Prompts for Getting Started on Your Own Memoirs, inspired by Carlos Eire’s Waiting for Snow in Havana
Created by Alison Hicks, Greater Philadelphia Wordshop Studio
www.philawordshop.com

In Waiting for Snow in Havana, Eire recalls a number of thrills experienced in childhood, notably driving through the waves on the flooded Malecón. Write about a thrill or thrills you remember from your childhood.

In chapters 4 and 5, Eire relates instances of childhood bullying, such as being smeared with hot peppers and held down on a fire ant nest. In chapter 4, the young Carlos discovers the fear and self-pity underlying a bully’s actions. Were you ever the object of bullying or pranks pulled by other children? Were there times that you participated in pulling a prank or an episode of bullying?

In many places in his memoir, Eire recalls the smells that remain evocative of his childhood in Cuba: the scent of roasting peanuts, the pesticides sprayed by the DDT Jeep, firecrackers, etc. What smells do you call up most readily from childhood? What are the stories associated with those smells?

Religious symbols play a large role in Eire’s childhood imagination: “Eye Jesus,” for example. In chapter 11, he writes about his early experiences of Latin mass and getting his head stuck in a pew while attending a baptism. Write about your early religious experiences. Were religious symbols an element in your childhood? What did you make of them? Were they scary or comforting?

At the end of chapter 3, Eire observes, “Power is always power, and men are always men.” Does this observation resonate in your own life?

In chapter 4, Eire reflects, “Those fellow Cubans who would strip me clean, give me the Judas kiss, and crush me would also inch me towards paradise. Loss and gain are Siamese twins, joined at the heart. So are death and life, hell and paradise.” Have there been times in your life when an enemy has unwittingly given you a gift?

In chapter 4, Eire tells of sex education as practiced by the Christian Brothers at his school. How were you introduced to sex as a child? By your parents, peers, and/or school? How did you react to what you learned?

In chapter 6, Eire tells about the first time he got drunk, at a wedding reception at a neighbors’ house at the age of eight. How old were you when you first experienced the effects of alcohol? What happened?

In his memoir, Eire examines a number of his childhood fears: the neighbor girl Chachi’s lipstick, for example, dirty magazines, etc. What things frightened you as a child?

Over the course of his memoir, Eire paints a portrait of his parents. What are your father and mother like, as people? What are their quirks, their idiosyncrasies? Typical behaviors? When you think of them, what images, scenes or words come to mind? Use these details to introduce them to a reader who does not know them.

In chapter 6 Eire writes, “The world is wider than we can imagine, even in our dreams.” Write about some of the stranger or most surprising experiences that have happened to you or that you have witnessed. Would they lead you to agree?

In chapter 7, Eire writes about his encounter with Blackie the chimp, and lizards play a role throughout the book. Recall a significant encounter or encounters you have had with an animal.

In chapter 8, Eire writes about his childhood fascination with firecrackers. Do you have any stories from your own life, or from siblings or friends, about watching or playing with fireworks?

In chapter 9, Eire writes, “Good and evil dancing with each other so tightly, only one subatomic particle between them.” Are there episodes in your life where you found this true?

In chapter 10, Eire writes about the “disengaño,” disillusionment, of discovering that “Santa and my dad were, in fact, one and the same person.” Later in the book, other instances of disengaño appear. What were some of the significant episodes of disillusionment for you, growing up?

In chapter 13, Eire takes up the theme of luck as it has played itself out in family legend. Write about how luck plays a part in the stories your family tells about itself, or not.

In chapter 14, Eire confesses numerous episodes of childhood stealing, and how his parents reacted to it. Recall a time you stole or wanted to steal something. How did it turn out? Did you resist or give into the temptation?

In chapter 14, Eire writes of “a reverse peak experience, a Marina Trench of the soul” when the young Carlos is forced to return the toy soldiers he has stolen and confess to the store clerk. Have you experienced moments in your life that you would put in this category?

