My Cuban Family

My grandparents were both born and raised in Cidra, Puerto Rico and so were their three children. They wanted to start a new beginning. Though the exact date is forgotten my grandparents moved to Cleveland, Ohio sometime in 1989. My grandparents were very poor when they lived in Puerto Rico since there were not many job opportunities and barely any resources, my grandparents could barely make ends meet.They wanted to give their children to have more opportunities and resources that they didn't have when they were younger, so they decided to leave their home in Cidra. They choose to move to Cleveland because they already had some family down here such as brothers, sisters, and even cousins.When my grandparents got to Cleveland they already knew they made the right decision for their family, Cleveland gave them a more stable life then what they had in Puerto Rico. There were better-educated schools in Cleveland for their children unlike in Puerto Rico, the food in Cleveland was way more affordable, medicine as well, and it was easier to find jobs that paid well.

The study of race relations in contemporary Cuba indelibly requires an understanding of the dynamic history of race relations in this ethnically pervasive island of the Caribbean. Cuban society, due to its historical antecedents of European colonialism and American imperialism, has traditionally experienced anguished and even tumultuous race relations. Racial disharmony has plagued Cuban society ever since the advent of the Colonial institution of the plantation system. Thus, in order to acquire some understanding of Cuba’s dynamic race relations one must study and investigate the evolution of racial tensions and the quintessential

Cuban Slave Culture Cuba has been known the goods it produces and for being secluded due to lack of trust from other nations. Despite what the world thinks of Cuba the country has flourished with little help from other nations exports. Until Miguel Barnet’s “Biography of a Runaway Slave” few people knew of Cuban Culture; from the slavery to the Spanish-American War. Barnet interviews Esteban Montejo, who was once a slave, to allow his readers to have a new perspective on Cuba. After the interview, Barnet publishes Montejo’s story for people who knew little of Cuban history.

My experiences with Cuba are divided into two segments of my life. The first segment was during my eight years of living in Boca Raton, FL which I will refer to the first as the “tangible” segment. The second segment was during my time living in Washington, D.C. prior to Colgate and post Florida. This second stage will be referred to as “information” segment. My reasoning behind these names relates to the ways I experienced Cuban culture at that given period. During my stay in Florida, I was able to see, hear, touch, eat, and experience Cuban culture first hand. While in Washington, D.C., this changed as most of my knowledge based around Cuban culture was taken from movies, video-games, or my general thirst for knowledge from the internet.

Cuba is a bright and diverse community. Cuba's culture, a very authentic one, is vastly celebrated all throughout Cuba and many other parts of the Caribbean. With the countries large population of 11.27 million, there is a great amount of brightly colored homes, cars and businesses. This exciting environment also contains a lot of love, warmth, happiness and mystery. Although Cubans are very “out there” and “alive”, their culture contains great mysteries and Spanish legends as well. Many know Cuba for its contributing celebrities, some examples being Eva Mendes, Camryn Diaz, Soledad O’brien, Desi Arnaz, Christina Milan, and many more. Companioned by its great history, Cuba has beautiful sceneries that attract many tourist, which their hearts fall heavily for Cuba after aquatinted with this outstanding country.

There I was, getting off the airplane in the Dominican Republic, anxious to visit my family especially my grandfather due to the fact that I had not seen him for about three years. On our way to his house I was so exited. I was 12 at the time. Once we got to his house, I saw him and went to give him a hug but the problem was the plain look that he had on his face once he saw me as if he did not recognize me. I thought to myself maybe he is sick, but then that can not be possible because he recognized my mom and dad. My mom told him, “you don’t recognize your grandson?” He then said “No, who is that?” It was from that moment on that I noticed that my grandfather had Alzheimer’s disease. My mom explained to me everything, and I still remember asking her “so he will never remember me again?” According to her, it may be possible that he recognizes me another day, but she was not sure. Alzheimer’s Disease is categorized as one of the diseases that completely destroys the brain cells leading to major problems with memory, one’s way of thinking and one’s behavior. I know it was not my grandfather’s fault, and I know he did not mean to forget me, but this is what Alzheimer’s does, it steals an individual from his or her memory and independence. Alzheimer’s disease is a devastating disorder that effects one’s brain in a way that causes one’s personality to change and his or her behavior towards the families and caregivers to change the individuals.

