Maria Matienzo’s Diary

I spent the night talking to Anaylis and Jazmin. As they recounted their lives, it made me feel like I was watching a telenovela. I was ecstatic, though I usually don’t like soap operas. I listened speechless, though their story isn’t unique.

I just finished a workshop at the Center for Sex Education (CENESEX) titled “Sexual Rights as Human Rights.” The facilitator was Dr. Alberto Roque. It was good. I learned a few things, reorganized a few ideas that I had floating around, and on more than one occasion I felt like I had become literate.

There are fake coins circulating in the streets of Havana. That’s not some metaphor, you understand. A while ago someone pointed it out to me. Coins valued at 1 CUC (about $1 USD) should now be checked whenever one receives change.

When I started studying Spanish grammar, way back when I was in elementary school, I didn’t even notice the romantic nature of the model verbs we used for learning how to conjugate all of the Spanish verb forms. These verbs were “to love,” “to fear” and to “leave.”

I’m rarely happy. But despite having gotten a tooth taken out, and even though I’m still under the influence of drugs, I’m pleased to have been attended by “Dr. K.” I’m writing about him not because he asked me to, but because I somehow find it satisfying to talk about the good work done by a specialist.

For a long time I didn’t thinking about death as a solution – and I’m not talking about just physical death, but the death of everything, even dreams. I didn’t think about any of that until I finished reading The Man Who Loved Dogs.

Above all, I realized that Cuba as a gay-friendly destination wouldn’t work like it does in Brazil or Argentina, not to mention France, the United States, Germany or Japan.

On page eight of this magazine on tourism in Cuba and the Caribbean, I came upon a headline that read “LGBT Tourism.” I was blown away, stunned, amazed. Plus there was this hyperlink for viewing related items.

Why do we always think that those who do something different are evil or sick? Why do we have to convince people to do the opposite – what we think is right?

A long time ago, years perhaps, toilet paper in Cuba ceased being a necessity and become a luxury for Cuban women. Someone took note of this and began producing a type called “Calidad Popular” (People’s Quality); that was the slogan printed on the wrapper.