A Pecha Kucha talk.. donde distintas personalidades de la ciudad de Austin hacen una presentación.de 20 imágenes con comentarios de 20 segundos por imagen. Como Alex Marrero Guaty, es músico le agregó música e hizo una historia. Nuestra historia. Nuestro exilio fue un exilio en busca de la libertad que se nos negaba en Cuba, estas son palabras de un hijo de exiliados Cubanos. Viene muy bien reproducirlas en un día como hoy..
Darden pública las palabras de Alex agregándolas a comentarios sobre el 4 de julio. Estas son palabras de un hijo del exilio, orgulloso del sacrificio de sus padres y de la libertad que este sacrificio le proporciono a el y a sus hermanos. Gracias Darden por reproducirlas. Gracias Darden
In 1962, Alex’s parents left Cuba because they wanted freedom.
Freedom for themselves, freedom for their children.
Th…ey left all that they knew behind so that they and their kids might have the opportunity to make the choice of how and why they spent their days, how their children moved through the world.
Think about that for a moment:
They left everything, and started over, for freedom.
They landed in Virginia, and it was weird.
Talk about culture shock…It snowed there.
They became citizens.
Then the family moved again, to Mexico City, where Alex grew up.
They started over, again.
In his twenties, Alex moved to Austin.
To play music.
He’s Cuban, grew up in Mexico, lives in America.
Alex’s says that when he was a kid, his parents made them read the Spanish AND English language newspapers. He insisted that they be bilingual. Alex understood what they were doing, but only later did he appreciate that what they were doing was giving him one more chance at freedom — freedom to navigate a bigger world, to be who he is without restriction.
Freedom to choose.
All the dislocation his parents went through, all they put their kids through, was in pursuit of a very simple concept — the ability to have some say over the way you live your life.
Alex told us that because his parents had the guts to leave everything behind, he now has the freedom to play music (which is a bit of a ball and chain in itself, but let’s don’t go there).
If you’re in the US, you have certain freedom.
It’s not perfect, it may not be all glory and silver linings,
But you do have the ability to make choices.
It’s possible to change direction.
So, on this Independence Day
Think about what the people who came before you, your family,
Your bloodline went through so that you have this luxury.
What did they give up, leave behind, overcome,
So that you can have these freedoms, big and small?
Freedom of choice.
Alex told us his story that night, looked us all in the eye, and asked us, as I’ll ask you on this July 4th:
What are you choosing to do with your freedom?
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