Let me guess: she's either studying to become a teacher, in which case she will soon be polluting the minds of our children; or she's studying to become a laywer, in which case she'll be suing us all for our convictions.
She's studying to be a teacher. Get your children out of public school, NOW! Jessica Quindel is a little Marxist from her youth. I found this little nugget about her trip to Cuba...
WARNING: BARF ALERT
SOURCE: Shepherd Express - Volume 19, Issue 12, March 19, 1998
Milwaukee Teens Reach Out to Cuba
BY STEVE WATROUS
Jessica Quindel grew up in a political family but it took a trip far from home, to Cuba, to find her own place in politics.
"I've become a lot more active, and not just on Cuba stuff," the teen declared. "I read the paper more, I'm more involved in the community, I'm more interested in social change in Milwaukee." Quindel would like to visit the island nation again and take a new crew of Milwaukee young people.
She and many Milwaukee high school and college students went to Cuba last summer for the 14th World Festival. Some also did volunteer work, an experience Quindel missed and wants to do this time.
If the United Youth Expedition's fundraising efforts are successful, Quindel expects 10-15 of them will go in July for two activities. During the Venceremos Brigade segment, they will do things like paint houses and plant trees. They'll also live with families while attending the U.S.-Cuba Solidarity Conference.
"I wanted to start with a small group but all these people were interested," Quindel said. They're an urban, diverse bunch, mostly in the Milwaukee Public Schools and UWM, and few have traveled much. "I think it's important that different kinds of people go. We're trying to bring people who aren't upper class and can understand why it's important to study socialism."
But don't her Gen X classmates think this talk about Cuba and socialism odd?
"People don't understand how progressive MPS students are," Quindel explained. "We had a philosophy class and discussed Marxism. Many of them like the idea after they study it." [empahsis added - FoL]
"Their first response is `Cuba, why Cuba?' But then when they read about it they are inquisitive and accepting," Quindel said. They are especially impressed to hear that education is free through the college level, she added.
Jessica is 18 and a senior at Riverside High School. Her father is County Supervisor Roger Quindel and her mother, Barbara, is a labor lawyer.
One of Jessica's teachers asked if it wouldn't help more to do volunteer work in the U.S. instead of going abroad. Quindel's response: "It affects those people who go. Our whole outlook on life changes." From her experience and reading, Quindel believes the system works fairly well in Cuba. She saw little racism or sexism and noted that health care is free. [emphasis added - FoL]
This trip, however, is expensive: about $1,000 per person. The group has been learning how to fundraise with help from Cuba travel veteran John Gilman. They've sent a fundraising letter and may hold a rummage sale or sell candy. Quindel hopes they can raise at least $300 per person, although some need it more than others.
UWM freshman Mark Ledesma, another Expedition organizer, stressed the fundraising because "most of us are students and don't have full-time jobs." He wants potential contributors to know that they aren't going to a resort or five-star hotel.
Ledesma has never been out of the U.S. and admits that visiting the tropics is a draw for him, but not the only one. "We're excited about travel to a place that is forbidden by our government. It's only 90 miles away but is an entirely different world."
He thinks U.S. government restrictions on traveling to Cuba are indefensible. "The U.S. won't throw high school and college students in jail," he said with youthful confidence.
"I'm fascinated about seeing another kind of government and learning why our government can't get along with it," Ledesma said. He might even try to change that policy, he said.
Ledesma also experienced initial skepticism from classmates about this venture. "Cuba sets off red lights for people, but when I explain the trip they warm up to the idea." He sees the whole thing as a mission of good will.
On March 24, Jessica Quindel will describe her experiences at Cuba's World Festival last year. The event is part of the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee lecture series called "Milwaukee Reaches Out to the World." Quindel and two other young people are speaking from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the First Unitarian Universalist Church, 1342 N. Astor St. The $6 admission includes a soup buffet. Call 276-9050 for reservations.
I told you she was a marxist. No big surprise. Thanks for the post. No wonder she chose Berkley as her college. Maybe she ought to go to Cuba and ask Castro to build her a Berkley type college over there?
Here is a little something from the WSJ-Best of the Web, I think that it describes our critics very well.
Sept. 11 did wake America up. "The real effect of Sept. 11 is that American patience and tolerance for its global critics, most of whom do rather well out of America's benign hegemony, seems just about exhausted," writes United Press International's Martin Walker. Or, as Victor Davis Hanson puts it:
"As the months progressed the problems inherent in 'the European way' became all too apparent: pretentious utopian manifestos in lieu of military resoluteness, abstract moralizing to excuse dereliction of concrete ethical responsibility, and constant American ankle-biting even as Europe lives in a make-believe Shire while we keep back the forces of Mordor from its picturesque borders, with only a few brave Frodos and Bilbos tagging along. Nothing has proved more sobering to Americans than the skepticism of these blinkered European hobbits after September 11."
Yep, about this Quindel, she's a communist sympathizer after all.
The protest e mails will for sure fall on deaf (Red) ears.