Sense of Place

INTERVIEW



I interviewed my grandfather that lives in Miami where I am from. My grandfather was born in Havana, Cuba and lived there till he was in his early 40's. Him and his family did not move to Miami until 1960. He was explaining to me that if I had to switch from where I live today and move to Cuba and live were he was raised, he said, "I would not survive." Then I began to wonder why and I can totally understand why I would have a hard time. In the past 50 years our world has changed drastically.

My grandfather did not grow up with cell phones, computers, air conditioning and the list goes on. He  began working on the sugar cane field at the age of 10. Education was not the biggest priority in Cuba at his age and that is why he worked on the fields. This was the only way he could get money. His parents did not give him a weekly allowance, he had to earn his money. He would walk everywhere and if it was far he would ride bike. He told me that every childhood memory he has is him being outside either working in the sugar cane field or just being outside with friends and family.

My grandfather says that he misses a lot living in Cuba and if it wasn't for Castro he would have never left.He told me that he thinks its sad when the family gets together and his great grandchildren come over all they do is either sit in front of the TV or just sit in a room playing with their gameboys. I remember when we were little when we went to my grandfathers house all 10 of his grandchildren would rush in say hi to him and go straight to the backyard and we would not come in until the sun went down. He does not understand how society has changed so much on how children are growing up. My grandfathers sense of place is sitting in his front porch with his neighbors playing domino's.

He think that they are missing a big part of growing up by not experiencing the outdoors. I began to talk to him about sustainability and I had to explain to him the exact meaning of sustainability. I also explained to him about this course and what I have been learning and he loves it. Now every since the interview he has called me every week asking me what we did today in Colloquium.

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