Diaries

We must first respect ourselves

The need to take care of the environment is constantly reported on in the media. Programs are featured on climatic change and what we are calling for at the world level to stop the degradation that we have all caused to mother earth. But there’s a big difference between what’s being said and what’s being done.

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Whoa…Scary!

A specter is haunting the streets of the city but, unlike in the last century, it’s not that of communism. It is a phantasm – one that makes the hair on the back of your neck bristle, or gives you goose bumps; or makes you feel like someone’s watching you, but when you turn to look, no one’s there.

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The Bratz in Cuba

In Cuba the Bratz have grown in popularity. With the airs of clueless teens and the bodies of adult women, they sport oversized sunglasses and earrings, wear thin gold chains and costume jewelry, and prance around in their miniskirts or shorts complete with their accessorized fake-leather handbags.

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Havana Scenes (III)

Cubans are ever-increasingly breaking the silence barrier and expressing their collective disquiet. I was a recent witness on a packed bus when a collective burst of laughter signaled the approval of a politically risqué account that an old man tossed out.

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The Customer Isn’t Always Right

The factors at play against providing good service to the public are as varied as they are questionable. These range from the lack of competitive markets (Cubans, in any case, have to shop at stores that are essentially the same) to a system of distorted and an “inverted social pyramid” [where those with the least skills are on top].

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What Was and Isn’t…

The question “Do you remember?” is a phrase heard every day by Cubans. It’s almost common place to describe some event or production that no longer is, like being in front of a store window displaying items you can’t buy with the currency you earn.

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