Yesterday night, Monday, the program “Open Dialog” confirmed for me the idea that debate, when is not free and spontaneous, remains a monologue of several voices. It was precisely the absence of controversy that characterized the guests of Loly Estevez, among whom were Alfredo Guevara, Eduardo Heras Leon, Desiderio Navarro, Roberto Fernandez Retamar and Corina… Continue reading “Media Slip”
Category: Generation Y
Which one is your Marti?
Among all of the sculptures of Marti that this city has, there are two that seem to me so contrary and antagonistic that I can barely recognize in them the same person. I am referring to the statue that presides over Central Park and the other Marti -close to the sea- that directs his threatening… Continue reading Which one is your Marti?
Democratic opening: Finally, the Sea*
After the post “Interview with a Sailor,” a lot of people came to ask me how to assemble a navigation artifact. Friends, I can’t even distinguish prow from stern in a ship. As a sailor I only have the vertigo that I get from this island adrift. I am one of those who learned to… Continue reading Democratic opening: Finally, the Sea*
Time is worth nothing
I challenge you to find a public clock in this city that works, that tells the time or at least an approximation of the real time. I cannot find one. Not even on the facade of the Train Terminal, where the immobile hands always mark five twenty. It is not that we have some sort… Continue reading Time is worth nothing
The children devour Saturn
The young people I see today, absorbed in their Mp3 player and with their pants below the hip, are eager – as once we dreamed – for the moment they can be in charge of their own the house and change the furniture, renovate, paint, and invite their friends over. They have the same aversion… Continue reading The children devour Saturn
Some inconsistencies
Hearing the words of Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, in response to Bush’s speech, left me somewhat confused. I learned from him that in our country today, “There are 602 Youth Clubs with more than 7000 computers that provide free Internet access to over two million Cubans per year.” How stupid have I been!… Continue reading Some inconsistencies
I suspect, you suspect, we all suspect
My son’s teacher announced that among the students there is one who – while remaining incognito – is on a list of those who misbehave. What these children are experiencing is the paralysis that is generated by the sense of being watched, the fear of provoking denunciation. For now, the “whiff” of being a bad… Continue reading I suspect, you suspect, we all suspect
I suspect, you suspect, all we suspect
My son’s teacher announced that among the students there is one who – while remaining incognito – is on a list of those who misbehave. What these children are experiencing is the paralysis that is generated by the sense of being watched, the fear of provoking denunciation. For now, the “whiff” of being a bad… Continue reading I suspect, you suspect, all we suspect
Where’s Pepito?
That impertinent coarse boy, the protagonist of our jokes, to whom it’s the same thing to be rebellious as to be wicked, is too quiet these days. Pepito has been the “pinch of pepper” that has made us laugh until we cry; we have put in his mouth what we don’t dare say, and through… Continue reading Where’s Pepito?
The long list of the excluded
Over the weekend a book fair was held in the city, a good idea to break the cultural listlessness that overtakes Havana in the late summer. The Paseo del Prado and the areas around the Capitol where filled with tents, music and a public eager to see the new titles and alarmed at the cost… Continue reading The long list of the excluded