So many bloggers and webmasters who focus on Cuba are either from the island themselves, or have Cuban parents. I’m no different.
My parents were college students when they married, and they left Cuba shortly thereafter with my maternal grandparents, in 1964. Both my parents and grandparents were apolitical, but my grandfather knew Fidel Castro no good so he decided to leave with his wife, his only daughter (my mom) and her new husband (my dad).
They left via airplane to Spain first–they had to travel through a third country according to the rules in those days. The chartered airplane had some mechanical problems in Spain so they were laid over there for a month or so.
Shortly after, my parents and grandparents finally made it to the US and freedom. They went to stay with relatives in–of all places–Indiana. My parents knew after they were married that they’d be leaving Cuba soon, so they decided not to have children until they reached the US (a decision for which I, their firstborn, will be eternally grateful). So I was born in Indiana.
An aside here: I’m proud to have been born a Hoosier and a midwesterner, and I loved Indiana, which is where we lived until I was seven. But when most Americans think of places in the US where Cubans settle, they think either Miami or Union City, New Jersey, not Indiana. I’ve asked my parents why they went to Indiana instead of Miami–again, not because I don’t like Indiana, but because it’s not the “Cuban Mecca” Miami is–and they always reply “because we had relatives there.” This usually prompts the very obvious next question from me, which is, “Okay, why were our Cuban relatives in Indiana in the first place?” At this point, I get the usual parental admonition to go ask the other parent.
Anyway, we moved to Miami in 1972, where I have more or less lived since (four years in the Army away from Miami, and I’ve lived in Broward County, where Fort Lauderdale is, briefly). I joined the US Army out of high school–serving in Germany, Fort Campbell, Kentucky and the Sinai, Egypt–went to college at Florida International University and have worked in the communications business (radio, advertising, public relations) in the Miami area pretty much since.
My personal info… I’m happily married, and we have a young son. I live with my family and a rat terrier in a Miami suburb. My hobbies including fishing, shooting and playing golf–all three of which I get to do only once in a very blue moon–goofing off on the Internet (which I’m usually doing instead of…), updating this blog, especially adding more of those doo-hickeys you see on Castro Death Watch.
