Hi, everyone. I'm Joanna. And I'm Jenny. And this is hyphenated, the podcast about living in the hyphen. This week is a pretty tough week. Jenny, me and you have been talking for the past few days. And it's been a really tough time for Cubans and Cuban Americans right now. And I want to thank you for just

emotionally being here with me today because I can empathize with how you feel right now.

You're probably one of the only non-Cuban people that I know that can empathize with exactly

what I'm going through right now. It's crazy how Cuban Americans and Venezuelan Americans,

I always feel like Cuban Americans are like, you know, 50 years in the future.

Like Venezuelan Americans and Venezuelans were like 50 years behind, but we're basically on the same track.

And there's so much nuance, both in identity in politics, that very few people understand,

but that so many people feel like they can comment on.

Like Cuba and Venezuela are two places that a lot of people hang their hats to speak their

peace, to use to further their own politics within the states. And you right now are being torn in many

different directions. And I think a lot of Cuban Americans right now are feeling desperate.

Yes. So before we delve in to this topic more thoroughly, I want to preface everything by saying that, yes,

I'm going to talk about how this has affected me as a person, as a Cuban American, living in the

diaspora. But no matter how shitty I've been feeling since July 11th and my whole goddamn life, to be honest,

because again, I still have family there. My grandparents left behind multiple siblings.

And therefore, I have tons of cousins in Cuba. I have neighbors that really assisted my grandparents before they left on the

freedom flights who sacrificed a lot for my grandparents. And now their kids are alive. And my mom

keeps in contact with them frequently on WhatsApp. In fact, my mom and I just went shopping

together when she was visiting and we bought tons of supplies to send it to our neighbors and family members in Cuba, because, again, they have absolutely nothing.

And so I know how much they're suffering. I, because of the technology now and that I'm able to now see them face to face through FaceTime and WhatsApp, I see the conditions in which they're living in.

And so I remind myself, no matter how shitty I feel every day waking up, especially this week, no matter how bad I feel when I'm attacked by anyone regarding this situation. It is nothing in

comparison to what the people of Cuba are going through. And so for the lack of a better term,

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