Northeastern Students Fill the Reporting Gap in Cuba

Paxtyn Merten marched through the streets of Havana during a downpour that flooded the streets with almost half a foot of water. Merten, notebook in hand, had scheduled an interview with a priest and she wasn’t going to let the rain stop her from getting the quotes she needed for her story.

“During the first few days, the rain destroyed some of my notes,” said Merten, a third-year journalism major at Northeastern who spent a month in Cuba reporting on life on the island as part of a Dialogue of Civilizations program. “After that, we all started hauling our stuff around in plastic bags.”