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E n v o y The official newsletter of the CCLA

I.S.S.N. 1911-0693

October 15, 2012 Issue 059

Dear CCLA members and Lit Lovers:

A quick note with a quick Envoy. Our CCLA member and editor of The

Envoy, Stella Mazur Preda, contacted me the other day and told me that the

next issue of The Envoy will be postponed by a month and will be comingout sometime in November.

Also Stella let me know that she will have to step down as editor because

of lifes complications. We look forward to your next issue Stella and will be

sad that your contribution to the CCLA and Envoy editor has to come to an

end.

This issue will just be a quick issue catching you up on the summer thatquickly came to a close. It will tide you over until Stellas November issue.

The weather man is warning us that Old Man Frost is hovering just around

the corner for some and has already hit for others.

So the first frosty bit of business is asking the membership if anyone is

interested in being the editor for The Envoy. It need not be a complicated

or arduous task. Collect submissions in a folder, do the layout and design,

and present an issue as often as you like - as large or as small as you like.Contact me if you are interested.

All the best

prez tai

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Marmora Ontarios PurdyFest Literary Festival, August 3 - 5

Once again CCLA members gathered on Chris Faierss scenic river-side retreat- ZenRiver Garden - for poetry readings, this time back-to-

back with a group of Kingston area writers whose anthology Tai had

recently published. Tai, president of the CCLA and publisher of Hid-

den Brook Press, presided over both sets of readings.

The two groups joined in a feeling of camaraderie, we shared a bot-

tle of good Cuban rum, our friend Honey Novick from the Canadian

Cuban Friendship Association sang for us, the sun shone warmly . . .and then a big black cloud came and rained on us. But we didnt let it

spoil our fun. Thirty of us huddled under Tais large display tents,

brought out umbrellas and raincoats, did what we could to hide from

wind-blown rain and from water cascading down between the roofs,

and kept on reading. Some papers may have got wet but we had a

fine poetic afternoon.

John Hamley CCLA member

Remember- if you would like to organize a CCLA reading or festivalin your area just let us know and we will get the word out to our

members. We have members across the country. We can hook you

up with members in your area. ALSO if you would like to present aspecial issue of The Envoy with a special them let me know what

you have planned.

Send me your content for a future issue of The Envoy.Tai Writers@HiddenBrookPress.com

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A BOOK REVIEW

In the Embrace of the Alligator

by Amanda Hale

Publisher: Thistledown Press Ltd.ISBN: 978-1-897235-87-4$18.95 CADPages: 270

I am a Canadian who felt halfCuban

This read was outstanding! I was blown

away by how much knowledge and in-

sight of Cuba Amanda Hale has and

has included in her book In the Embrace of the Alligator. Her state-

ment the story of Cuba is in the experience of daily life (p. 255), is trueindeed and flows throughout the story as I was turned into the Cana-

dian narrator. For me In the Embrace of the Alligator was more than a

novel, but felt like a work of literary non-fiction, a narrative of actuality

as well as a psychological novel. As a reader I was given an insiders-

outsiders perspective on not only the physicality of the characters and

their adventures, but also their emotional lives through a mix of first

and third person perspectives. To be honest, after only one tourist visit,I do not know Cuba to the extent I want, but after my visit and after

reading this book, due to the detail, metaphors, setting, characters,

love, deaths, to the degree of the authentic foods, I felt I turned from a

pure Canadian to half Cuban. I was engrossed in the heart of Cuba; as

Hale saidBeneath the layers of its onionla cebolla.

Hale says Language shapes our thinking and feeling, so there is a

part of me now that finds expression only in Cuba (p.248). As a Cana-dian who has a strong bond with Cuba and its people, a quote like this

I could relate to, because I felt after I left Cuba, I left a part of me be-

hinda part I never knew I had in the alligator. Reading, In the Em-

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brace of the Alligator has only made me realize that Cuba will always

have a special place in my heartmi corazn.

As far as my goals concerning Cuba, I very much want to return toCiego De Avila, where my Cuban adventure started. I would like to

participate in literary conventions and to visit good friends there. I

hope that my writing will be recognized in other cities and provinces

there as well.

I am 20 years old, born in Toronto, Canada, West Indian background.

My Spanish is growing every day. I am in my third year at York Uni-

versity, majoring in Creative Writing and Literature. It is my priority totake my fiction and poetry further so that eventually it will have po-

tential to be published; not just

in Canada, but internationally.

I have the intention of learning

something new every day

whether its about writing itself

or other writers and their theo-ries. In the Embrace of the Al-

ligator was a wonderful

learning and life lesson for me.

CCLA Member Danielle Dinally

Member News:

Another 5 star review ofThe LastStoicby CCLA member Morgan Wade

see review at SmashWords.com https://www.smashwords.com/books/

view/156144

ALSO - his book had been long listedfor the Relit Award.

Is it time you read his book and sentus a review?

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Holgun, Cuba September 06/2012

Dear Friends,

I hope you had a nice summer, and you are doing well. Here, in July

and August all the students were on holidays. Beaches, pools, camp-

ing sites, everywhere you went it was full of people, but it was great.

