An old proverb says that, when God denies you children, the devil comes along and gives you nephews – and this so that one may experience the joy of children, human beings who, many a time, see things more clearly than adults, plagued as we are by fears and the traumas of our education.
Read MoreThe carnival area has been reduced considerably because half of the broad ocean drive has been blocked off and fitted with grand stands, where, for a price, you can watch the floats, masquerades or any other artistic attraction, enjoying the show away from the boisterous crowds that populate Cuba’s carnivals.
Read MoreThe review and discussion of Cuba’s draft labor bill began in July and will continue until the month of October at all workplaces around the country. Organized by the union sections, these discussions are aimed at gathering the opinions, suggestions, and all items which the workers feel should be added or removed from the document, before it is debated and approved by the National Assembly.
Read More“Every time I’d defend the Cuban revolution, people would retort: if you like it so much, why don’t you go live in Cuba?” Spanish actor Willy Toledo tells me, adding: “now that I’ve actually moved to Cuba, they’re going crazy, because there’s nothing they can say to me anymore.”
Read MoreI don’t have any personal experience with what it means to have a disability, nor would I ever want to. I’ve been sick a few times and I’ve had surgery more than once, requiring the care and attention of my family members, but these were all situations that I knew wouldn’t last for more than a couple months, nothing like being incapacitated permanently.
Read MoreIn one of the scenes of Coriolanus, a film based on Shakespeare’s tragedy of the same name, a Roman general chastises the people for being devoid of honor and for having opinions that change with the winds.
Read MoreOsvaldo Dorticos Torrado was the last president of the Republic of Cuba, the title for the nation’s highest authority used in the five constitutions Cubans ratified up to 1976, when the sixth constitution – the first openly declaring the country’s socialist system – was approved. We know nothing of how Dortico’s conscience fared in the legal limbo Cuba fell into, and has yet to come out of, since the triumph of the revolution.
Read MoreOne of my neighbors is a fan of horror flicks (and doesn’t really like or watch any other kinds of films). She is married to a man who works in construction, the father of her three and seven-year-old girls. She lives so close to my apartment that, when she yells at her kids, I can hear everything she says clearly, as though she were inside my room.
Read MoreRecently I was walking on the platform at a subway station. I didn’t knock into anyone, nor did I ask anyone to move. I just put myself in the queue, like all the other worker bees. Taking one’s disability on the road, especially on the transit system, is an experience not for the weak of heart. (No pun intended; apologies to my friends with heart conditions.).
Read MoreOwing to the Cuban government’s long-standing policy of excluding the public from decision-making processes, many will likely say: “I don’t care what they finally approve. I’m indifferent to everything this government does.” This is a serious mistake…
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