"As the cane fields were around the camp, native wildlife proliferated in the tents. A mouse nibbled by friend's hair at night. Another friend arrived at our pre-dawn breakfast with a lizard on his head. We had to check our shoes for little scorpions in the morning. Small green frogs lived in the toilets. One work brigade found a dead horse among the cane stalks, and Jane Krebs nursed a little of kittens found in another field. After fields near the camp were set on fire to burn off the leaves, some tents had to wage nightly campaigns to clear the bugs and rodents out of their space. When we cut the blackened burnt cane, our skin, hair and clothes became covered with sticky boiled cane syrup and ashes. It was our worst cutting experience -- aside from the day we tried to prove our revolutionary merit by cutting in the rain."
Requests to publish, redistribute, or replicate this material should be addressed to Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries.
Contact host institution for more information.
