tears for those left behind under Fidel Castro tyranny. Many of those we never got to see again. We'll carry that pain deep within our hearts for the rest of our lives.
We had to overcome many obstacles as new immigrants in this great country which has a culture much different from ours. A culture we had learn to adapt and embrace as part of starting a new life, we became AMERICANS in the process.
WE BUILT IT, no one gave it to us, we had to earn it. Lots of times we hard to earn it the hard way, but at the end WE DID IT, we triumphed over adversity.
We would not had any freedom or future if we stayed in Cuba living under Fidel Castro tyrannical regime. We have to be thankful for that for the rest of our lives.
Amen, FreedomforCuba!
"Cuba is this amazing culture because of their isolation." Yes, almost as amazing as North Korea. "Many Americans have kind of a wrong impression of what Cuba as a country is.” Especially Cuban-Americans, needless to say. That’s why people like Mr. Yoon are such a valuable source of accurate information. Almost as valuable as the official Cuba experts.
I suppose we could find Mr. Yoon comical, since he probably believes he knows what he’s talking about, and he may even mean well, but I expect we all maxed out on useful idiots ages ago.