Aug '08 - Jun '10
So I'm back from Cuba--it was a hellish final day. Food poisoning, lost my passport (got inside the US Interests Building after all). What a way to begin, eh? I say it was worth it.
Stemming from my thesis, I was paying close attention to the appearance of tanks around the city. These vestiges of the Revolution carry multiple meanings for me. On the surface, they are symbols which remind one that the Revolution is still in progress--though the tank treads will never turn again. I liken it to Castro's beard, which symbolizes his time in the Sierras. Apparently his beard is thinning out.
4 Comments
Next post.
sorry I don't have a photo but there was a tank parked on the UBC campus all week... a whole military encampment in fact... and all weekend there was explosions and machine gun fire... Hollywood North strikes again, transforming our chameleon campus... sometimes I go to school in Smallville, sometimes on Caprica, sometimes my library is the California Medical Services building... but walking through a war zone this week was actually really creepy, sort of like the time I took a walk to the beach and found a plane wreck only to discover it was also a movie set, craziness!
anyway, I remember experiencing the same shrugging Cuban apathy when I was there... but you gotta remember that over half the population has only known life under Castro and when you don't have very much control over your life you tend not to understand the empowering potential of change, but only its negative implications... I was there in 2006 just before Fidel went into the hospital and never regained power, I'm really curious if and how it's changed today and how things will shake down in the future... nice photos, the art schools were totally surreal, a great example of revolutionary utopianism!
looking forward to Hawaii nam?
Courtney, amazing. I wouldn't have expected to get a confirmation of a tank in a North American university--but of course it is for the screen. War and Cinema...
I'm not sure how things have changed since Castro went into the hospital. I heard some people talk about how Raul is trying to crack down on government corruption, prostitution, petty theft, etc. But is that still going on rampantly? I got the sense that it is...
I meant nice post.
I expect your blog will be an amazing one throughout your year's adventures.
I guess i typoed.
Also, will you just be using Archinect blog, or are you creating a thesis blog to?
Block this user
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
Archinect
This is your first comment on Archinect. Your comment will be visible once approved.