University of Iowa Press, Iowa City 52242
Copyright 2020 Magda Montiel Davis
www.uipress.uiowa.edu
ISBN 978-1-60938-726-6 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-60938-727-3 (ebk)
Printed in the United States of America
Cover design by Kimberly Glyder
Text design by April Leidig
Epigraph from Scoundrel Time by Lillian Hellman, copyright 1976, 2000. Reprinted by permission of Little, Brown and Company, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher. All reasonable steps have been taken to contact copyright holders of material used in this book with any whom it has not been possible to reach.
Printed on acid-free paper
Cataloging-in-Publication data is on file with the Library of Congress.
Mil Gracias!
The Women
Mara Magdalena Hernndez: Mami, for believing I could prevail over anything. My sister, Maggie DiFalco (Do I need to sit down for this?). Catherine Deming: I never feel as loved as when Cathy talks me down. Lazara Pittman (Yeah, Magda? Im just calling to tell you Im not mad anymore, after years of not speaking.) And Havanas Ivelisse Blanco: Ive, mataperreando the hills of our Nuevo Vedado barrio with me since we were three.
The Men of Those Past, Distant Times
Ira Kurzban, and the fury that propelled me to finish and perfect. My father, Jos Ramn Montiel SomeillnBebo to his lifelong friends, Papn to my sister and me. From him I learned to look at life in terms of strikeouts, home runs, maybe a walk to first.
The Descendants and Descendants of the Descendants
Kathryn Montiel Davis: Katie, our own Vagina Doctor and her endearing Mommie notes. Paula Davis Hoffman, and her endearing screenshots of Cartoon Networks taco-selling, scheming grandmother, that she claims sending at my loving grandchildrens direction. Magda Arguelles: Maggie knows when to make me Abuelas soup and put me to bed. Sadie Kurzban: once a preteen Streetdancing next to me, now the founding 305Fitness exec expecting me to follow her dance moves. Ben Kurzban, whose loving eyes see in me the pop-icon likeness of Snape or Grimace.
Max and Matthew, Sasha and Jeremy, Ollie, Louie and Violet: I now understand the love Abuela had for their mamas, Katie, Paula, and Maggie, and for their Aunt Sadie, and Uncle Ben.
Backbone, Chutzpah, and Cojones
They risked their lives staying or coming to work with me: Irma Mendez, Sadie and Bennys office nanny, weathering attacks at my side. Miriam de la Torre, those garbled, harried messages: Sean Penn, or Imelda Marcos called. Mara Chemerinsky and her toddler son running buck naked down our office corridors. My to Marino, what a way to step up for his sobrina, along with my sister. Raysa Aguiar, our polarized politics did not get in the way of her humanity.
Those who supported me noisily or with a quiet note in the mail. Quick-witted Eddie Levy (el esposo de Xiomara, as Fidel once said) and Xiomara Almaguer: they walked arm-in-arm with me at Miami International Airport during our most virulent acto de repudio (not included in this book; in the sequel, perhaps?). Andrs Gmez and the memory of Aruca, Wilfredo, and Cachita; they live in me still. Marisol Zequeira, who prepared emergency cases from home, not succumbing to cubanito-colleague pressure. Debbie Smith, rallying support for a one-page ad in the Miami Herald about my freedom to speak. David Lawrence, then publisher of the Herald, once victimized as well, who readily accepted the ad for far less than its cost. Carmen Olivas and the Haitian Refugee Centers / Steve Forresters uplifting faxes; years later, still remembered. Carl Shusterman (Let the dogs bark, Magda, but the caravan moves on), Jack Pinnix (Why the hell didnt you tell me you had a thing for beards?), Marc Van der Hout, Ted Ruthizertoo many immigration lawyers to name.
The Exes
Every woman deserves an ex like Paul Davis; he dragged me to my first law exam and stood outside until he was sure I wouldnt run out. Kari Fonte: though exlaw partner, Kari will always be my law and everything-else partner. My ex-coworkers Marianna Cardona: the times she met with clients so that I could write said everything; and newlywed Susanna Hamadallah, the nights she stayed up to type 1,548 pages of manuscript said more than everything. Sandye Cole, Nancy Weese, and Francy Neal: since our inner-city school days, dynamic forces in my life.
And What Else but the Writing? Always the Writing.
John DAgata, director of University of Iowas Nonfiction Writing Program (NWP) had me from day one, when he had us introduce ourselves by telling our most embarrassing story. (I think I won.) His dog Boeing, Im convinced, reads our work to him as he drives cross-country or takes (not Planes, never planes) Ships, Trains, and Automobiles to sit (or not) in Plutarchs chair. My dream-team University of Iowa thesis committee: Kerry Howley, directorI see Kerrys hand in my pages, hear her words of guidance and encouragement; Inara Verzemnieks, so patient for art and generous with her time; and from our Havana Sugar Kings days of childhood, DePauls Felix Masud-Piloto, PhD, who stood behind me in line as I planted The Kiss heard around the world. Other NWP extraordinaires, Bonnie Sunstein, Jeff Porter, Patricia Foster; and visiting instructors, Dylan Nice and Bernard Cooper. Each of my classmates brought something of their eclectic selves into my writing that I carry with me still. Sabe-lo-todo Spenser Mestel (Spenser, help! Pretend its your mother... grandmother!) Who else but Spenser would have poured over an unedited version of the manuscript and lifted my waning spirit during that godawful year of queries?
The Iowa Summer Writing Festival (ISWF) jumpstarted me back to my love of writing. Amy Margoliss recommendation, I believe, was pivotal in securing my acceptance to the University of Iowas Writing Program. (Magda... the unlikely mother of 5 daughters, and a novice writer so urgent and spirited in her advances, I wondered when she approached me in the halls of EPB what chased after her and hoped very much if it arrived it wouldnt linger.) ISWF instructors, so terrific; bearing mention are Mary Kay Shanley, my first; Marilyn Abildskov, that tender prose! Suzanne Scanlon, those blue eyes! BK Loren, who named a character Magda; and Marc Nieson. A passage about meeting Fidel as originally written in Marcs metaphor class made it to the final version.
Born of the ISWF, my longstanding writing group: Arlyn Norris, Charlotte Hamilton, Michelle Cantwell, and James Joyce (for real, James Joyce; our own funny Jim). For their sage advice, Profesores Jess Jambrina and Alfredo Estenoz. When we converge on Iowa, we increase the Cuban population by 100 percent.
