Marion Nestle

In January 2004, Sid joined me in teaching an NYU intersession course in Puerto Rico.  At his suggestion, we called it “The Bitter and the Sweet: Puerto Rico, Sugar, and Caribbean History.”  I treasure his comments following up on our planning meeting in May 2003:

Greetings from Crabtown! I hope you made the train, and that the trip back was an easy one. It was delightful to have you visit with us, and I think we really did accomplish a great deal. Knowing you could stay on till quite late helped, I think, to make our discussions much more considered and fruitful...Here are at least some of the things we have to clarify.

1. Where is the hotel in relation to Sagrado Corazon U.?
2. Do we need transport between them – or can we walk it?
3. How do students get to Old San Juan and back?
4. What is the transport situation in regard to getting to other places on the island?
5. What are the possibilities of having a van or bus available for trips?
6. What about using weekends for trips?
7. If we have outside lecturers, does one on race and another on contemporary politics make sense? Is that too many? Not enough?
8. Where can we have an informal dinner meeting with our students on Tuesday night, Jan. 6?
9. The same for our farewell dinner on Thursday Jan 15?

I'm sure that there are other such questions – these are what occur to me now.

Sid was a national hero in Puerto Rico where Worker in the Cane: A Puerto Rican Life History (1974) is a proud part of the island’s canon.  The students and I were privileged to be there with him.

In 2007, I was honored to give the 14^th annual Sidney Mintz lecture.  Here’s my title slide.