The issuing of the pastoral letter titled “Love Bears All” and the recent missive written by Cuba’s Catholic Bishops Conference, titled “Hope Does Not Disappoint”, are separated by exactly twenty years.
Though the government boasts of Cuba’s broadened Internet connectivity, I have no access and news about incidents on the island and abroad always reach me rather late. It wasn’t until Wednesday (a week after the fact), when a friend who lives in Brazil wrote to ask me what I thought about the whole Roberto Carcasses affair, that I found out about this incident involving the Cuban musician.
Laughter is considered one of the best therapies. It makes you relax and distracts you. But for Cubans, laughter is almost a way of life. What for people in other countries would be something of concern or regret, or perceived so circumspect, for us it is taken as a joke .
A recent national TV broadcast included what they called a speech by “antiterrorist fighter” Rene Gonzalez. The reason for the haranguing was to exhort the Cuban people to join the activities of the national and international campaign demanding the Cuban Five be set free, to take place from September 5 to October 6.
Reading Daniel Palacio Almarales’ post on Cuba’s illegal dental clinics prompted me to write this post, where I hope to be able to corroborate what the article describes with a recent personal experience. About twenty days ago, one of my wisdom teeth started hurting…
Cuba’s culinary traditions are also reflected in our music. Allusions to food can be found in many popular songs (recall such catchy refrains as “quimbombo sliding o’er dry cassava”, “Olga’s tamales are sure spicy”, “stay outta the kitchen, my man’s cookin’”, “bread and codfish” and “put some sauce on it”).
Cubans have healthy appetites (which is a nice way of saying that we’re big eaters). We like big, varied and heavily-seasoned servings. Our noses have grown used to powerful smells and our palates respond well to the strong flavors of our homegrown seasonings.
Everything depends on how things are portrayed, and conflicts in Egypt will be understood on the basis of the how the news is framed by different broadcasters. What do you think?
Unassuming, aimed at a broad public and drawing from the tradition of the urban bards without relying on vulgarity and superficial formulas, the album is as good as Bueno’s last name.
A number of programs on Cuban radio and television aim to introduce the new generations, and remind the old ones, of the most notable figures of Cuban music of all time. However totally or partially excluded are Cubans who decided to live outside the country, leaving generations oblivious to their work.