Transcript Symposium Book - Terrace Community Middle School

Symposium Book
Discussion Questions
Finding Mañana
By Mirta Ojito
Mirta Ojito
Symposium Date: April 9th
Reading Due Dates

Chapters 1-3: 2/19

Chapters 4-6: 2/26

Chapters 7-9: 3/12

Chapters 10-12: 3/26
Chapter Titles












#1: Worms Like Us
# 2: Bernardo Benes: Our Man in Miami
#3: Butterflies
#4: Hector Sanyustiz: A Way Out
# 5: Ernesto Pinto: An Embassy Under
Siege
# 6: Unwanted
# 7: Napoleón Vilaboa: The Golden Door
# 8: Leaving Cuba
# 9: Captain Mike Howell: Sailing Mañana
# 10: Tempest-Tost
# 11: Teeming Shore
#12: With open arms
1st Period-Questions-2/19





Why didn’t Mirta’s parents get involved in the
revolution?
Before the revolution, what was life like for
Mirta’s parents?
When did Benes leave Cuba? How old was he?
What is Benes’s political background?
What would have happened to Ojito and her
father if they had started the process of leaving
Cuba?
2nd Period-Questions-2/19





How did people Ojito knew earn “coupons to
buy plastic blenders or Russian-made washing
machines”?
Why does Ojito admit that her family went to
church?
Where was Benes’s father from and how did he
make his money?
What did Benes first think of Castro? Why did
he change his mind?
How did Ojito’s family celebrate her
Quinceañera?
3rd Period-Questions-2/19





What types of questions were in the
questionnaire that Ojito brought home from
school? How many questions were there?
What kinds of information did Ojito have to
memorize?
What view of political prisoners in Cuba did
Benes and President Carter share?
Who were the men that Benes met with in
Panama?
What was the purpose of being required to
travel to la escuela de campo?
4th Period-Questions-2/19





What did Ojito’s teacher want her mother
to do?
What is a “gusano”?
What two issues did the U.S. and Cuban
governments discuss?
What was President Carter’s agenda and
what did he do to reflect that?
What happened to Ojito’s boyfriend?
5th Period-Questions-2/19





What was Ojito’s graduation gift from her
teachers?
What kinds of teacher comments were in Ojito’s
student record?
What joke did Benes make when he met
Castro? What was Castro’s reaction?
How did Castro react to the video of Miami
Cuban exiles?
In 1969 what holiday did the Cuban government
abolish?
6th Period-Questions-2/19





What kinds of teacher comments were in Ojito’s
student record?
As a fourteen year old, how did Ojito feel about
capitalism?
Why was Benes’s life threatened?
Why did some of the Cuban political prisoners
feel that the U.S. “owed them”?
What did Ojito’s father want from her before he
made plans to take the family to the U.S.?