Author: Irina Echarry

Every so often, Cuba’s “Mesa Redonda” (Round Table) program tries to address a social issue in a segment entitled “Sobre la Mesa” (On the Table). Though the superficiality with which issues are tackled is always rather vexing, the segment is a barometer which tells us how the government conceives a specific topic.

The theater was packed, and many had to stand throughout the 33-minute-long documentary, Ingrid Leon’s Mujeres…la historia dorada (“Women: The Golden Story”). The theater employees scheduled another screening for those who were left out.

My building was constructed in the mid-70s, in the midst of severe material shortages. The families who moved into the building had been without a home for years and therefore didn’t care that it was far from the city center or that the apartments were poorly finished.

Amanda smiles whenever anyone asks her if she likes going to school or not: a sincere, happy smile that reminds me of my own many years ago. Until the last school year, we would hear Amanda crying out on the stairwell every morning – she didn’t want to go to her kindergarten.

The Coronary Care Ward at Havana’s Calixto Garcia Hospital is not exactly a merry place, but it would be far more depressing if it wasn’t for La Niña. La Niña is a cute little dog that squats on the ground floor of the hospital.

I would have liked to have contributed something significant to the world, something small but important. Thinking about this, I came upon the first of August, the day in which Henrietta Lacks was born. She had the worst three defects someone could have in 1950s Virginia.