Step 1:    Why did you choose this topic and time period?

 

                         so i was thinking for a long time about how to really write a story about a character who is deaf or

                         mute or blind.  i don't know why but I just feel like it's kind of deep. . . we rely so much on what we

                         see and hear and i can't even imagine the world if i couldn't hear it?  you know?  if i couldn't see it?

 

                         i didn't know for a long time, though, what i actually wanted to do with the story?  what i actually

                         wanted to say?  what i actually wanted to have happen?  i just am, in general, kind of more into the

                         other cultures and other places, so i knew i wanted to go to another place in my story.  i think i was

                         hearing a lot about immigration and all this stuff has been going on recently, you know?  like the new

                         immigration bill and with obama, what's going to happen with the boycott on cuba?  is it going to end?

                         and fidel castro is dying and his brother is in power now and he's changing things around and people

                         are thinking, so what's gonna end up happening?

 

                         whenever something comes up current in the news, i always want to try to find out the background, you

                         know?  stuff is complicated and i feel like people make decisions based on stuff they don't even know

                         so i wanted to find out more about what's up in cuba, and why there's so much crazy disagreement

                         what to do.  so i just thought i could place this back in the day, in cuba, when castro takes cuba

                         communist, and somehow the metaphor of being deaf can totally play out. 

 

          Step 2:  How do you plan to research this topic?

 

                         first, i want to know what really happened in the revolution.  when was it?  what was it like before the

                         revolution?  why was there a revolution?  was it an election?  was it an armed coup?  i just need to 

                         find out basic nformation about the revolution.  what was the timeline of events?

 

                         second, i need to find out about what cuba was like on the ground back then.  so, like, what did people

                         like?  were they into music?  what kind of music?  were they into rock and roll?  what kind of rock and

                         roll?  was cuba really poor?  really wealthy?  really separated?  is it like our culture and society?                        

 

                         i feel like i also need to find out some specific information about being deaf.  maybe i can read some

                         first person accounts.  maybe there's even somebody who writes about loving music and being deaf.

                         i feel like i remember something from somewhere like that sometimes people will put their ears to

                         speakers, or still even that their ears tickle to different noises.  oh, and people are definitely different

                         levels, right?  so he can be partially deaf or wholly deaf or so on.

 

                         if i figure this out, i can have a sense of who i want him to be.  does he need to be shy or aggressive?

                         will he be poor or rich?  when did this really happen and why would he be so upset about the revolution

                         that he needs to escape?  see, i know that that's making a statement, but i'm just not sure which statement

                         i want to make.  am i, is he against the revolution?  why?  is it that the revolution is really a symbol of

                         something else?  so if i know that he is going to be floating out in the middle of nowhere and he is

                         not (at least not in the story at least) resuced, why?  what do i want to say about the revolution and him

                         and you and us.

 

          Step 3:  Organize your research and information.

 

                         first, i went to wikipedia and google search to on "cuban revolution" to find out more information about

                         the revolution.   i found out that the actual start of the revolution was in 1953:

                         "`The starting point of the Cuban Revolution is generally accepted to be July 26, 1953, the date on which

                         a group of 160^[1] poorly armed rebels attacked the Moncada Barracks in Santiago and the barracks in

                         Bayamo."

                         a lot of the soldiers were killed, and fidel castro was actually imprisoned for treason.  the rebels were

                         freed 2 years later and joined in exile in mexico to plan a new revolution.  anyway, i definitely didn't know

                         that they tried once and failed, and i also didn't know that:

          

                         "In November, 1956, exiles under Fidel's leadership sailed aboard the Granma – a small leisure yacht in

                         poor repair – for Cuba."  that's awesome!  i can totally use that somehow to echo the revolution in my

                         character's escape. 

                         there were a long series of battles and fights and the rebels and then the army got the upperhand in

                         one battle after another. 

                         "But the combined rebel army continued the offensive and Cienfuegos won a key victory in the Battle of Yaguajay

                         on December 30, 1958 (earning him the nickname "The Hero of Yaguajay").The next day (the 31st), in a scene of

                         great confusion, the city of Santa Clara was captured by the combined forces of Che Guevara, Cienfuegos,

                         Revolutionary Directorate(RD) rebels led by Comandantes Rolando Cubela, Juan ("El Mejicano") Abrahantes ,

                         and William Alexander Morgan. News of these defeats caused Batista to panic. He fled Cuba for the Dominican Republic

                         just hours later on January 1, 1959."

