Evelyn C. McDonald
Arts & Culture Reporter
May 11, 2017 5:47 p.m.
Amelia Lifelong Learning will hold a series of classes over the summer. These will be short talks on topics of interest – current events, historical research, and other subjects. The first class will be “Cuba Today,” to be held this month at the Amelia Island Museum of History.
What has really changed after 58 years of the Castros? Dr. Berta Arias will explore that question on May 23 and 25. Her class will discuss how the promise of the 1959 Revolution and Fidel Castro’s charisma changed Cuba and Cuban society, with insights into the reality versus the propaganda about Cuba both from Cuba and U.S. perspectives.
Most of us remember the main events in our relationship with Cuba. The ill-fated Bay of Pigs’ invasion attempt came in the spring of 1961. The Cuban Missile Crisis followed in 1962. Over the years, we read about boatloads of people attempting to flee Cuba for the U.S. The most famous of these people was Elian Gonzalez whose mother died trying to get here. In 2000 the U.S. courts deliberated his fate and eventually decided that he had to be returned to his father in Cuba.
In the years since then, things have been quieter in Cuban-American relations though the economic and travel embargos continued. Fidel Castro was in failing health and handed control of the country over to his brother, Raul, in 2008. When Fidel died in 2010, his brother retained control. Over the years, the U.S. had talked about thawing relations but little came of it until President Obama announced in 2015 that the United States and Cuba would each open an embassy in the other country.
The changing relationship between the two countries has resulted in more Americans visiting Cuba and that has led to increased interested in the country. Thus, it’s timely to hear from a Cuban-American scholar who has visited the island recently.
Dr. Arias is a Cuban-American retired college professor and current author who enjoys sharing her culture with others.In 2014, Dr. Arias began presenting Spanish language courses for Amelia Lifelong Learning and its predecessor, the Center for Lifelong Learning. She did research in Cuba in June of 2016 forher next novel and has fresh and new insights as to what the 2015 U.S. changes toward Cuba translate into for the common Cuban population.
The Cuba class will be held in two sessions, on May 23rd and 25th, from 9:30 am to 11:30 am in the upstairs lecture hall at the Museum.The course fee is $20. You can register for the class at the Amelia Lifelong Learning website – www.amelialearning.com
Evelyn McDonald moved to Fernandina Beach from the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. in 2006. She is a chair of Arts & Culture Nassau, a city commission charged with support of the arts in Nassau County. She serves on FSCJ’s Curriculum Committee for the Center for Lifelong Learning. She is also the chair of the Dean’s Council for the Carpenter Library at the UNF. Ms. McDonald has MS in Technology Management from the University of Maryland’s University College and a BA in Spanish from the University of Michigan.