Embracing America : a Cuban exile comes of age / Margaret L. Paris.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Paris, Margaret L.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Borkland, Elena Maza.

Cuban American women--Biography.

Cuban American women.

Cuban Americans--Biography.

Cuban Americans.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xxiv, 226 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Gainesville : University Press of Florida, [2002]

Summary:

From a child refugee of Operation Pedro Pan -- a 1961 mission similar to the Kindertransport of World War II and the only political exodus ever of unaccompanied children in the Western Hemisphere -- comes this touching tale of adventure and coming of age in America. After Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba, more than 14,000 children were airlifted to the United States, leaving their parents behind, in a controversial effort to provide them with an opportunity for a better life. This book is Elena Maza's page from that great collective story, masterfully captured in a series of interviews. At the age of thirteen, Elena Maza and two of her sisters came from Cuba and were placed in foster homes in the United States. They were eventually reunited with their parents and youngest sister, who later managed to immigrate. Embracing America is the story of the Maza family's survival and Elena's adaptation to life in the United States. Ironically, Elena left a Marxist revolution to encounter a social one: the civil rights struggle, the anti-Vietnam war insurgency, the women's movement, the sexual revolution, and the drug culture of the 1960s and 1970s. ourneying through the Woodstock Nation, rediscovering her Cuban identity, and earning the respect of the Washington and New York arts and community advocacy scenes, Elena Maza emerges as a remarkable woman who was one of the participants in significant historical events of the last century.

Contents:

1. Leaving Havana; Resettling in Albuquerque, New Mexico 1

2. De la Maza and Caturla Family Histories in Cuba 27

3. Mrs. de la Maza and Cecilia's Flight to the United States; Together in Albuquerque, New Mexico 54

4. Starting Again in Arlington, Virginia 81

5. Introduction to Art; the Hippies' Life of the Sixties 106

6. Discovery of Tai Chi; Grandfather and Aunts Leave Cuba; Other Family Events 128

7. Cecilia's Dilemma 151

8. Raising David; Rediscovering Tai Chi 164

9. Elena's Art; Return to Cuban Heritage 175.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [207]-226).

ISBN:

0813025451

OCLC:

50129357