Author: Mavis Alvarez

Why didn’t they give me that program the day before? Why do I speak with everybody who sits beside me? What happens with me and symphonic directors?

My Havana Times colleague Irina Echarry recently published an article titled “Recycle, Recycle, Recycle.” I could relate to the topic, given how much it related to me. I am a woman formed out of love for the earth and nature, and also for people, who both live and survive as a species on this planet.

Either things are moving too fast or I move so slowly that I can’t keep up. Over the last few months I haven’t been in the capital much; instead, I’ve been roaming and combing backcountry roads, observing and talking with women and men of the forest.

I don’t remember ever having asked myself what race I belonged to. I was born advantaged in a society that discriminated against non-whites. So, am I white? The answer isn’t so simple. Let’s have a look at my genealogical tree; since racial classifications don’t work with me.