Facundo is 50, and has gray hair and a beard. He’s thin and spends most of the time in a wheelchair. Genetic problems forced him into a state of immobility, while his hands barely serve to wipe crumbs of food on his face.
My neighbor’s daughter, Rachel, has a tattoo near her ankle. Frankly, I had never noticed it before. I guess because my eyes always focused more on the silhouette of her body.
On a visit I made there recently, I realized the importance and the social impact of this project as well as its role in calling the attention of institutions, specialists, psychologists, philosophers, historians, students and anthropologists to this community in need.
I felt a deep communion with the past, with memories and desires that reappeared unexpectedly, now at a stop, suspended in view of everyone as a great work of conceptual art, admired by some and disliked by others.
The director of the daycare center informed the parents that they wouldn’t be able to accept children today due to a lack of water, and that they should call tomorrow to find out whether the problem had been resolved.
Demonstrations of racism of any kind are sometimes so subtle that it’s hard to imagine it ever re-emerging as a serious social problem. It’s equally difficult to imagine situations where its examples are manifested.
They slipped out of the back of the cafeteria and immediately began running at full speed down the street with a bucket. Behind them a police officer whistled trying to get them to stop.
Merely inviting someone over for lunch out of gratitude or on the occasion of some celebration presents a dilemma for most Cuban families. You have to give yourself several days to find everything you want to prepare, not to mention coming up with the money – and in both currencies.
My colleague Osman Aviles is a young writer, essayist, poet, editor who is paving his way to joining the Cuban intelligentsia.
Dogs have always been considered “man’s best friend.” They’re loyal to the grave, at least according to Angela, my neighbor from across the street. She has 16 of them!