Articles of Culture

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Flavor and Tradition: Spinach

unnamed

A reader asks me for recipes with spinach, those that the cartoonist Elzie Crisler Segar made so fashionable in 1929, with his character Popeye, one of the most characteristic and popular in animated films. For the advertising of canned spinach, Popeye, among other things, showed off his strength. Many of those who comb gray hair will remember him.

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Cuba faces violence and silence in social media

mujeres violencia

On Sunday, September 13, going viral on social media were condemnations of the verbal violence suffered by poet Teresa Melo, sociologist Mariela Castro and journalist Paquita Armas, who were attacked for their political positions and statements supporting the Cuban Revolution and the country’s institutionality.

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Benedetti, compañero and friend

Fidel Bennedetti

No, one, except perhaps a few infected with the virus of envy and mediocrity, question the poetic stature, the narrative depth (La tregua, Montevideanos and Gracias por el fuego, among other titles) or the brilliance of the essays of Mario Benedetti, the writer from Uruguay, or better, Our America, whose life we celebrated September 14.

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May Cuban ballet continue to crown our nation

Alicia Vieng say

Viengsay Valdés, director of the National Ballet of Cuba, dedicated the Léonide Massine Positano Dance Prize, as the Best Ballerina on the international stage, to Havana City Historian Dr. Eusebio Leal Spengler, during an online ceremony held September 5. “This is my personal and professional tribute to one of country’s our eminent figures.

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Racism in Cuban music?

chucho valdes

The history of music in Cuba has been profoundly marked by mestizaje since the nationality’s very conception, in close communion with the war against Spanish colonialism. The birth of nationalist, pro-independence sentiment was anti-colonialist, and anti-racist by implication and in principle. Is it possible to label as racist a Revolution that had as its political foundation the abolition of slavery?

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Uneac 1961, a difficult birth

Fidel intelectuales

President Miguel Díaz-Canel tweeted his congratulations to the Union of Cuban Writers and Artists on the occasion of the organization’s anniversary. I treasure unforgettable memories of meetings with its members that left me with valuable learnings, experiences, and perspectives

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I am not an independent intellectual: El pensador (The Thinker), by Marcelo Pogolotti

pensador marcelopogolloti

We human beings are animals with opinions. Some internal force drives us to vehemently assert what we consider to be truths – something that would appear natural if not for one simple detail: to date, no human has demonstrated that he or she has the absolute truth about anything. A few days ago, I went out for a walk and someone said to me, “Wow, that was a really good article you published.

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Haven of the Cuban Pre-Hispanic Heritage

Antropologia la Habana

Haven to the works of outstanding men of sciences of Cuba like Luis Montané Darde, Carlos de la Torre, René Herrera Fritot, Ramón Dacal Moure and Manuel Rivero de La Calle, the Montané Anthropological Museum at the School of Biology of the University of Havana reopened its doors in December 2019 after the completion of repair works in the building.

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The celebrated “like” in defining times

cartel cultura cuba miami

There was a time when leaving or staying in Cuba was considered a political decision. Going to Miami, or ending up there, instead of some other city in another country, was something that in many minds acquired importance. But it was practically impossible for a Cuban artist to continue his career in Miami without paying political tribute to the anti-Fidel.

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Sexual diversity in cinema

cine diversidad sexual

While sexual diversity is present in contemporary filmmaking without the stigmas that once condemned it, the road to achieving freedom of expression has been long and tortuous. Cinema itself, conditioned by prejudice, has from the beginning opposed any sexual manifestation that was not considered “correct”.