Cuban By Accident
¡Ay, Jorge!14 Helmi 2021

Cuban By Accident

By the end of January, 1959, Fidel Castro's revolutionary forces had taken over most of Havana's businesses, nationalizing private companies, stores, banks, etc., in the name of the revolution, on behalf of the Cuban people. My mom was working at a bank as the Director's executive assistant. When the takeover happened, Castro's first Finance Minister ordered that she be transferred to another department, doing so after learning of her Irish, British and Spanish roots, telling her she was "Cuban by accident!"

Although born in Havana, Rita never felt particularly Cuban. She was fluent in English early in her life, sure, but it took the force or impact of the Cuban revolution, and her subsequent exile to Miami, for her to (finally?) feel as if she was, indeed, Cuban. Listen as Rita recounts how her grandparents met -- an Irishman (and former British soldier in Burma, the cop in Chicago) and the daughter of a British man and his Spaniard wife -- and how this merging of anglos influenced her identity before arriving in the U.S. And, of course, what happened after realizing that she would never be returning to Cuba. Things get a bit heavy, so this week's "Who Would You Make a Baby With?" segment came in just in time to go out with a bit of levity. This Episode's choice: Cuban national hero José Martî (aged 30, in his philosopher-poet prime) OR #MeToo Movement-ravaged opera superstar, 80 year-old Plåcido Domingo. Listen!

Jaksot(30)

El Capitán

El Capitán

The ¡Ay, Jorge! podcast returns for another season of Jorge interviews with Rita, his 90 year-old Cuban mom. This season takes a deeper dive into their family's exile and subsequent life in the United...

31 Joulu 202136min

Season 1 Finale - An (Un)Holy Communion

Season 1 Finale - An (Un)Holy Communion

The ¡Ay, Jorge! Cuban Cowboys' podcast wraps up its first season with the long-awaited 'Who Would You Make a Baby With?' championship round, pitting the #MeToo addled Plácido Domingo against former U....

4 Heinä 202132min

Baby-Making Playoff Semifinal: Pope-A-Dope

Baby-Making Playoff Semifinal: Pope-A-Dope

"The Who Would You Make a Baby With?" segment has officially run amok. It's bad enough that my 89-year-old mom, in the previous episode's quarterfinal, AGAIN chose Ronald Reagan -- with his pet chimp ...

6 Kesä 202128min

Baby-Making Playoff Quarterfinal: Presidents, Chimps & NCIS

Baby-Making Playoff Quarterfinal: Presidents, Chimps & NCIS

What do Che Guevara, Ronald Reagan, John F. Kennedy and Mark Harmon have in common? I'll tell you! At one point during this podcast's first season, my 89-year-old mom chose each of these men as sexual...

24 Touko 202128min

¡Comunismo! ¡Socialismo! Oh my!

¡Comunismo! ¡Socialismo! Oh my!

At long last: The "Communism" episode! Rita goes off on her progressive, possibly socialist son (um, that's me, your host), providing an in-depth origin story of communism in Cuba. While there's no Ma...

24 Huhti 202137min

How Soon Is Now? The Future May Kill Us

How Soon Is Now? The Future May Kill Us

Try as he might (and he does!), Jorge is unable to engage Rita in anything regarding homosexuality (as listeners' requests for a so-called "Gay Episode" have doubled in recent weeks ... re: LGBTQ+ equ...

10 Huhti 202133min

What Happens When You Die?

What Happens When You Die?

Mortality can be weird, as an actuality, topic and otherwise. My mom took a spill on the first night of her visit, here in San Francisco. We recorded this episode in my kitchen, mere steps away from w...

24 Maalis 202131min

Immigrant Song

Immigrant Song

This episode features Rita recounting her own Cuban exile experience against the larger backdrop of the United States' twisted, contradictory, arbitrary and oft-cruel immigration policy. Led Zeppelin'...

14 Maalis 202133min

Suosittua kategoriassa Historia

olipa-kerran-otsikko
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
mayday-fi
huijarit
tsunami
mystista
rss-ikiuni
konginkangas
totuus-vai-salaliitto
rouva-diktaattori
sotaa-ja-historiaa-podi
rss-subjektiivinen-todistaja
rss-kirkon-ihmeellisimmat-tarinat
rss-i-dont-like-mondays-2
rss-peter-peter
rss-sattuu-sita-suomessakin
historiaa-suomeksi
tiedetta-ja-sirkushuveja-vanhojen-aikojen-podcast
maailmanpuu
rss-antiikki-nyt