Author: Erasmo Calzadilla

Even before the emigration fever hit Cuba, I dreamed of going to Syria. My sister married a guy from that Arab country, one who came to study medicine but was actually even better at storytelling.

A few months ago I interviewed a young woman who has a disability and is battling alone in her life. Mercedes suffered paralysis in her legs due to a fever she had when she was a child. Ever since then she has struggled to avoid being left bedridden.

This post is the continuation of a previous one about our recent trip to Cienfuegos province. Everything started when some relatives in Cienfuegos booked a week’s stay at a “campismo” public campground there in that province for me and a few friends. (15 photos)

Without beating around the bush, Santiago Alba Rico denounces the criminal role of governments and the “Western” media, but he also recognizes and supports the existence of a genuine and justified popular insurrection against the Syrian government.

I just got back after a week in Cienfuegos Province. We rented a cabin at a “Campismo Popular” camping facility and while there hiked in the Sierra del Escambray Mountains. We brought back a lot of stories that we’ll be sharing.

During the crisis of the 1990s, with the shortage of fuel for transporting food from the countryside to the city, the government opted for intensive urban agriculture. Given its delicate nature, this strategy has become a “political” issue, and herein lies the danger since almost no one dares to question it.

When I was teaching at Mantilla High School, I had to work side-by-side with a guy named Gonzalo, who was one of the few survivors of the massive teachers flight out of the field of education – not necessarily into tourism…but to anywhere.

In this state of chronic disinformation, perpetual news media manipulation and isolation in which the typical Cuban lives, if you want to break the informational blockade you have to become expert at decoding sources, while not despising any of them – no matter how disgusting they appear.

Making Us Feel Like Kids is my answer to the question of what the police are seeking when they stop us and ask us for our personal documents while on the busiest streets in town?