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When you ask me,
who am I

The Ones Who Stayed
*new*The Shape of Hope
Entering The Outside

Editorial

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Autum 2016 I visited Cuba with my sister for the first time. We grew up listening to the stories of those who had to leave, this series is about the ones who stayed.  My grandparents left Cuba shortly after Fidel Castro took power. They only returned one time after thirty five years.  A man and a woman, Miramar 2016.  Angelito, Guanabacoa 2016: My grandma was an only child that came after a series of miscarriages. When she was a kid and four children in the neighborhood became orphans, her parents adopted two (a boy and a girl), and another family the other took in the other two, but to her all four were her new brothers and sisters. Of those four children Angelito is one of two that remain, the other lives in Miami. . He kept worrying that he didn't have enough to give me and my sister. He is both one of the sweetest and wisest humans I've been fortunate enough to meet Alejandro Lázaro Uyoa (niño pez), Miramar 2016: He was born into this Cuba. Works as a bus mechanic, doesn't want a girlfriend until he finishes school. My sister swam with him in Miramar while I talked with his dad. I asked his dad why he never left to which he reply "Those were confusing times, you couldn't trust in people. I had a wife and she left to Spain, I never saw her again, and then I met his mom and had him, so I stayed". He could win the olympics given the chance. Man looking down (Castro's hat), Havana, Men, Cojimar 2016.  My grandparents used to spend a lot of their time in Cojimar. We went there thinking we would have to look with difficulty for the places in which they used to kiss. But it never changed.  Orlando Morejón Hernandez, 2016: I met him at a tour we took to Viñales tobacco fields. He works the entire day and earns little for that. The government "buys" 90% of tobacco from them.I told him about my grandparents and asked him why he never left, he said "Back then they executed so many, it was a matter of whether they liked you or not. You couldn't trust the government. I've always wanted to visit Mexico" Kids walking in Vedado, 2016 Frank Yoel DJ, Havana 2016: Meeting and talking to Frank was quite surreal, we met him at a clandestine party we were invited by a random guy the night before. We didn't know electronic music and this sort of recreational events are forbidden by the government. Frank has a dj school, and even though he has gone out of Cuba many times, he says one of his dreams is to have his school legitimised by the government, to prove the young talents of Cuba that it is possible. My sister in Cojimar facing Mexico, 2016



The Ones Who Stayed, 2016