Walk #106: Che Comes to Napa

After working the day as a socialist social worker, I wandered down to TrustfunderCentral for a walk. A perfect evening. Warm with a cool ocean breeze. I stopped into my favorite haunt to see if the Anchor Steam still tasted good (it did). I had a burger to protest the vegetarian fare that the hospital serves me daily (the staff gets veggie food as a way of remaining faithful to the one true Adventist faith). Give me a few days of chick pea veggie delight and I get a powerful hankering for a grass fed burger.

While walking in St. Helena I always say hello to everyone I meet. Makes me feel like a village idiot, but I do it anyway. Why have we gotten so anti-social and not say hello to strangers (even if the stranger is really strange)?

Walked past the theatre and saw that on Sunday Night they are going to show both parts of CHE! In between the two full length films they are going to have one of the better restaurants here in Trustfunder Central cater a Cuban meal. There will also be Cuban beverages. The price was actually reasonable, so I bought a ticket.

I work with a Cuban emigre'. She is a housekeeper who left Cuba four years ago. Her daughter is still in Cuba and works as a doctor. The daughter supports the revolution (the Mother does not). This housekeeper (who is named after Fidel) hates the revolution. Why? Because she is Adventist and feels that in Cuba there is no freedom of religion.

But she does brag about the social achievements of the revolution. She boasts of the educational and health advancements made under Fidel. By the way, African Americans in Cuba have a lower infant mortality rate than here in the United States.

I asked her if Fidel fell from power would these achievements continue?

"No", she said. "They would disappear."

I think she is right.