Facing Now to Look Ahead

Rachael Trost

Reporting from Havana

Children running around the square practicing their ballet, little boys sliding down and flexing atop a dumpster, couples embracing along the Malecon at nightfall; it seems that Havana is really a place like no other I have ever experienced.

The view of Havana from our hotel.

Two little surprises and a mango

by Arianna Kemis 

Las Terrazas, Cuba 

I had been taking pictures of chickens. I could not resist; the chicks were huddled under their mother for bed after pecking around on a tiny, winding staircase next to a hibiscus hedge.

I thought the tech lead had motioned across the miniature valley to beckon the rest of the group over from the coffee shop to where a portion of us had gone to see a local artist.

So, I continued to take pictures. 

When the chicks had all settled underneath the feathers of their mother in the grass, I looked up to see an older man in an old green baseball cap picking the hibiscus flowers off of the bush.

It was María.

by Arianna Kemis
Las Terrazas, Cuba

We were at Las Terrazas, a settlement high in the jungles of Cuba’s highest mountain range. There, nestled away in Cuba’s sunny, mountainous countryside on the shores of a quiet, green mountain lake, pale homes with clay-colored roofs and open windows lay tucked into the hillsides among the mango trees, bromeliads, and hibiscus hedges.

The group had stopped to visit a tiny coffee shop that was decades old. Our guide, Julio, told us that Café de María had started as support for a servant, María, in the 1940’s when she lost her husband. A business man came and had a cup of her coffee, which she worked daily to make locally for plantation owners and neighbors.

“This must be hard for you,” the business man had said. María had nodded.

"The People's Partner"

Rachael Trost

Reporting from Havana

It was like they were coming for us. Stevie, Claudia, and I were conducting interviews outside the United States Interest Section in Havana when the faint sound of drums began spiking the audio levels on my camera. We had been on assignment recording the stories of Cubans who were trying to visit or immigrate to the United States. The booming sound grew and grew until the sight of the Cuban flag and military personnel draped in forest green uniforms filled the cracked streets.

Life on the edge

by Arianna Kemis

Havana, Cuba

I have never been so comfortable to walk in a city. Furthermore, I have never seen a balcony lifestyle anything like that which is in Havana.

Plastic-Wrapped

Rachael Trost

Reporting From Miami



An airport official sorting baggage in Havana. (Photo credit Ed Rabel)



I have never felt like such a stranger in my own country. The Miami airport seemed to be filled to the brim with people speaking Spanish, wheeling carts of green plastic-wrapped merchandise with names scribbled-on with sharpie. All these sights were not accustom to me even though I have lived all over the United States. I knew that this was already an experience I would never forget.