One of the best things about the web is the interactivity it provides. Because of comments there is a give and take between the authors and the readers, and that is refreshing. But it also has its drawbacks. Because the topics covered here may be polarizing and controversial it may attract cranks, Castro apologists, propagandists, etc. Some readers may be well intentioned but don’t realize that this is not their forum it is ours.
In previous incarnations of this site, we’ve been plagued by folks leaving comments that want to parse every single word, take offense to any perceived slight and refuse to accept clarifications or corrections to their assertions.
If you disagree with the opinions expressed on this site and are not satisfied by the response the authors offer to your questions or comments, please do yourself a favor and just be satisfied with knowing in your heart that you are right.
Some general guidelines about comments:
Anonymous comments are not accepted. It’s too easy for the cranks too simply “hit and run”. Disallowing anonymous comments has greatly reduced the amount of destructive comments we receive.
Comments that mischaracterize statements made by the blog authors will not be published.
Comments that quote official Cuban government sources and try to pass them off as factual will not be published.
Comments that use Wikipedia as a source will not be published. Wikipedia is only slightly more reliable and factual than the Cuban government.
Comments that attack this site, its authors, or the friends of its authors will not be published.
Excessively long comments will not be published.
A second set of comments to a post by readers who have previously commented on that post and had their comments addressed by the author may or may not be published at our discretion. If the conversation is productive and progressing, in our opinion, they will be posted. If the comments are redundant and overly nit-picky, for the sake of creating a false controversy, they will not be published.
We have been accused of being against free speech, of being hypocrites because we moderate comments in this way. You can rest assured that nobody is violating your rights to free speech when your comment is rejected.
The primary mission of this site is to provide a venue for our authors to express their opinions; as a result we always reserve the right to get in the last word. Comments are complementary to this site not vital to it.
You always have the option of emailing your comments if you want to have a serious discussion, off the record.
For a Christmas gift, I would recommend two books by Armando Simon: 1) A Cuban From Kansas, and, 2) The Only Red Star I Liked Was a Starfish. They are a collection of short stories.
We’d love for you to check out our new book KILLING MY CUBA, paperback and ebook versions available on Amazon. This historical fiction novel covers life in Cuba 1949-1961. The main character is Doctor Luis Barreras, a Havana hematologist, who tries to practice medicine and raise a family under two brutal dictators. The book has strong characters, drama, suspense, romance, and comedy. It’s a must-read for our current political times. Our website is KillingMyCuba.com. The coauthors are L & L Meier.
Thank you guys for the membership.
I recently wrote a piece on Splice Today on Reinaldo Arenas, Cuban poet and author of the memoir Before Night Falls who died 32 years ago this month. I hope you guys and the rest of the Babalu readership enjoy it.
The piece is called “The Unpardonable Sins of Reinaldo Arenas”; here it is: https://www.splicetoday.com/writing/the-unpardonable-sins-of-reinaldo-arenas
Thank you very much,
–AR
Thanks for sharing!
My pleasure. Thank you for posting.
Arenas, despite being an openly homosexual and very talented writer, was never embraced by foreign intellectuals or academics because he was also openly anti-Castro. It would have been fine if he’d been graphically open about his sex life, like the photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, but his politics were just too “incorrect,” despite the fact he’d acquired them the hard way, via persecution, harassment and abuse.
See also https://babalublog.com/2018/10/07/reinaldo-arenas-and-the-truth/
If you are going to mention Kundera, you must also recommend his wonderful book., The Joke. This one is so apropos of what is going on today in the U.S. and we are not supposed to be a Communist country.
I love this book. Read it and see if you do.