NPR: Have Notebook, Will Travel

Have Notebook, Will Travel

Remember the 16-year-old from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who decided one day that he would just skip a few classes at his prep school and go to Iraq so he could see firsthand what was happening there? Well, Farris Hassan is now 17, and he has a new travel itinerary.

The Miami Herald's Cuban Colada blog reports that Farris wants to go to Cuba so he can write about what it's like to live as a "loser" in Fidel Castro's Cuba.

In a pitch e-mailed to several news organizations, Farris says he'd spend five to seven weeks in Cuba writing about dissidents, peasants, prostitutes, government workers and "passive city folk and professionals." He just asks that a real live news organization, like The Miami Herald for example, promise to run his stories, so that he can get around that pesky U.S. rule that prohibits travel to Cuba - but exempts journalists.

Farris has said that this time he will tell his parents that he's going. That's good. But a word of caution. Letting the Castro regime know that you're going to write about the "losers" of its culture might not be the smartest way to finagle your way into the country. Just a thought.

So far, no media outlet has taken Farris up on his offer.

8:56 AM ET | 05-30-2007 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

He could always try to go as a freelancer. It's more work - he'd have to get a specific license from the Treasury Dept rather than the general license that journalists use - but it's not beyond the realm of possibilities. I wonder if many bloggers have been able to make a case for getting in the country that way. Then again, a well-established blogger could perhaps argue that their blog was a journalistic enterprise and thus acceptable under the general license provision. I can think of lots of people who earn a living as bloggers, so why not? Any takers?

Sent by andy carvin | 9:45 AM ET | 05-30-2007

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