Saturday, September 5, 2015

Giving Life to a Park

Giving Life to a Park / Regina Coyula
Posted on September 5, 2015

We are receiving with curiosity and joy teaspoons of internet fro wi-fi
points in different cities of the country; here in Havana, the most
widespread of these points is located on La Rampa, the heart of the city.

Beyond the adrenaline that many feel on connecting with the world for
the first time, and those who come to these zones as if they were true
digital natives, all that happens on La Rampa, with a wireless signal
from the Malecon to the corner of the Coppelia ice cream stand at 23rd
and L, does not have the conditions for comfortable navigation.

It has become part of the landscape to see every kind of person (most of
them young), sitting on some stairs, leaning against a doorway, avoiding
the sun under a scrawny tree, or defiantely challenging the sun and
defying the cars, positioned on the curb with their feet in the street
and absorbed in their mobile device. It is a rare sight to see that
technological overcrowding in the shadows, which in now way embellishes
the landscape.

The idea occurs to me of giving them the use of the park built on the
corner occupied by the Alaska Building at 23rd and M, demolished for
security reasons, but not so much the security of its residents as that
of Fidel, from when he went almost daily to the ICRT studios for those
interminable Roundtable shows that nobody misses.

This park, unlike the one located at Galiano and San Rafael where
another important connection point operates, knows neither the
scampering of children nor furtive kisses, now that no one will plot an
attack from its heights, it should be offered to the internauts as a
comfortable and secure zone, this vindicating its condition, giving it
life and meaning.

Source: Giving Life to a Park / Regina Coyula | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/giving-life-to-a-park-regina-coyula/

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