Changing Cuba

In over a half century since Cuba's 1959 revolution, relations between the U.S. and Cuba have yet to reach an equilibrium. President Trump's new regulations began to undo the eased restrictions President Obama put in place only a few years ago. US relations with Cuba also were compromised when State Department representatives began to suffer dizziness, hearing loss, and even brain damage similar to a concussion. By 2018, investigations indicated Russia, which has maintained a major presence in Cuba, had been using something like microwave bombardments to cause these injuries in order to undermine any attempt to move the US and Cuba closer together.

     Nonetheless, Cuba is changing. Modern cars now join the familiar U.S. luxury cars of the 1950s Cubans have managed to keep running without imported parts. Sister Jeannine Gramick rode in a new air conditioned Chinese tourist bus, when she and members of the Rainbow World Fund participated in Havana's International Day (May 17, 2017) against Homophobia and Transphobia.

     Sister Jeannine, who has served a ministry of gay Catholics since 1971 and served as executive coordinator of the National Coalition of American Nuns since 2003, notes alterations to Cuba's constitution in 1992 stipulate the country as secular, rather than atheistic. Decades of atheism have, however, reduced both the number of practicing Catholics and the use of sacred symbols and images in Cuba's art and ceramic crafts.

     Mariela Castro, daughter of Cuba's President Raul Castro, credits eased religious discrimination, lifted restrictions on religious displays, and tax exemptions for property owned by religious organizations to Baptist pastor, Rev. Raul Suarez, founder of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center in Old Havana.

     Among other positive developments Sister Jeannine mentioned are:

• Cuba's 99% literacy rate
• Free universal health care in clinics, hospitals, and rehabilitation centers. Money does enable richer patients to receive faster and better care.
• A UNESCO-designated sustainable community, the Sierra del Rosario Biosphere Reserve
• Acceptance of LGBT and HIV/AIDS citizens and same-sex unions

Big problems do remain: A one-party system, no freedom of expression, business transactions controlled by the government and military.

(Also see the earlier post, "Changes to US-Cuban Relationships.")

   

Car Companies Match Colors to Country Moods

Automobile companies don't throw darts at color wheels to choose the shades to paint new cars. They turn to BASF (Badische Anilin und Soda Fabrik) to spot the global trends and regional differences they match with the German company's technical ability to mix pigments and create new coatings. Looking ahead to 2018, BASF expects blue to be a hot color in the North American market. Not only is it calming, but it reflects a growing need to be connected to others and a community.

     Paul Czornij, head of design at BASF's Color Excellence Group, sees dual forces pulling at drivers in the global market and finds color shifting metallics an excellent way to express conflict. Metallic blues capture the tension between a car owner's emphasis on authentic self-expression and a fascination with the virtual world.

    In 2016,  BASF travelers in North America picked up a can-do, no-excuse determination to master the complex challenges of change. They considered combining two or more colors with metallics as a way to reflect this attitude and developed:

• Raingarden: Like a multipurpose smartphone serving as secretary, personal trainer, and medical monitor, this coating enables a soft metallic silver to appear subtly bluish or greenish depending on a viewer's angle.
• Primordial soup: Instead of a vague greenish-brown, Czornij connected primordial soup with the movie, music, and other personal preferences at the heart of an individual. Heart as seen by BASF colorists equals a deep, blood red color.
• Aerialist wish: A black which is silvery and mysterious is designed to capture the life young artists, designers, musicians, and professionals are bringing back to once undesirable downtown city centers.

     In Europe, black and deep red and green hues address a driver's need to hang onto a traditional identity and experience while trying to adapt to digital progress.

     In contrast, fresh light colors reflect the Asian-Pacific market's confidence in the future and traditional elegance. A sand beige metallic color and playful blue-greens are used to reveal optimism.

     Look at what you choose to wear today. What do the colors say about your mood?