To have a birthday has a great advantage, at least for me I like to see the positive side of things and especially of life, although for others it has great disadvantages. And the reason why I state this is precisely because I have been able to experience diverse, unrepeatable and unique events and situations, that today I can tell and share with everyone who is willing to listen to me. Here is another of my stories…

It was the 90s of the last century, when, I had to run a place that for me was a school, a challenge, but above all an incalculable satisfaction; I am referring to the Provincial Center of Amateurs and Cultural Houses, attached to the Ministry of Culture, which resided in the same place where the managment of this organization is located today, on Avenida de la Libertad # 160, between Arrieta and Pancha Varona Street, since there was no separate location for this center.

It turned out to be a great challenge, i was more than thirty years old, without reaching forty, and i had to rule over people with incredible prestige and trajectory within the artistic world, even nationally and internationally. In light of these years, I say, it was almost a daring of me to take on that task; but it really was not like that because I fortunately empathized with all the provincial Methodologists, who were thus named their specialists at that time, becoming one of my best work experiences.

Changes and challenges

During this period, there were many changes in the Ministry of Culture and the National Center to which we were methodologically subordinate. It was indicated to undertake eleven community cultural projects, with their well-defined objectives, according to a book that was published for the purpose and delivered to us in more than one national seminar, to which a group of colleagues from each province attended in order to guide the way in which they should be applied.

The most interesting thing about this story was taking on and directing a project to apply it somewhere in the city from the community point of view, and that is because even the name of the Center had changed, it was named the Provincial Center for Community Culture.

Project with love

So that is how it came to life one of the most beautiful projects that I remember at that time, the Club “Thread and Lace”, being part of Project number one, of Educational Work that was led by the specialist in Literature, writer, art critic, oral narrator, member of the UNEAC and my great friend, also, MSc. Gertrudis Ortiz Carrero.

We decided to put in motion at the not-yet-opened Villa Amalia Simoni, an action that took place on December 1st, 1991.

Every time I pass through the Havana Square, and I see the great colonial house that has so much history, and how important it is for its historical, architectural, cultural values and of course, for me; I go back to the days when cultural workers, I think almost all of us, without exception, went to do volunteer work to ensure that the work was completed on time.

Many were the days we spent there, whether it was sweeping, scraping floors, climbing on high windows cleaning the traces of paint that had been left so that everything was impeccable, in short, in the work assigned to us each day. Others carried out the technical work, such as the assembly of the rooms, the planting of the flowers in the garden, where the ceiba stands there, at the end of the immense patio that almost goes to the river, the carpentry, and thus each one contributed in the way they could to make that place shine when our beloved President of the Federation of Cuban Women, Vilma Espín Guillois, arrived to inaugurate it, together with the physically disappeared Zenaida Porrúa Obregón, Director of Culture in the province at the mastermind behind so many achievements of the sector in our Camagüey.

Recalling

That day, as expected, the city dressed up, and of course, General Gómez Street was very congested, and the surrounding areas as well, because everyone was preparing for the event that was going to take place, and of course, it was impossible to let in all that public, it was impossible, since the Institution was too small to take on so many people, they would have to settle for observing from afar, and enter later when the circumstances allowed it.

I arrived with my co-worker, who was in charge of the Cultural Program of the province, my good friend Fernando Pérez Montes de Oca, who on more than one occasion would overtake me in his miraculous vehicle, which saved many out of trouble and in which we solved more than one labor problem at any time. If something characterized that work team, it was that, not having working hours, because with the unique Director that we had, we could not afford to set hours.

No because she taught us that while there was some unfinished task and that she could not wait a longer time, we could not stop doing it, she used to say it was the culture of “detail”, a teaching that I keep and has served me at all times of my life.

I confess that it was difficult to get there, as is logical many blocked streets; but finally we arrived and managed to enter to see from afar the inauguration ceremony, with its ribbon cut, by the main authorities, Vilma planting a tree, so many women representing the women of Camagüey, truly exciting.

All this means that today when I travel through that place or its surroundings, I remember that beautiful day, which later continued to be a regular visit for me, since as I had anticipated, we were united by a strong labor bond; even emotional and familiarity.

The Club…

And going back to the point, as the phrase goes and is usually indicated when we return to a previously discussed topic, the Club that I had commented to them, was held for several years in this Villa, with the full support of the institution and the community, permanent space, and as an extension cultural work was also done in the kindergarten near the place, to the point that Tula, the leading specialist of the same, wrote the hymn for an anniversary of the circle, the music was composed by the Music Methodologist Ramón Cancio, and we have learned that until recently it was still maintained and sung by the children who attended there.

The club was attended by poets from the city, storytellers, painters, and a marker that was always drawn by Tomás Ariosa, also a Methodologist, but from Plastic Arts, was given as a reminder.

My plant will continue to be for the Club

But I’ll tell you more, in my house there was, and still exists, a “quicalia” or “picuala” plant, as others know it, which has flowers that give off a pleasant smell similar to that of apple. In a wicker basket that unfortunately, I no longer have, I threw them and we also gave them to the participants.

Those encounters culminated with the tasting of the tasty tea with biscuits that characterized the institution.

Didn’t I give you a beautiful story? I am sure I have, not because I wrote it, but because that memory, without a doubt, can become a reality again, taking into account that this institution will soon reopen its doors, and already renewed; and precisely today is the anniversary. I have the illusion of reliving those and many other dreams that pass through my mind like a color film in each of its spaces, as well as people from Camagüey and foreigners who have been captivated by its charms.

And to bring you closer to this Club that we loved within the institution, I share the rationale for that project, with the authorization of its author, who with great pleasure sent it to me, hopeful that one day it will be resumed and even, perhaps, let us have the joy of having your valuable presence, something that I am sure you will appreciate in advance:

“Thread and Lace Project”

More than one poet has taken into account that a lace is more than a succession of threads in a difficult weave. Behind the story of a lace, the Antón Arrufal National Prize for Literature, whom I allow myself to paraphrase, has said, “we can find the history of a country.” Our beloved poet Dulce María Loynaz, Cervantes Prize for Hispanic Literature, has said, referring to another immense poet, Emilio Ballagas from Camagüey, “ the fit of his words leads to emotion. ” The Flemish painter Juan E. Veermer created a beautiful painting that he called The Lacemaker, more than the manual labor of women, it captivates and moves the atmosphere that communicates, intimates, lyricism and mystery. Mariano Brull, cited by María Pilar Buceta, cherished the idea of ​​founding communication spaces where the art of intelligent conversation was cultivated. All of the above make us think about a project of communication and social participation that with the thread of the word directs those who participate in it towards the elaboration of a lace whose filigree threads the poetry of everyday life with art.

Taste of life

That I don’t feel nostalgic when I recall those moments? No, because that would not be true, however, I contradictorily experience a certain joy for having lived it, and at the same time I await the day when I again feel the throbbing of those verses, stories, and the delivery of the flowers of my plant; which I care for and preserve with great love.

Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García