The Music Hall book group met last night with some discussion of Dancing With Cuba (by Alma Guillermoprieto), but most of the meeting was a presentation and question-answer session with two remarkable men sharing their experiences of Cuba (I am sorry to say I remember Mr. Labrie but not his great photographer partner...) where they have been traveling frequently to chase down and record great music as well as seek out amazing photograph opportunities. It was fascinating and allowed us all to engage more with the book, which was somewhat disappointing. Our moderator thought the author was whiny; I wouldn't qualify her as that, just a young, confused 19-year old who lived an unusual few months in Cuba and tried to present her memories of that along with other aspects of a difficult time in her life as she tried her best to figure out what was irresistibly attractive about the Revolution all while understanding that she couldn't completely buy into it. Alma G wanted to be a dancer good enough to join one of the great companies of modern dance in NYC. Much of the book, including the entire long first chapter, is terribly dense and tedious unless you are well-versed and well-immersed in the world of dance. However, her reflections on these months in 1970 when she accepted a position to teach dance in the ENA in Cuba were worth the effort to read because of how much I gleaned about Cuba, her history leading up to that year, the realities of the Soviet influence and the disasters wrought by embargoes that plunge entire populations into poverty... There is a lot of food for thought in the discussions about arts and intellectuals in the reality of a revolution, no matter how those people look upon the revolutionary process. I am so ready now to return to some fiction!!

on the bench on the porch outside the store/pizzeria