Fight or flight? A Jewish Cuban mom wonders

By Robert David Jaffee
Published on September 14, 2006

Melinda Lopez's "Sonia Flew," which opens at the Laguna Playhouse on Sept. 16, depicts the parallel struggles of a Cuban girl in 1961 and a half-Jewish, half-Cuban American boy just after Sept. 11.

High Ideals and a Hot Bod

By Robert David Jaffee
Published on May 11, 2006

Writers as varied as Shakespeare and Sir Walter Scott have written of the exotic beauty of Jewish women. But what about Jewish men?

Teen Called ‘Amiga de Cuba’

By Journal Report
Published on July 1, 2004

Since traveling to Cuba several times with her mother, who organizes relief missions for Cuban Jews through her travel agency, Daniella Gruber has returned home changed by the experience.

Cuban Jews’ Plight Sparks Drive to Help

By Andrea Adelson
Published on January 2, 2003

Tourist Cuba is a bit like a time-machine ride through a Cold War theme park. Vintage Detroit autos rumble past charming Havana hotels refurbished to their pre-revolutionary glory. Posters for featured movies at a film festival keep company with ones that blare slogans like, "La Revolucion Siempre," or the revolution always.

Yet, when Roe Gruber and her daughter took a Havana apartment for a month last summer, the Tustin residents were able to escape the tourist cocoon. They learned new skills, like coping with Third World shortages by offering bribes for tomatoes and theater tickets.