Nobody Told Her (or Maggie Chapman) - Two Cuban Girls' Arrival in the U.S.

My mother got off the plane from Cuba in 1959, landing at LaGuardia with her best friend and one small suitcase. That suitcase contained all she was allowed to take with her out of Cuba. Except for a pillbox hat - which happened to be in fashion those days (thanks to then soon-to-be-First Lady Jackie Kennedy). Back then, people got off planes right on to the tarmac, having to walk to the terminal without the shelter of a covered gangway. My mom’s hat flew off as soon as she set foot on the tarmac. She ran off after it, as it blew down toward the open runways. Her best friend from Cuba, Maggie Chapman, grabbed Rita’s arm - yelling “¡Degjalo que se vaya!” which means, loosely, “Let it go!” But my mom, as with many of her memories of her life in Cuba - just like the entirety of the Cuban exile community or diaspora - could not just let it go. She went after that hat like her life depended on it. And in many ways it did. Nobody told her she’d never go back to Cuba. I don’t know whatever happened to that hat, and, I think I even forgot to ask Rita about it during this podcast (listen and find out!), but I do know that I did my best to capture the bittersweet poignancy of her journey — as embodied by The Cuban Cowboys’ song, as well as her (mostly) lifelong friendship with one Maggie Chapman (Note: That's Maggie in the pic, on the left. Young Rita's on the right, and my grandmother, Irene Zon sits between them)

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Here's a link to the song "Nobody Told Her" on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/track/5krC4GWhM9idvVnIGRFOzx?si=b46a9576c83347e7

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