It was all there before

I have not read it; therefore, I do not endorse it…yet. However, I do like Olga Karman’s answer to the following question. Olga is the author of Scatter My Ashes Over Havana.

Some people here may ask you whether there are any virtues to the system that Cubans live under at the present time. Well, I tried to make my book not be a political manifesto or an ideological manifesto. I see we’re veering in that direction! When I went back, what were the virtues I saw? The ones that were there before. People obsessed about education. Weren’t we just like that? In Havana, starting in eighth grade, we had three hours of homework on an easy night. When I went to Connecticut College, it was easy. It was in a different language, but it was not hard. Even graduate school. I mean, it was a lot of work, but it was not as hard as high school in Havana! When I went back, I still saw a love for culture and art. But that I learned when I was cutting my teeth in Havana. We all saw Alicia Alonso dance when we were kids. And the music? Hello? Look at the great Cuban music that has been“discovered” now, the Buena Vista Social Club, for example. That was there before—those musicians were from before. That’s not today’s music. The virtues I found were the old ones. What’s miraculous is that they’re still alive.

Read the rest of the interview [here].

I want my ashes scattered on a sandy beach, anywhere in Cuba will do, but not until the BEAST is eternally cleaning Beelzebub's toilet.