I approach writing stories as a recorder. I think of my role as some kind of reporting device - recording and projecting.
It was very hard to get any records, so the only source for us to really hear what was happening was listening to the Voice of America. We would be taping all the broadcast and then sharing the tapes and talking about it.
It is very nearly impossible... to become an educated person in a country so distrustful of the independent mind.