                         also, here's some stuff on the retribution:  "Hundreds of suspected Batista-era agents, policemen and soldiers

                         were put on public trial for human rights abuses and war crimes, including murder and torture. Most of those

                         convicted in revolutionary tribunals of political crimes were executed by firing squad, and the rest received long

                         prison sentences."

 

                         so i know a little bit about the process of what happened, and i think that i have a sense that the regime in

                         front of castro was tyrannical, so in some ways, the people were probably largely behind castro.  it makes

                         remember, in some ways, it may have been the more well off who were forced to flee.  but, also, maybe i

                         can have my guy in a rebel of the rebel group.  like for some way in some reason, maybe he agrees with

                         the revolution but also doesn't like that rock and roll is being shut down or whatever.  i don't know.

 

                         here's something else from wikipedia:  "To expand his power base among the former rebels and the supportive

                         population, shortly after taking power the new Cuban government also created a Revolutionary militia. Castro also

                         initiated Committees for the Defense of the Revolution or CDRs in late September 1960. Informants became rampant

                         within the population. CDRs were tasked with keeping "vigilance against counter-revolutionary activity." Local CDRs

                         were also tasked with keeping a detailed record of each neighborhood’s inhabitant’s spending habits, level of contact

                         with foreigners, their work and education history, and any "suspicious" behavior^.

 

                         i want to find out a little bit more information about how the dissidents to castro played out.  like who might he

                         be a part of?  was there a schism in the ranks?  is it even important, i don't know?  i clicked on some of the links

                         at the bottom of the article and also i want to google search something like "dissidents cuban revolution schism".

 

                         i found this one site:  http://www.rcgfrfi.easynet.co.uk/ratb/cuba/cuba_rev.htm

                         it started to get at ssome details that the us was real upset at the revolution, started to cut them off.  i guess foreign

                         companies (others but including US companies) got screwed in a land deal.  maybe that's what's up, but the people

                         in cuba were crazy poor so it seems like the corporations were probably being greedy and raiding the land. 

                        

• At the time of the Revolution, the largely rural population had an average annual income per person of $91.25 - an eight of that of Mississippi, the poorest state in the USA. Only 11% of Cuba drank milk, 4% ate meat, 2-3% had running water, and 9.1% had electricity. 36% had intestinal parasites, 14% had tuberculosis, and 43% were illiterate.
• On 2 January 1959, the government announced that 50-60% of casino profits would be directed to welfare programmes. The first of a series of land reforms was enacted on 17 May. Large estates were expropriated and turned into state farms. The US United Fruit Company was dispossessed without compensation. Land was turned over to small farmers, sugar cane farms were made into cooperatives.
• The Cuban government offered to discuss compensation for US-owned farms and mineral properties. The US Secretary of State declined the offer.

 

Defence of the Revolution

• During 1959, the CIA began monitoring the telephone conversations of Cuban leaders. Subversive radio stations transmitted to Cuba from Miami, the Bahamas and Central America.
• At the end of the year, the CIA began to land saboteurs in Cuba.
• On 6 July, the US sugar quota from Cuba was cut off. Castro nationalised US-owned sugar mills.

 

                         so maybe this means maybe i could have the first boat crew leave even before castro totally takes to power.   maybe

                         this chracter is just saying, you know, the old dictator is going crazy, we know that he's attacking these real poor cities,

                         and the towns that supported the revolution were totally poor and they were getting especially pillaged.  so anyway

                         maybe he just was saying, listen, i don't care about this revolution, about this dictator, i just care about my music, my

                         love.  and maybe, oh maybe now that's kind of where i want to go too.  because i don't really want to be for or against

                         the revolution really, but maybe then it's some sor tof comment on how he goes for delf and gets screwed, or at least

                         it's tenuous and all that.  i mean, you have to be for yourself, but you cna't be only for self, if you're only for self, if you're

                         on your own, you're way out of context.  i don't know. . .

 

 

 

 

          Step 4:  Tell me about your research process.

 

                         Where did you go?

                         What kind of information did you find?

                         What new questions came up?

                         What did you figure out?  What did you learn?

                         What information was really helpful for you?