I’ve just seen how a more than 20-year-old tree with medicinal properties has been thoughtlessly cut down. It was felled by a neighbor of mine who lives in an apartment bordering the common garden of a building on the well-known calle de Los Almendros (Almond Tree Street) in the Alamar community.
Just like everyone who wanted to be there, I went to the concert with the mental image of those cimarrones (fugitive slaves) that Aldo and B had always represented, and I didn’t expect anything like what occurred. Therefore, I wrote expressing my surprise with everything that was heard with my own ears and by those of others, as well as what I and others saw with our own eyes.
As a result of having spoken of Che with untruths and emptiness, he has been made a symbol for the great majority of adolescent Cubans. So now they wear his picture as a fashion statement, so as not to be outside the group, not for Guevarian ideals.
Cats —these beautiful, elegant, athletic and acrobatic creatures— cannot be tamed like other animals. They cannot be possessed; they coexist with you, and they possess spaces within the home that are their spaces, which they actively claim.
I found out about an unusual cinema-related event from a friend, but I didn’t imagine the whole creative charge would explode in just 60 seconds.
“Cinema in 60,” is a small-format exhibit that forces us to question the pretensions of feature and medium-length films, and which comes with all the creativity involved in producing on a shoe string.
In this way, he evidenced that they had accepted the conditions of the State so they would be guaranteed a trip that up to now they haven’t received. Could it be that they’ve begun to think about themselves? Then again, what human could resist the temptation that has passed by them so many times? It would be like refusing a lifesaver.
The great majority of those who have heard them in Cuba feel that the lyrics of their songs say what these listeners themselves dare not say openly concerning Cuban society and the political system. The musicians push their polemical aggressiveness to the limit of what the public arena allows.
“To those who have health, cheers! Cheers like the slaves used to say,” said a smiling gentleman, greeting me back in January upon the arrival of the new year. He’s a retired doctor, the father of a friend.
When other Cubans hear me say I work in handicrafts, their faces immediately light up. They exclaim, “Ah! So you don’t have any problems then, you’re economically secure.” That always leaves me staggered because it doesn’t reflect reality.
Today their outfits are accessorized with Nike caps or designer shoes – even white, black or red headsets for their MP3s. They struggle to get on the bus squeezing their way within the crowd; or they can be found seated enjoying a movie at the cinema.