Kabir Vega’s Diary

When I look back at how I felt in the classroom when I first started my English course, the changes I’ve experienced seem incredible to me. At the time, I would see so many people with touchscreen phones that I was embarrassed to pull out my MP3 player, for even something as insignificant as this is a status symbol.

I am citizen number 96111609987 – a non-organ donor, male. This is some of the information used to classify me, in much the same way a lifeless product is categorized. I’ve hated IDs ever since I turned 16. Before that, I used to go out without a care in the world.

The more realistic and brutal the violence in a videogame, the more that videogame sells. Combats ceased to be based on respect, as the martial arts or codes of chivalry teach, many years ago. Battles ceased to be between “good and evil” long ago.

Though Japanese animation is officially referred to as “anime”, most people in Cuba call it “manga” (which is actually the Japanese word for “comic strip”). Manga animated films are a huge hit among young Cubans. (8 photos)

I am rather disappointed with Cuban cinema in general but, after hearing many positive comments about Daranas’ new film Conducta (“Conduct”), I managed to overcome my misgivings and went to see it. The movie had a promising beginning.

Not long ago, Havana Times blogger Irina Pino’s article on polyamorous relationships sparked off a debate at the site. Pino claims that one can never find the perfect partner and is bound to idealize him or her in accordance with one’s desires.

I recently got my hands on a video about a magician known as “Dynamo”, who some consider superior to the super-famous David Copperfield. I saw him swallow a handkerchief and then pull it out from his breastbone.

The school has actually surprised me: every day, I go back home satisfied with what I’ve learned. At my old high school, we had entire periods that people slept through or used to do a bit of mischief. It was distressing. I would go to school as though it were a kind of punishment.

When I take a stroll down Alamar, if I have to cut across a green area, I find it hard to choose a path: absolutely all of them are covered with garbage, and the abominable smell of rotting food, dead animals and stagnant water.