“I used to play by the clear blue water and hang out with my friends. It was a fun and care free life until I grew older and I watched my friends get drafted into the military and not finish school. I never agreed with Castro’s ways of governing the country. I started teaching people how to read and write who did not know how to I was passionate about my people and community. I used to give flyers away to people telling them to organize against him. Eventually, I was caught and put in jail for seventeen years but I never lost hope that someday all people would be able to read write and express their views freely.”
My uncle was a political protester in Cuba. He protested against the communist government, learned how to read and write, and taught others what he knew. At the end of his life in Cuba, he would have spent seventeen years in jail for standing up for what he believed in, exhibiting a commitment to his values that I will always admire.
Although I am American-born, I cannot help but get angry at the conditions in Cuba. In the year 2008, with all the progression the world has and is making, the progression in Cuba is at a minimum. In Cuba, Fidel Castro and the government do not want to be portrayed in an unfavorable way, and as a result l the media is biased.
It angers me that the Cuban people are not allowed to express their true feelings about their country. In order to make sure that never happens here, in the land of the free, I want to become a journalist. My goal in life is to ultimately become an investigative journalist, revealing flaws in our country like Michael Moore but informing the American people like Lisa Ling.
Being a journalist for my high school newspaper and the teen NYC-wide magazine New Youth Connections has given me more insight into the career. I am always amazed to find that after an interview I have conducted, or research I have done, how excited I feel. The process of research is not daunting to me. The inquiry and constant learning is what I enjoy and the interaction with people and being able to document stories are the ultimate reward. This line of work gives me an adrenaline high that I would not trade for the world. I am not only making myself proud and following my dreams, but I am speaking for all my fellow Cubans who cannot.
My uncle, who now lives close to us in New York, still recounts his stories, which I consider courageous and heroic. I just hope he knows that his experiences have inspired me to not only become a better citizen but also make a difference through journalism.
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