What's that smell?

Alina, my mom and Me. Miami, Florida. 1963

Havana, Cuba. Late 1960. Word was getting around that the new self-appointed governors of the island, those bearded rebels led by Fidel Castro and Che Guevarra were now planning to take away parents' authority over their own children. The parents would no longer have any say as to where or when their children would be educated. There was the possibility that they could be sent to work camps to be used as slave labor or at the age of 15 young men would be conscripted into the armed forces. The point was that those decisions were no longer in the realm of parental authority. They would now be made by the Masters of the Revolution. Shocking, isn't it? What an impossible position to be put in. Cuban parents were in turmoil.

My dad came to a swift and furious conclusion: "I. DON'T. THINK. SO. This stinks of communism."
This disturbing turn of events in our island home and the fact that my brother had just turned 15 was the final straw that caused my parents to come to the cataclysmic decision to leave Cuba.  ". . . until this madness blows over."

Obviously, my parents were right. Our beloved homeland still reeks of communism.

Lucy and Jonathan. California. 2008.

Last week Justice H. Walter Croskey in a Feb. 28 opinion signed by the two other members of the district court ruled that here in California, ". . . parents do not have a constitutional right to home school their children.”

"I. DON'T. THINK. SO. This stinks of communism."

We, along with other homeschooling and Christian families have signed this petition requesting that the Supreme Court of California "depublish" that opinion in order to keep our homeschooling freedom in California and urge any of you that stand with us to do the same.

My parents sacrificed so much for us to be able to be raised in a FREE country.  This opinion is a slap in the face to them and to freedom loving individuals everywhere. To our great sadness, this beautiful state is starting to reek more and more each day.   It's already starting to smell like The People's Republic of California. (heavy sigh)

cross-posted on Babalú.