Monday 3rd was the beginning of a new academic year, now schools

are swarming with children in their colorful uniforms.

In the end of June, my daughter came with her husband and son and

we went touring in a car from Pinar del Ro to Guardalavaca. It wasfantastic. She arrived 5 days before her family, and we spent those

days visiting relatives and friends, shopping, and going around to-

gether. Then we travelled to Havana to join the others the day they

were arriving. There they hired a car and we spent 2 days in Havana,

then travelled to Pinar del Ro to visit Soroa and Valle de Viales, the

vegetation and the mogotes are awesome. We also went to La

Cueva del Indio, where we walked about 200 mts. and then we sailedin a motor boat through a river inside the cave until we came out on

the other side. This was a very exciting experience for me. There we

stayed for a night, and continued to Varadero (it was a one night stay

in most of the places). We visited a crocodile breeding farm that is in

the road to Playa Girn, and The Treasure Lagoon, amazing places.

In Varadero the beach was wonderful, I didnt want to leave. But in the

morning we had to drive to Bellamar Caves and then continue to

Cienfuegos. Here we found a beautiful city, an impressive seawalland stayed in Pasacaballo Hotel, just above the bay and in front of

Jagua Castle. Its a pity we didnt visit it. This hotel has a wonderful

sea water pool, we enjoyed it until next day at noon when we drove

to Trinidad. This city was a real surprise, I never thought they had so

many colonial houses, old streets, and so well preserved (although its

famous for it). Here we went to Ancn beach. We continued our tour

next day to Camagey, in this city we walked around and discoveredmany special places. Next we drove to Bayamo (this is a city I love),

and walked around and enjoyed it as much as possible. From here we

went to Santiago de Cuba and stayed in Villa Gaviota, they have a

great pool. In the morning we went to visit El Morro and El Cobre,

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then continued to Holguin where we stayed for two days in El Bosque

Hotel. Most of the time we were visiting relatives that had invited us

for a special dinner or lunch, although we made some time to enjoythe pool. From here we drove to Guardalavaca where we stayed for

6 days, this was my special treat (my daughter knows its my favorite

beach). On the 19th of July we came back home and they continued

driving to Havana, since they would fly from there. I was very happy,

but also felt very lonely when they left. Luckily I had a lot to do: a dirty

house, laundry, and so on.

In August my son came to visit with his family for 5 days. It was dur-ing the carnivals, we took my six-year-old granddaughter to all the

places she could enjoy. Since they left, that was on the 21st, I am try-

ing to get back to my daily routine but Its not easy. I have lots of

books to read, poems and stories I want to translate, but the weather

is really hot, so most of the time I end watching TV or listening to

music. I think I am under a slight melancholic state. Nevertheless, I

have gone to some literary-cultural activities.

Manuel, Adonay and Pablo have spent all these days at home.

Manuel, working full time on his books as always. I got them to go

with me on a one day trip to Gibara, where we visited Jorge and his

family. Pablo, Adonay, and I went swimming for a while. Now I booked

in Campismo a one-day tour to Gibara on the 16th for the 4 of us. It

is cheap and theyll give us lunch and snacks, this way we wont bur-

den Jorge with the cooking.

I also went to Guardalavaca on a one-day tour. I intend to go for a

weekend when the low season starts and its cheaper. I love this

place, the beach and the pools are good and you can go to the show

every night after dinner. There you have a good time and meet people.

Miriam Estrella Vera Delgado

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DRIVING CUBA

To Erich, Diana and JanIn July I enjoyed

An adventurous tourThat filled my heartWith joyAnd served to me asCure.With an audaciousCaptainAnd a three-memberCrew

We rode mountains andValleysAnd admired every view.Visiting historical placesCaverns and fortresses,We searched every cornerTheir secrets tried toGuess.

A centenarian seawallWas there for us to admire,A crocodile breeding farmAnd a magic water fall.Our days were freshAnd happyThanks to beaches andPools

We enjoyed them to theMaximumBut followed all theRules.Zigzagging throughThe countryFrom the tip to the endSo many things surprisedUsWe discovered and learned.

August 18/2012My love and best wishes

Miriam Estrella Vera Delgado

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My dear friends, a couple of news items from the family here.

Last Thursday, Pablo was in his learning to bicycle lessons

with me (he already drives) and bumped into a cardona hedge

(cardona is a very thorny cactus they use to build fences) andscratched his face, chest, head and hands badly. Miraculously,

he did not hurt his left eye, his guardian angel must have been

alert. Luckily, these were only scratches, he now looks like a

Black Foot Indian from the prairies but is ready to go again into

his lessons, a brave boy he is.

Yesterday, Manuel Alejandro [Manuels middle son, a doctor]arrived home from Venezuela. He will be here for a month. He

is now more mature and self-assured, I am proud of him and

his job healing the poor for almost nothing tangible in return.

Last night, we had a historical rainfall, 70 cm in three hours.

Probably the universe was moved with my heart because of

the return of my son.

