I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP it is not being reprinted here illegally.) (Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography.

But now Usnavy is faced with a choice between love for his family and the Revolution that has shaped his entire life. Things seem to brighten when he stumbles across what may or may not be a priceless Tiffany lamp that reveals a lost family secret and fuels his long repressed feelings. More than 100,000 flee-including Usnavy's best friend. In the summer of 1994, a few years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the government allows Cubans to leave at will and on whatever will float. His friends openly mock him, his wife dreams of owning a car totally outside their reach, and his beloved fourteen-year-old daughter haunts the coast of Havana, staring north. But as the years have passed, the sacrifices have outweighed the glories and he's become increasingly isolated in his revolutionary zeal. When the Cuban Revolution triumphed in 1959, he was just a young man and eagerly signed on for all of its promises. A true believer is faced with a choice between love for his family and the Cuban Revolution.

Memory Mambo by Achy Obejas