Author: Carlos Fraguela

All animals (including humans) have a series of holes in their bodies that are paths to different sensations or windows to knowledge and power. Some have multiple purposes. I’ve been thinking about this for a long time.

In the years I worked in Bejucal (south of Havana) I got to know a fascinating man. I was only 20 at the time, and this older and more experienced man (aged 40) was married and had two kids. One day, he told me he was worried about the attraction he was starting to feel towards the famous singer Chayanne.

A few months ago I accidentally discovered that I could take superb photographs by aiming the flash on my camera at the glass panel in the back of my aquarium. The reflection produces a kind of x-ray of the aquatic specimens. (14 photos)

Less than a month ago, I met a girl who’s dating a friend I know from work. She is visiting Cuba and complains that she can’t go to any movie theater in the city alone without being stalked by men who masturbate next to her.

In 1987, I went to a gay meeting place in Havana for the first time. I’d been too afraid to go to such places before. Single men would go to these places to meet other men, in search of a relationship or one-night stands.

The chair of the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR) on my block, told me one of the cats that live in our neighborhood hid in a small room he uses as a workshop and to store tools.

In a show of maturity, two leaders chose the good of the people. The people expressed their gratitude, repaying the gesture with wisdom and the will to work together for peace and mutual trust, for the benefit of the entire world.

On January 14, I went to the Bertolt Brecht theater in Havana, where the Cuban band Interactivo performs every Wednesday near midnight. I felt it was the best concert of my life, and I’ve been to quite a number of these.

We know that the rights of children are systematically violated in many parts of the world. I began thinking about this again after seeing one of those funny videos from the United States that people pass about on flash drives here…