The symposium is over (an hour ago), at last! I have so manythings to do for the weekend that my plan does not include

sleeping, and next week looms very busy beyond the Sunday's

horizon.

Manuel

Coast of Gibara, Cuba

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The Grey Dog in the Parking Lot

I am so busy as usual but I decided to take a couple of hours and

drive 90 minutes north to a poetry reading for the book That Not For-gotten that I published and launched in the summer. The editor or-

ganized the post-launch reading for the Friday night it was not

obligatory that I go but I wanted to be supportive of the efforts of the

editor and authors. I dragged myself from the sofa where I had fallen

asleep sitting up while having something to eat after a long day of in-

stalling the red metal roof to the new extension I had built a month

ago. I darted from my slumber and pushed my way into clean clothsand slumped into my car. I made record time and got to the reading

venue just in time.

The store where the reading was taking place was called The Cat

Saas a joke on the phrase The Cats Ass. As I pulled into the

small town of Norwood I stopped and leaned out the car window to-

wards a gaggle of teenagers. With carful pronunciation I asked if theyknew where the Cat Saas was. The request for directions was met

with hilarious cackles and gesticulations. Oh fuck yah man, the fuckin

Cats Ass is just around the corner man. Fuckin cool place man, you

cant miss it. Thirty seconds later I was prancing into a very cool store

front coffee shop come music store filled with funky stuff. I bought a

coffee decaf and a muffin. After a quick chit chat with a few friends

I settled in for the readings for which I almost fell asleep a reflec-tion of how tired I was not on the quality of the readings. Half way

through I stood at the back with no wall to rest on so that my mind

would be alert to the authors contributions.

After the readings and more pleasantries exchanged I headed home

tracing my circuitous country route, driving through the tunnel of

black, silver headlights piercing the ebony wall. I got to the small townof Hastings where I needed to turn and change highways from #45

to #25. After the turn I drove for 30 minutes before I realized that I had

taken the wrong spoke in the convoluted junction. No problem I

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thought I will just turn right instead of going all the way back to my

miss guided turn. I turned onto a pitch dark road where not even a

cows silver eyes were present to dart me in the right direction. Oh fi-

nally lights in the distance. I must be close to home.

I took another turn onto another well marked but desolate road.

Strange, very strange, it was the #7 highway. My choice was west to

Toronto or east to Ottawa. Toronto I knew was wrong so east I chose.

40 minutes later I arrived, can you believe it, right back at exactly the

town from where I had departed. How on earth is that possible!!!!!!!!!!

I looked at my map and with no hesitation I headed back out of thenow sleeping town of Norwood. A grey haired dog sat in the parking

lot of a slumbering Coffee Time store front that I had driven past going

into town and once again as I left an hour ago. The dog sat on his left

haunch gazing at the flickering street lights most assuredly did not

notice the bewildered glaze that veiled my eyes as I slowly, very cau-

tiously drove out of town for the second time.

A silly smirk drained from my squinting face. Ok finally there is Hast-

ings again where I must have made my fatal turnabout mistake. A

small sigh said highway 45 turn right here. So, there is no way I am

going to make that mistake and follow #45 again. With a sense of

school boy pride I snubbed the turn and continued straight looking for

highway #25. Pride has a way of biting you in the cats ass if you are

not careful. Three minutes later I realized that I was not on the rightpath after all. Once again the town of Hastings foiled my return home.

I pulled into the parking lot of Smith and Smith Funeral Home to make

a quick recalculation. With a tentative smile I zipped through the de-

serted town and put the pedal to the medal. What I did not realize was

that I was driving in the Twilight Zone. 15 minutes later, there ahead

of me was the Norwood neon flickered grey dog. How on earth is that

possible!!!!!!!!!!!

I pulled in beside the dog that still sat basking in star light to gather my

senses. The map light revealed that I had simply traveled back

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through the same tunnel of doom after leaving Smith and Smiths. It

would appear that all wrong turns lead back to the cats ass and the

neon flickered grey dog. I shut my eyes for ten minutes, composed

myself and headed once again into the abyss.

When I arrived at the infamous Hastings intersection I sat refusing to

make a turn. I sat and read the sign that said #45. I read the sign that

said #2 and the arrow that pointed to #10. I consulted my map again

and again. At 3 miles an hour I coasted through the red blinking in-

tersection. I coasted towards the #45 against all instinct. I coasted

past the familiar Home Hardware store. I gently coasted past the

church on the right, the municipal building on the left and finally there

it was the arrow under the #25 south sign. I tentatively, ever so slowly

coasted to the left of the fork in the road past the monument, over the

bridge. I coasted for five minutes refusing to put my foot on the gas

until I was finally confident that I was finally out of the Twilight Zone

and heading in the right direction. 30 minutes later I was pulling into

the security of my gravel Wicklow driveway. For just a moment, a mil-

lisecond, I swear I thought that I saw the grey haired dog sitting wait-

ing for me. A raccoon lumbered out of the beams of my car lights. I

was finally home.

Tai

Coast of Gibara, Cuba