MEMOIR|WRITING|CREATIVE WRITING|CREATIVE NON-FICTION

The Four Pillars

Memories of a life lived in Havana

Market scene in Vedado, Havana (photo by author)

Back when cities were nothing but mere villages, there were four standard pillars whose synergy was central to the efficient functioning of the community: the church, the town hall, the school and the court. If the law didn’t deal with you properly, the Lord would.

I grew up in a similar set-up but, with the exception of the religious institution, the symbols differed greatly: a bar, a radio station, a church and a park. Whatever couldn’t be solved by the Bloke Upstairs, could be settled by a bottle of rum in no time.

The diminishing influence of Catholicism (helped substantially by a government bent on imposing its own version of religion, albeit under the guise of socialism) meant that when it came to alienating themselves from the tropical ennui Cuban state bureaucracy stood for, people, mainly men, decamped to the “barcito de la esquina” (literally, “the little bar on the corner”).

At a very young age I became acquainted with some of the characters who frequented this bar. Since my father was a famous musician (please, understand, ‘famous’ by Cuban standards; he appeared on a few television programmes with his band and performed many times on the aforementioned…