It was confirmed today that Fidel is dead Cuba’s former revolutionary leader Fidel Castro dead at 90 and I’m somewhat at a loss. When I was growing up Fidel was literally the boogeyman, a cigar chomping, baseball playing boogeyman coming to take away our freedom. Fidel didn’t need a last name with us, he was like the evil Elvis, Marilyn, or Gilligan, only needing the one name to identify him. And now he isn’t.
There is a minor meme propagating on Twitter that Fidel wouldn’t die until the US had been destroyed, and after Trump was elected Fidel’s job was done…
Jokes side, Fidel has been part of the background noise and frequently the foreground noise for all of my life, it feels strange that after the funeral and subsequent folderol we won’t hear anything more about him except for documentaries. And also seriously, most of my childhood my southern relatives used “Fidel” almost interchangeably with “Satan”. I don’t know what caused them to quit because when I came back after graduating HS in the mid ’70s they had stopped. But at least during the mid ’60s to early ’70s while I was there Fidel was Evil Incarnate. Chalk it up to short attention spans I guess.
So, farewell Fidel Castro, may whatever afterlife you experience be as pleasant as you envisioned.
PSA, Opus
Witch on a Bicycle 