Archive - February 18, 2014

[A letter in the New York Times, (2/18/14) from Bob Vila (Panama 1969-70) on Ernest Hemingway’s papers and Bob’s involvement with the Finca Vigía Foundation.] To the Editor: Re “A Mutable Feast” (Arts pages, Feb. 11), about digital copies of Ernest Hemingway’s papers available at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston: The fascinating journey of the Hemingway document images was the work of many: the diplomatic efforts of Representative James P. McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat, who launched the project; the wise decisions made by both the Cuban and United States governments; the tireless work of the Finca Vigía Foundation, which is responsible for document conservation and digitization; and the technical support of the EMC, Intel and Emulex Corporations. For the last 10 years, despite the contentious embargo, this collaboration between the foundation and Cuba, built upon trust and mutual respect, has benefited both the United States . . .

Julia & Rodrigo By Mark Brazaitis (Guatemala 1991–93) Gival Press $20.00 (paperback) 215 pages 2013 Reviewed by Ann Neelon (Senegal 1978–79) I was thirteen in 1968, when Franco Zeffirelli’s lush version of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet hit the big screen. It was also the year of the Tet offensive, the year Peter Arnett reported that a United States military officer had insisted, on the record, that his unit had had to destroy a village in order to save it. The banality of evil embraced by the U.S. government in drafting its young men and sending them to Vietnam resonated with that of the Montaques and Capulets in sacrificing their children to a murderous feud. As Romeo and Juliet, Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey — who were not trained Shakespearean actors but teenagers themselves-proved the ultimate flower children, making love not war. To watch the film was not just to fall . . .