On Cuba

People on the island would correct me when I told them I had left Cuba. ‘No, you didn’t leave Cuba, you were taken out of Cuba,’ they said. I realized I’d always be a little girl in Cuba. Never grow up. But now I’m an old little girl, una niña vieja…”
Ruth Behar

I’ve stolen your velvet shoes and watch you again
dancing salsa with snow mantling on the window sills
of the dance hall, the conga beats and bongo taps
taking you for an hour back into our other country.”
Richard Blanco, Souvenirs from Ruti

Ruth featured:

New Year, New Beginnings: Picture Books for Children and Adults to Enjoy on the High Holidays to Celebrate Normalization of American-Cuban Relations
9 Books About Cuba to Celebrate Normalization of American-Cuban Relations
Only built for Cuban ink: a literary guide to the land of rum, rumba and revolution
All of Cuba becomes a classroom for U-M professor, students

Ruth quoted:

Ruth’s curatorial work on Cuba:

Intersections: Cultures, Identities, Narratives

Ruth’s essays on Cuba:

An Old Little Girl Reacts to the Death of Fidel Castro, Beacon Broadside, December 4, 2016.
As A Young Cuban Girl, Fidel Castro Terrified Me, Huffington Post, December 2, 2016.
The Sea and the Ceiba, Cuba Counterpoints, September 1, 2016.
Gelato and a Balmy Evening Ride in an American Convertible: To Be or Not to be in the New Cuba, Hemisphere, summer 2016. PDF.
Cuban Jewish Kindness: What I Hope Won’t Change, 3200 Stories, Tuesday, April 14, 2015.
The Fantasy of a Cuba Where Time Stood Still, The Huffington Post, Thursday, January 15, 2015.
Trying Not to Drown in a Glass of Water On My Way to Cuba, Jewish Book Council, Tuesday, February 17, 2015.
What Now for the Jews of Cuba, in The Jewish Week.
My Parents are Cuban Exiles. Here’s What Obama’s Decision Means to Us, in the Washington Post.
My Habana, The Chronicle of Higher Education, vol 56 (3): B6-B10.
New York Times opinion piece, published on December 18 1992. One of the first calls for cultural bridges between the United States and Cuba.

Bridges to Cuba:

Bridges to/From Cuba, is a bilingual blog featuring true stories from and about Cuba by Ruth Behar and Richard Blanco
New blog provides unique space for people to share their Cuba stories

To read more of Ruth’s work on Cuba, please visit her academic site.