Article 1

On Friday 27th of October, a group of students went to Vincennes to take part in the Festival America. Here is a small insight into what their day looked like.

After arriving in the morning, the students listened to a conference given by an illustrator, who was unfortunately terribly unprepared, which led to the conference being rather superficial. He should’ve been with a journalist who couldn’t get there on time, and because of that the conversation wasn’t even about press illustration as it should have been, but mostly about striking images.

Fortunately, the meeting with Edel Rodriguez, a graphic author and artist, was much more interesting. He talked mostly about his graphic memoir, Worm, and his life, but took time to answer more profound questions. Students said the conference was “incredibly touching” and some “almost shed a tear” as he talked about his experience and the fact that “the book is the only place where [his] family is together”. He mentioned that it took him ten years to write his graphic memoir and that throughout those years, he adapted the direction of the book depending on what happened in his life, especially in terms of politics. It was especially interesting when he said “you can’t be neutral with fascism”. He was very clear about what he considers propaganda or not and affirmed Worm is not, as it’s just a way for him to share his opinion, whereas propaganda is more something that comes from the government to force people to think a certain way.
You could also feel that he misses his homeland (Cuba), as he mentioned he “would rather be in Cuba than have to write a book about it”. However, he didn’t seem to consider writing the memoir helped him heal from the trauma and admitted crying while writing it.

So what students took from this experience is a better understanding of what a migrant’s life looks like. Overall, they appreciated the honest answers Edel Rodriguez gave them and will remember the conference as interesting insight into an incredibly moving odyssey.
By JF, LD, VR, LC

Article 2

Article 3

On the 27th of September 2024, the students from the LLCE class were invited to the Festival America in Vincennes. We started with a conference about the "press illustration" where a journalist and the illustrator Mathieu Persan were supposed to explain the impact of the press cartoons. Unfortunately, the journalist did not show up and we were led to speak about striking pictures in journalism.

Then, in the afternoon we met the author and illustrator, of the graphic novel WORM, Edel Rodriguez. We had the chance to learn more deeply about the process of creation of his book. For example, the choice of the colors of the drawings which were very simple to make it easier to read, or the fact that he registered his conversations with his family to be able to tell it as accurately as possible in his book. In addition, he explained his motivation to write this book, he wanted to reestablish the reality about Cuban Revolution and explain the reasons why people are leaving their homeland. E. Rodriguez was a bit emotive during this meeting and said that this book was “the only thing that unites [his] whole family", this family to whom he wanted to pay tribute. He spoke about Cuba, but also about America, his political activism and his will to use his liberty of speech without being censored because as he said “Having opinions shouldn’t be punished”
By Soa, Aya, Inès, Aaron

Article 4

While we were in Vincennes, we saw the art exhibition created by Mathieu Persan. Some of his posters really touched us especially those who referred to Andy Warhol, Kurt Cobain, and MeToo.

Our favorite was the one about MeToo. Next to the poster there was this text where he said : “And although we call ourselves feminist now, the real courage, which we did not have then, would have to speak out, to reveal what we saw, to question the established order.”
Due to this sentence we had a discussion around that important topic : we have to question the established order.
We particularly liked this poster because we were directly affected, we ourselves are women in 2024, we must face the withdrawal of certain fundamental rights in the world and the rise of violence against women.
“Women from all countries, from all condition, from all political sides come together around these few words : Me too.”

By Charlotte, Olivia, Héloïse, Lia-Maé

Article 5

On the 27th of September, we went to the festival America with our speciality ‘English Literature and Culture’. We went to a conference and a meeting with an author, Edel Rodriguez.

The whole day was really interesting. However, the conference was repetitive and wasn’t what we expected. The illustrator we met was Mathieu Persan but the journalist supposed to be with him, was stuck in the traffic jam. The illustrator hadn’t prepared the conference and didn’t even speak about his job. Moreover, he organized an exhibition and yet never really delved into it. Then we went to see his exhibition, but the text was really long and Mathieu always spoke about himself and his relationship with America.

In the afternoon, we met Edel Rodriguez, the author of Worm, a Cuban-American Odyssey. We talked about his graphic novel and his art : he told us that he wanted to write his book “to give Cuban people dignity”, and thanks to it, he reunited with his family. Moreover, he gave us his point of view about art and propaganda. To him, propaganda is spread by the politicians, and art can become propaganda – he also said that it doesn’t bother him because his art is a part of the culture and he encourages people to do whatever they want with his art.

Testimonies from students :

At one point, Edel said that as people we tend to get comfortable in our country and that we don’t think things will go bad and that we’ll have to leave, but in reality, we may. And I think it’s a very moving sentence.
- Zoé V-

« I enjoyed the meeting with Edel Rodriguez. I felt really close to the author and his experience. I loved how we felt deeply is emotion. »
- Alia M-

« I liked when he said "I shouldn’t have to be brave to say things". It was interesting and bold of him to spill facts like tha »t
- Sélène H -

« I really enjoyed meeting Edel Rodriguez, it was an experience that I found really inspiring and it made me understand how lucky I am, and how grateful of it I am too. »
- Eli D-