Speaking of Yoani Sanchez, she has been named one of the Time 100, in the “heroes and pioneers” category. Is not this cyber age amazing? As Oscar Hijuelos of Mambo Kings’ fame points out in the profile, had she come of age before the internet, she would have lived in obscurity. Fortunately, she was not.
Here’s an excerpt:
More important, under the nose of a regime that has never tolerated dissent, Sánchez has practiced what paper-bound journalists in her country cannot: freedom of speech. The pieces she has been clandestinely sending out from Internet cafés—while posing as a tourist—are often funny, elegantly written and poignant. Her subjects have included the shortage of lemons, the turgid proceedings of the Cuban parliament and the slowness of meaningful reforms by Raúl Castro.
Full text here. And Hijuelos, “pugnacious,” “turgid”? C’mon you gotta love it.
Side note: don’t you think it was sensitive of Time to ask Hijuelos, a Cuban American himself, to write the blurb. Speaking of which, the phrasing of the last sentence, while true, sounds a bit odd.
…an island on the net without a bearded dictator
