Carolina Hidalgo/JWW

Stony Brook University’s students arrived at a watershed moment where capitalism is meeting socialism and where U.S. democracy is bumping heads with what student Chris Cloonan, in one of his articles, calls the “one-party democracy” of present-day Cuba.

Student reporter Philly Bubaris explains to our web visitors, in her news video, how a November 2011 decree has made it legal — for the first time since old Soviet-style communism was established half a century ago — for Cubans to buy and sell their houses and condominiums.
Truly extraordinary.

“People sold homes before, but it was always with their heads down, quietly and on the sly, because of fear that an agent might be lurking nearby,” said 64-year-old Adalberto San Miguel, who has been helping people sell and swap homes for nearly two decades.

“Now there is no longer fear.”

Student reporter Kevin Lizarazo went around the capital speaking with Cubans about the thing that has made so many of them famous over the past century -– their music.

Cuba is acknowledged as the home of Latin music and it is impossible to understand the country without understanding its rhythms, melodies and lyrics.

Kevin, fascinated by cameras and a wonderful writer, also went around asking Cubans about Pope Benedict XVI’s upcoming visit to the country.

Health care was on the students’ minds also. They knew from their extensive reading and preparation that Cuba’s medical system was the pride of the revolution.

Adam Khorasanchi, Frank Posillico and David Morris focused on the primary care network that even communism’s detractors acknowledge as outstanding. They and the other students spent a memorable afternoon conversing with 10 American students attending a Cuban medical school known as ELAM, the Spanish acronym for the Latin American School of Medicine.

The U.S. students at ELAM are studying there for free, as is the case with Cuban students from elementary school all the way through graduate school.

Paul Harding and David also immersed themselves in the history of the Cuban revolution as they spent precious time in the home of an 80-year-old journalist who covered the 1953 battle between Fidel Castro’s rebels and the resulting trial of Castro and his compañeros.

Ethan Freedman, who several times invited himself to play piano or drums with Cuban musicians, interviewed Cubans about the Internet and their phone network. He also developed a fascination with the revolutionary icon Che Guevara and wrote a lovely article about him.

We need to mention that Frank and our graduate teaching assistant Carolina Hidalgo had the singular experience of photographing dissidents expressing discontent with their treatment in Cuba. The two gathered with other members of the media for the Ladies in White’s weekly demonstration on the Miramar neighborhood’s Fifth Ave. Students became very much aware of the complex issue of dissidence in Cuba.

Our young journalists from Stony Brook University handled themselves throughout the experience with professionalism, working long hours and treating each other as team members whose journalistic victories were accomplished in a partnership.

And how could we forget to tell you about the pastime that is an integral part of the Cuban character? Chris and David spent time with baseball players from Michigan’s Grand Valley State University team, which had spent several days in the country playing against Cuban counterparts and touring the island nation.

Those games were historic events, and Stony Brook’s stories about them were published in the Detroit Free Press and the Grand Rapids Press. Numerous web sites also picked up the stories.

American journalism, now sailing through heavy seas toward a land still not clearly seen, will be stronger and more prosperous because of these students from Stony Brook University’s Journalism Without Walls project.

With the students were Ron Howell, a visiting professor who is also on the faculty of Brooklyn College; Rick Ricioppo, Stony Brook University School of Journalism’s professor of electronic and video journalism; and Carolina Hidalgo, an alumna of the school who is a great editor and freelance photojournalist.

Howell speaks Spanish and French and has covered the Caribbean and Latin America for Newsday and the AP. Though he was a Stony Brook University adjunct professor for the Journalism Without Walls trip to Cuba, he is also an associate professor in the English Department at Brooklyn College. Howell received a master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and a bachelor’s from Yale University. He is the author of “One Hundred Jobs: A Panorama of Work in the American City,” a paperback published by The New Press in 2000.

Rick received a masters degree from Illinois State University and a bachelor’s from SUNY Fredonia. Prior to teaching at Stony Brook University and Illinois State University, he spent 16 years shooting and editing news, sports and public affairs. He has worked at C-SPAN, WGRZ-TV (Buffalo) and Empire Sports Network where he has shot video from the Oval Office in the White House to the sidelines of NFL games. Rick now shares his passion for shooting and editing video with his students in the School of Journalism.

When he’s not teaching, his interests include cigars, food and music, which made the trip to Cuba a perfect fit.

Before graduating from Stony Brook’s School of Journalism in May 2011, Carolina served on the school’s student advisory board and worked as a teaching assistant for an introductory online journalism class.

Carolina’s work has appeared in The New York Times, The Oregonian and the N.Y. Daily News, among others. She likes her coffee black, her rum minty and her cars American.

Outside of class, Philly works part time at the campus broadcast studio as a production assistant and is starting a studio internship at News12 Long Island this spring. She is outgoing and loves meeting new people wherever she goes.

Philly is enthusiastic about her education and looks forward to making her mark on the School of Journalism.

He is proud to have had his work from Cuba published in the Detroit Free Press and the Grand Rapids Press and to have submitted an iReport from a political protest in Moscow.

Chris plays the tuba in the school marching band and works hard to put himself through school. He hopes to attend graduate school in Washington, DC. He hopes to have a career in national intelligence or international relations.

Originally a political science major, he switched over to journalism because he thought it would give him something more than just a theoretical background. And he was right.

Ethan has a passion for print, but has a certain bond with broadcast. His journalistic hero is Edward R. Murrow. However, he realizes the importance of the Internet in the future of journalism and relishes the medium.

A staff writer at the Stony Brook Press, he has also contributed to campus publications Think Magazine and The Statesman. He is involved in other extracurricular activities such as College Democrats and ASCEND Business Club. His interests include music, politics and movies.

Paul’s favorite hobbies are playing guitar and listening to music constantly. He considers himself a huge movie buff and likes to hang out with friends. His dream is to eventually become a music journalist/critic.

Paul says the trip to Cuba was enlightening, very fun and a privilege to be a part of. It was an eye-opening experience that he will never forget. After being in the country his views on the animosity between our two nations has changed and he hope to return to Cuba someday.

Though not a journalism major, Adam enjoys following the news whether it’s reading newspapers or watching TV broadcasts. When he heard about the trip to Cuba in his News Literacy class, Adam was fascinated by the idea and jumped on board.

Through this class Adam was able to experience what it is like to be a journalist by shooting photos, doing research on Cuban society and interviewing Cuban citizens. Adam also had the opportunity to learn more about the Cuban health care system. Adam is currently a volunteer at Stony Brook University Medical Center and would like to participate in an international outreach program such as Doctors without Borders.

Had anyone asked him during his first semester at Stony Brook as a freshman in the fall of 2009 if he could see himself in a place like Havana, Cuba, he probably would have had a good laugh. Having studied computer science all throughout high school and during his first year at the University, he originally had visions of inventing the next greatest technological gadget. Then, during his third semester, he decided to join the Stony Brook Independent. His first assignment for the campus news organization: photograph former President Bill Clinton’s speech on campus.

Now, he considers himself an aspiring photojournalist, determined to do what it takes to improve his craft behind the camera and the notepad and share it with the world. He is the current managing editor of the Independent. When not managing his wonderful staff and interns, he enjoys following up on the latest international headlines and reading blogs from foreign correspondents and freelancers.

“There is always something historic happening somewhere in the world,” Lizarazo said. “I can’t imagine not wanting to be there to document it.”