| 1940
|
|
Olga and her twin
brother Roberto are born in Havana / Cuban
constitution ratified |
| Olga begins visits to
Rinconcito Farm near Havana / Batista overthrows constitutional
order |
|
1952 |
|
1956 |
|
Olga attends school
for 8 months in the U.S. / rebellious ferment in Cuba |
| Olga graduates from
Ruston Academy & enrolls at Santo Tomas de Villanueva university
in Havana / Batista regime
overthrown, Castro takes power |
|
1958-59 |
|
1960 |
|
Olga & fellow students
plead with Castro not to close Santo Tomas de Villanueva
University. She is affianced to her American boyfriend and
emigrates to U.S. to marry / Castro withdraws promise of elections.
Large-scale emigrations from Cuba |
| Olga's daughter Carla
is born. That September she begins attending Connecticut College
part-time / Following missile crisis, Castro consolidates his
regime |
|
1963 |
|
1966 |
|
Olga an her 3-year-old
daughter move to an apartment in an unpaved street in
Somerville, MA. Olga enrolls at Harvard / Cuba, having struck a
position of independence from the major Communist powers, is
actively exporting "revolution" in Africa and Latin America |
|
Olga remarries. Her son Nathaniel is born. At Harvard, student demonstrators wave banners with Che Guevara’s image and denounce
Olga as an "obsolete Cuban worm" / Castro re-cements ties with
the Soviet Union, supports Soviets’ invasion of Czechoslovakia |
|
1968 - 1970 |
| 1976 |
|
Olga completes her
doctoral dissertation on Lezama Lima's novel Paradiso, receives her Ph.D. from Harvard and
settles in Buffalo, NY. She starts teaching at Nichols School / Cuban troops are fighting in Angola and Ethiopia. At home, Castro’s persecution of
dissidents, artists and homosexuals is at its height |
|
Olga publishes Adios, her first book of poems, joins
faculty at D’Youville College, and begins lasting relationship
with the Buffalo Hispanic community / "Mariel boatlift," mass
emigration from Cuba. Olga is part of a Buffalo group who takes
in four boat-people |
|
1980 |
|
1982-1984 |
|
Olga takes an active
part in the election campaign of Raul Figueroa, Buffalo's first
first Puerto Rican city court judge. Olga's poems appear in a
mural at the Allen-Hospital Station of the Buffalo subway
system |
| Olga publishes her
second book of poems, Border Crossing / After the fall of the
Soviet Union and the deepening of
Cuba’s chronic economic crisis, Castro regime loosens
restrictions on
foreign tourism in an effort to attract foreign currency |
|
Early 1990’s |
|
Mid 1990's |
|
Olga, begins plans to visit Cuba
/ Amid demonstrations and threats to his regime, Castro provokes
a new wave of mass emigration. Cuba reaches new
levels of chaos and economic misery |
|
Olga returns to Cuba
after an absence of 37 years, making peace with her past and
discovering once and for all that Buffalo, her residence of more
than 20 years, is home. After her second (and last) visit, she
begins Scatter My Ashes over Havana. |
|
1997, 1998 |
|
2004-2006 |
|
PurePlay
Press accepts Olga's book and publishes it in the Summer of
2006;
Buffalo News features SMAOH's first big story. After
publication, related stories, book reviews, readings/book
signings, and interviews
follow. |
