He will be speaking at the Illinois State University Bone Student Center at 7 p.m. on Thursday, September 30 in the Fall Speaker Series. He will also speak at the Bloomington Public Library, from 2-3 p.m. earlier that day.
This morning I listened to Charlie Schlenker's interview with Eire on WGLT, and you can, too, by clicking this link to the newsroom and looking for the headline, "Memories of a Cuban Emigre." Then click the listen button there. Eire speaks of the indoctrination going on in the schools once Castro took over in Cuba, and the uncertainty parents felt about their children's wellbeing if they stayed there. This is why parents were brave enough to send their children on an airplane to a foreign country in hopes of a better life for them.
That's why my husband's father thought it was best for his children and wife to go to Miami, while he stayed behind to wait out this Castro fellow who would surely not last....
Like Carlos Eire, Tony never saw his father again, and like Eire, Tony has lived in Miami, Chicago, and Bloomington-Normal. I want these guys to meet! I hope Tony will go to the Q&A at the Bloomington Public Library and say hola.
Tony can't go to the evening event because, since moving to the Midwest, he's become a volleyball coach, and his Lady Ironmen are playing that night at the local high school. From lizards and palm trees, to fall leaves and pom pons.
What next? Learning to Die in Miami, which comes out in November.
Kathy,
ReplyDeleteWhen I had a book club in Winchester we read a book about the children that were sent to the U.S. and I'll never forget some of those stories. Sometimes mothers would come too but I particularly remember one about a little four year old girl. She was sent alone and had a note pinned to her coat that read, "Please take care of me"
I hope Tony goes and meets this man. I'm sorry Tony never saw his father again. How sad.
A couple of books I will have to read.
ReplyDeleteWaiting For Snow In Havana.
Learning To Die I Miami.
Thank you.
Thank you both. I put it on the family wamily calendar for Tony! He wants to go....
ReplyDelete