The first thing that I found was interesting reading the three excerpts from Cuba and its Music was seeing the type of artist Arsenio Rodriguez was. It was said that once Arsenio had the inspiration, they would complete the arrangement within two hours and that they premiered two or three songs per week which to think about is crazy compared to artists today and the time they take to write songs. I think that music throughout Cuba moved very fast throughout the culture and it all started with how fast they created their music and how much music they put out. They continued to talk about Arsenio’s creation of son montuno which is surprising because Rodriguez seemed to be the artist of new things, but we never really was the creator of all of the musical ideas he brought about. He

The article, “Culture, Nation and Social Cohesions: A Scrutiny of Revolutionary Cuba” by Kronenberg (2008), first talks about the development and character of Cuban national culture: Cuba’s original people. The author discusses the historical events that occurred in Cuba and how those historic events has shaped Cuba’s culture. He talks about the original tribes that were on Cuba’s land for decades, which were Taino and Siboney Amerindian tribes. They were originally one of the first groups to help shape the Cuban culture. After a while, Spanish invaders came to Cuba and took over the land and established their own set of rules and traditions. This is how Cuba got its mixture of cultures, between the Spanish culture, Armenian culture and African culture coming together in Cuba. In addition, this section of the article talks about words that developed in Cuba from all the mixtures of countries and cultures. Kronenberg (2008) states, that some of these words are “words like ‘hammock’, ‘manatee’, ‘yucca’, ‘hurricane’, and ‘tobacco’, which can be regarded as the ‘last surviving parting gift’ or ‘retributive curse’ the original inhabitants of the Caribbean offered to their Spanish captors”(p. 51). This is a small interesting fact to learn about the early Cuban culture and to see where Cuba got some of its influences from and what they originally kept from those influential countries.

Throughout my experience in Cuba, there were a lot of experiences that stood out to me that I thought about in depth. These experiences ranged from conversations about politics, to things I observed, to experiences we had during the day and night time. Many of my conversations with people from Cuba were in Spanish, and I could feel my Spanish progressing throughout the week. I gained many insights from these interactions and site visits; however, there were three that stood out to me the most. The story of our site visit with Gregory, what I saw a police officer do, and the conversation I had with a man on our way to Porto Habana were the three examples that I can describe, interpret, and evaluate the most in-depth.

The Cuban culture is complex, yet truly fascinating. Its unique Cuban identity has been described not only as a beautiful country, but also has a population that is friendly and

Then I reach the end of Havana, and look out towards the Malécon. I wonder if the hat-wearing tourists who excitedly wave their arms and take pictures from the back of the hot pink 1950s convertible will ever get to experience the Havana I did; what my Cuban friend called the “Cuban way of life.”

For those who have not studied Cuba, it is simply ‘that socialist island in the Caribbean’, reducing a fascinating history to one label. The book ‘Havana: Two faces of the Antillean Metropolis’ by Scarpaci, Segre and Coyula helps to debunk this myth through the story of its capital city and its citizens proving that Havana, and by extension Cuba, is a complex, contradictory country where “history has left its handprint on every street corner” (back cover). The general theme in Cuban studies is that Cuba is a country of many contradictions and dichotomies; the book perpetuates this idea through its exploration of Havana emphasizing dichotomies such as those between the Spanish and American Influence, pre and post-revolution, capitalist and socialist Cuba, and the Havana experienced by tourists and locals.

I waited for the black truck to arrive at my door. I never knew my aunt, uncle, and cousin, and now they would become my new family. However no one could really replace my real family. My Mom, Dad and younger brother got into a car wreck. I was the only survivor. My heart still aches from the experience. To make matters worse, I would have to leave my home in New York to go and live with my closest relatives in the country. My emotions and thoughts were acting like they had been put in a blender. I was happy that my extended family was willing enough to take me into their care, I was sad because I would have to live away from my home and friends. Everything will be different nothing will ever be the same again.

My life was stereotypical. A mom, a dad, a brother, and a dog. A nuclear family was what it was. House with a white picket fence. My days consisted of being in my fantasy world. Where stuffed animals were pets and they had their own little families. Where I spent hours finding creepy crawlies in the woods. Where watching my dad’s favorite show was considered quality time. But that fence was only an illusion. Like many other families, that white fence kept in more than just the family dog. It contained the secrets and lies. It hid the reputation of an unfaithful father. It created an illusion of unity within our family.

Most people think that their lives would be perfect if only certain conditions were met, or circumstances would turn in their favor. I know many of my friends would choose to be rich and famous. Others may choose simple things, like a new house or a car, even a better job. For me, my life would be perfect with these three things. To have more time with my family, have more love and less hate in the world.