Irina Pino’s Diary

Rock Cinderella in Havana

Some Saturdays or Sundays, when I have a little bit of money and want to dance to some rock music, I get ready to go out. First, I choose a simple outfit (jeans, a blouse and a pair of comfortable sneakers). I pick up my purse and daub some perfume on my chest.

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In the Name of God

A close relative of mine who studied at a religious school in Cuba (Los Hermanos Maristas) was telling me there was a priest at the school who would pat him on the head and sometimes even kiss him on the cheek. This made me think about the issue of religion.

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On John Lennon’s Death

Dying at the age of forty, when the sap of experience leads to a new blossoming in our lives, is too unfair. The death of John Lennon isn’t a trivial or even logical incident. It was a devastating event that has always stayed with me. I recall hearing the news over the radio, late into the night.

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Cuba’s “Special Period” Remembered

It caught us by complete surprise in the 90s, and no one expected it to last the many years it did. Even today we continue to be haunted by those infernal years, as though we were unable to find a way out of the crisis. One need only mention it to conjure up those dark memories.

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My Friend’s Three Partners

Woody Allen once said that “the heart is a very flexible organ”, and I agree with him in every sense. A colleague at Havana Times gave me a compilation of essays on free love by 19th and 20th century thinkers, put together by Osvaldo Baigorria.

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My Afternoons in Cuba with Paco de Lucia

When I was fourteen, I got the crazy idea I wanted to learn to play the guitar. My parents didn’t have the money to buy me the instrument, so I decided to talk with Barbara, a friend of mine who lived in the building across the street and owned a Pablo Quintana guitar.

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The Soviet Films of My Cuban Adolescence

I recall that the portrayal of the Battle of Borodino in Soviet director Sergeui Bondarchuck’s War and Peace, an adaptation of Tolstoy’s novel, made the film a true work of art, as did that ballroom dance scene, with its costumes, lights and dancers performing a delicious and interminable waltz.

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Changing Times: On Sex in Cuba

I’ve noticed that some of my previous articles dealing with the issue of sex have stirred up a number of debates and also a bit of mockery. I would therefore like to touch on this issue again. I imagine I’ll find other related topics of interest later, as this is a rich and multifaceted issue for discussion.

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Some Remarks on Polyamorous Relationships

We should have relationships made up of three or four partners. Love and sex know no rules – we are not monogamous by nature. People merely imagine that we are and live with this false concept as something pre-ordained by nature. Breaking with these rules would be a form of liberation.

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