There’s a building across the street from our house on Calle 13, and from the roof you can see everything. Sometimes my friends and I, on temperate afternoons or after rainstorms, sneak up in the elevator. We climb a rusty old latter to the very top of the building where the lightning rod is, silently […]

Teeth are a manifestation and signifier of class: the ability to which you are able to care for and maintain your chompers. Physically, one of the most interesting differences I have seen between Cubans and Americans is their teeth. When I was two I fell in the tub and took a big chip out of […]

I have an idea. But first, a little backstory: Since the ‘60s, Cuba had been supported materially by the Soviet Union. The USSR acted as a surrogate mother for Cuba, subsidising things, buying exclusively Cuban sugar and tobacco, and importing things at a dramatically lower cost to Cuba. So essentially, Cuba’s relationship with the USSR […]

“I have some really bad news from home that I should tell you about” are words you never want to hear. Somehow the fact that I found out at a rest stop in the outskirts of Cienfuegos made it worse, because there’s nothing I could do about it, couldn’t contact my friends and find out […]

My brother’s pixelated figure shifted as he waited for my response. I glanced around Hotel Presidente’s lobby, knowing full well I wouldn’t find my answer there. “It’s… um, you know it’s… Cuban.” He raised his eyebrows and I shrugged, fully willing to admit to the lameness of my answer. Thankfully my mother saved me from […]