Issue link: http://bluemagazine.uberflip.com/i/25065
contributors (Callinq Down the Gods, paqe 47) has visited Cuba five times. "I encourage Americans to visit Cuba, become acquainted with warm and generous people and rich culture and form their own opinions about our island neighbor." CR Stecyk, an artist and writer who lives near LA, went to Cuba in 1998 to participate in an exchange program with the Ibero-Cuban Institute of Photography in Havana Believing that the continued United States' embargo against Cuba is unjust, free-lance writer Bill Strubbe (Surfinq Cuba, paqe 40). He was advised to carry no money or equipment but it was only when he got there that he realized the serious implications of being an American in Cuba. Although it's forbidden to photograph government buildings, military bases and other things classified, CR did shoot some photographs of Fidel Castro without him knowing. When the authorities found out, they were civil. They allowed CR to keep the film in his camera and when he left the country they thanked him for coming to Cuba. CR's work has been represented in the public collections of national institutions in the US, Hungary, Israel and New Zealand. He curat ed "Kustom Kulture" for the Laguna Museum of Art, Laguna Beach, California. As a freelance photojournalist Steve Barilotti has known the twin engines of guilt and greed that drive a writer to produce sparkling prose under the most bizarre conditions (a NYC laundromat and sweltering snake-infested jungle hut in Java). As a lifelong traveling surfer, Steve has tasted five of the seven seas and had the pleasure of having millions of waves pass under his butt, standing upright on perhaps 100,000 of them. In a past life, Steve was the founding editor of Beach Culture magazine and associate editor of Surfer magazine. Currently he is Surfer's field editor (not field hand) and writes the monthly environment column OMO (Our Mother Ocean), along with sundry profiles and travel pieces (Bali Pie, page 12). He is currently working on a book of the surfer's ecozone for the Sierra Club tentatively titled Edges. Steve's short-term goal is to enter the new millennium as a certified tuberider. Tim Parr (Decide to Ride, paqe 66) is the founder of San Francisco-based Swobo Clothing Co, originators of urban cycling sportswear. He's 30 years old, has shot an entire cata log inside of Gucci, doesn't own a Lexus with the gold trim kit and has worn out the Ali docu mentary, When We Were Kings. His most recent book is in progress and is called, Guys Who Cut Their Own Hair: A Book of Wisdom. Soon to be released. Tim is poor, but has good ideas. PHOTO TAKEN BY LORENZO DESTAFANO IN CUBA