Early Autumn - Apple and Cinnamon

New VapeSafe Early Autumn eLiquid.

Early Autumn - Apples and Cinnamon flavored eLiquid evokes memories of the beginning of fall. The feel of the warm autumn sun on the skin. The sight of vibrant hues of amber and crimson leaves hanging in gently swaying trees soaking up the light. The rustling sound of the breeze slipping through the tree branches tugging and teasing the remaining leaves into releasing their hold and floating downward. The laughing children raking the leaves into piles and then running and jumping into the soft, luscious piles scattering the leaves again. The delicious smells of baking apple and cinnamon pies wafting through open windows. These are the sights, smells and tastes of Early Autumn.

Early Autumn eLiquid by VapeSafe captures the essence of Autumn no matter what season it is. Early Autumn eLiquid is flavorful combination of apples and cinnamon. As with all of the VapeSafe eLiquids, our mixtures are designed to produce nice, heavy vapors and the most succulent flavors. Try Early Autumn eLiquid today!

Technology Information:

A Girl Like Che Guevara

Description

"Teresa de la Caridad Doval shows us the heart of a Cuban teen-hot, melancholy and sweet as homemade flan. The kids in A Girl Like Che Guevara are scrappy, muscled survivors, I fell in love."-Lisa Lerner, author of Just Like Beauty

"A fresh, fascinating first-hand account of coming of age in Communist Cuba. A must for anyone interested in peering behind the doctrinal veil of Castro's educational and social system and the dreams of one girl caught in its web."-Himike Novas, author of Mangos Bananas and Coconuts: A Cuban Love Story

1982. Havana, Cuba. Sixteen-year-old Lourdes yearns to emulate Che Guevara, and has a healthy disgust for gusanos (worms)-those who fled Cuba on the Mariel boatlift. Every summer she and other high school students work in the nationalized tobacco fields to prove their dedication to Fidel and the Revolution.

Lourdes, herself the product of a biracial marriage, outwardly scoffs at the old ways but she wears an azabache amulet under her clothing, next to her Che medallion to ward off evil spirits. She secretly prays to the orisha Yemayá, while she pledges her fealty to Fidel and the socialist ideals of her father, a professor of scientific communism at the University of Havana.

As she struggles with her confused sexuality, the pervasive race issues that are sundering her parents' marriage, and the harsh realities of life in a glorified work camp, Lourdes begins to question her allegiances. Why does she want to be like Che?

Teresa de la Caridad Doval was born and lived in Havana, Cuba. Her family's attempts to leave on the Mariel boatlift were thwarted. She attended the University of Havana and earned a BA in English literature and an MA in Spanish literature. She left Cuba in 1996 and currently lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with her husband.

Reviews

Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-04-05
Summary: "very interesting book depicting cuban reality"

This is a very well-written and structured novel that depicts the cuban reality in a very interesting and intelligent way. I could not put it down!

---

Rating: 3 / 5
Date: 2009-07-03
Summary: "High Expectations"

With a title like A Girl Like Ghe Guevara, I have to admit, I had high expectations. Unfortunately, the book did not live up to them. At one point, I found myself saying, "Okay, I'll give it 50 more pages, and if it doesn't get better, then I'll stop." Luckily, it did get a little better and I was able to settle in and to finish the novel.

One thing that I did like was that it gave me an opportunity to see Communist Cuba from the point of view of a young niave Cuban girl, and that was interesting. Somehow Lourdes (the main character) was able to remain fairly positive considering everything that she saw and endured. That was a nice testament to the resiliance of the teenage spirit.

In all, I think once I accepted that the book wasn't going to be what I had expected, I was able to enjoy it.

On a more positive note: the characters were well done (though some too stereotypical) and the author did a great job in depicting the other-than-ideal society in which these people lived.

---

Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2006-12-23
Summary: "A creative look at coming of age and coming to terms with the Revolution = Great book!"

"Doesn't the sky look bloody?" one of the teachers asks as the school's extended stay in the School in the Fields begins. It's just one of the many masterful ways that Doval flirts with magical realism in her book - in fact, the whole story has an intense, almost dreamlike quality that sets Lourdes and her classmates firmly in the campo, where "spirits" might be the ones perpetrating the petty thefts and the "Mother of the Water" lurks at night. The parents are gone, and the teachers willing to "pretend they didn't notice" many things (when not participating in them) - so it's the adolescents themselves whose voices dominate as they flirt, gossip, bully, work, and survive in their arduous rite of passage in 1982 Cuba. Lourdes, the sensitive and intelligent protagonist, tries to make sense of it all, and comes to many conclusions that complicate her ideas about the world beyond the camp. A fantastic read.

---

Rating: 4 / 5
Date: 2005-11-17
Summary: "Coming of Age Story in a New Local"

In Havana, Cuba during 1982 high school students were required to put in time in the Tobacco fields as part of their learning and as service to the communist regime. A Girl Like Che Guevara follows the life of Lourdes Torres from her sixteenth birthday through her four month term (January - April) in the School-in-the-Fields Pinar, del Rio camp.

Lourdes is growing up in a country where two worlds seem to be colliding (communism and US commercialism). She learns her dreams of being part of the young Communist League and trying to be like her hero Che Guevara, a Marxist revolutionary and Cuban guerrilla leader, are not as easy as she thought they would be.

A Girl Like Che Guevara shows the hierarchy of being a teenager from a Cuban perspective. The author, Teresa Doval, calls her book, a little dirty piece of life in Cuba. She's right. At one point I thought the camp should be called Sex-in-the-fields. There's a lot of abuse, via bullying and food rations to go along with the dirt. Like the dirt Lourdes describes while she stitches away her days in the sewing shacks: "a film of dust covered our lips while our stomachs growled with repressed hunger."

Lourdes' job involves sewing the tobacco leaves onto dried sticks. This was considered the women's work while the boys worked in groups picking the leaves and finding the perfect sticks. Hundreds of students were supervised by a few teachers, some reliable and some not so reliable.

The transition from child to young woman is not a new theme but to read about it in the confines of post revolution Cuba is. Cuba has suffered a rich history of upheaval and to witness the growth of a little girl into a woman during the harshness of this back drop is endearing and educational. I really had no background on Cuba, Che Guevara or tobacco fields. It was an eye opener. Teresa handles it beautifully, with respect and without attempting to deliver a history lesson. I was lost on some of the political references but it didn't take away from the story.

Racial politics is everywhere. Lourdes fantasizes about being as white as the women in the Russian magazines she reads. Other strong themes are family, loss, friendship, religion, culture and community, as well as sexuality. Homosexuality is frowned upon by the communist party but Lourdes suddenly finds herself in love and yearning for her bed buddy.

I was annoyed by the continued "Fat" Olga descriptions after the initial introduction. Fat Olga this, Fat Olga that. There was more to Olga than being fat. Sometimes I stumbled on the mingled Spanish and English but mostly I enjoyed Teresa's visions of life at camp.

This is an entertaining story and a look into an interesting culture, often ignored. I recommend reading it. Reviewed by M. E. Wood

---

Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2005-02-28
Summary: "A Girl Like Che Guevara"

I absolutely loved this book! I can't wait for Teresa to write her next novel, her writing takes you places and brings forth the most amazing characters. I can go on and on over how fabulous Teresa is, but I would use up all the words I have in me. Read this book!