In chapter 14, Eire writes about his first confession. Write about an early experience of a rite or ritual in your religious tradition.

In chapter 14, Eire writes of his awareness of “states of mind and deeds that I am attracted to, but which cause pain to others and diminish me in the process” and “my desire for what’s wrong and my dogged avoidance of what’s right.” Write about an experience of desiring something at someone else’s expense, or about an impulse or thought you’ve had that you consider wrong. What actions did the interplay between your impulses and your sense of right and wrong lead to?

In chapter 15, Eire writes about a number of family superstitions, especially about health, as well as about the family’s sense of loss. Write about some of the superstitions in your family. Does your family tell stories about losses experienced, or the way things used to be? Are any family superstitions connected with this sense of loss?

In chapter 19, Eire tells the story of how young Carlos is punished when the shoe slid down the hallway by his brother Tony bounces off Carlos’ foot and breaks the glass of his father’s display case. Write about a time you were punished for someone else’s deed, or someone else was punished for yours. How was punishment handled in your family?

Also in chapter 19, Eire tells of a particularly humiliating punishments endured at school. Write about a punishment you experienced or witnessed that seems particularly harsh, humiliating, or unfair.

In chapter 20, Eire writes about Christmas 1958 and the last Nochebuena (Christmas Eve) at his grandparents’ house before Castro’s takeover. Recall a childhood major holiday.

In chapter 21, Eire writes about his night job in Chicago as a dishwasher at the Hilton Hotel, at age 15, while going to high school during the day. Write about a first, or early, job you held.

In chapter 9, and 21, among others, Eire writes of the shock of his reception in the U.S. and the stereotyping of Latin characters in American media. Write about a time that you experienced an incident of discrimination, name-calling or belittling based on your speech, race, sex, origin or sexual orientation.

In his memoir, Eire mentions several American TV programs and movies that he saw as a kid, for example 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (chapter 25) and The Vikings (chapter 23). What TV shows or movies made the greatest impression or become most important to you? Why?

In chapter 27, Eire recalls an instance of early love, and how the object of his affections suddenly disappears in early 1961, as many Cubans quietly flee the county. . Write about an experience of early or “puppy love.”

In chapter 28, Eire writes about being the target of sexual advances from his adopted brother, Ernesto. As a child, were you a victim of sexual assault? Did you tell anyone or keep it to yourself? What scars did it leave? What feeling arise about this in you now?

In chapter 32, Eire identifies two tortures: “knowing you will never have something that should be yours” and “knowing that something that shouldn’t be yours is yours to keep.” “I’m sure you know what I’m talking about,” he adds. “Everyone’s an expert on this subject.” How do these observations fit with your own life?

In chapter 33, Eire writes about the breadfruit war the neighborhood kids indulge themselves in soon before he is to leave Cuba. Do you recall neighborhood fights from your childhood?

In chapter 36, Eire writes, “eventually, I found out I could be my own father and mother.” Write about a time when you, by choice or circumstance, had to parent yourself.

In chapter 27, Eire writes about the various swimming pools he’s known as a child in Cuba as representative of his sense of privilege. Write about your sense of privilege: in what ways, under what circumstances, do you feel aware of your privilege, and how does it make you feel? If you have experienced a loss of that sense of privilege, how does that feel?

In chapter 37, Eire writes about inventions he thought up: the Jell-O pool, the bicycle slide pool, even a glassed-in porch (chapter 26). Write about inventions you fantasized about as a child, or as an adult.

In chapter 37, Eire writes about his brother Tony’s recklessness and love of “the abyss.” Paint a portrait of a sibling.

In chapter 38, Eire tells of watching Yury Gagarin, the Russian cosmonaut, parade through Havana on the same day he left Cuba. Recall a time some event in your life coincided with some public event.

In chapter 38, a young Carolos Eire says goodbye to his parents, friends and homeland, and describes it as “death.” Is there a time you had to say goodbye to someone close to you, or something important to you, and you weren’t sure what lay ahead?