The best of our Bloggers Meetings

Photo: Claudio Fuentes Madam

Yesterday, Wednesday, January 8, we held our blogger meeting without any difficulty except that Yoani’s phone mysteriously stopped working at noon. The presentation this time was enlivened by Reinaldo Escobar of the blog Desde Aqui [From Here] who, with his never failing and off-the-wall sense of humor, several times made me laugh until I cried. Among other themes, we talked about freedom within the blog, but what I liked the most were the selections that Reinaldo used as illustrations during his presentation. Here are a few:

Clarification: The source of the obscure metaphor, below, is Comrade Fidel

Examples of double meanings:

Tell Manolo that Roberto has the books he wants
(who wants what?)
They spoke with Maria about their affairs
(the affairs of whom?)
The strength that victory brought was notable
(victory brought him more strength, or was it the strength that allowed him to obtain victory?)

Example of obscure metaphors:

(…) after lives offered up and so many sacrifices defending sovereignty and justice, one cannot offer Cuba the other shore of capitalism.

It’s not clear if they are offering capitalism to Cuba from another shore to lead it astray from the right path or, if, on reaching the anticipated shore, oh! surprise! there’s someone there offering capitalism. In our historical context “the other shore” is Miami, and so to use the term the other shore to refer to the end of the road causes confusion. On the other hand, we use shore to refer to the periphery of an area, not for the ends of a line.

Example of a presumptuous reference:

(For a recipe for fried rice) "the tomatoes here exceed, not in the ontological sense that Heidegger might give it, but because of the inconsistency that Schopenhauer might imply"

Example of a humiliating clarification:

He turned on the faucet by putting his hand on the handle and giving it a slight turn to the left.

Example of unnecessary detour:

What I want to say, without offending anyone and without my words awakening any sensitivity among my hosts, who have given me the most conscientious attention, perhaps greater than my humble person deserves, is that, despite the pleasantness of the evening, I’m tired.