Into the World:
The Random Thoughts in My Mind

It is rather perplexing that so many countries around the world is mourning the death of Fidel Castro.  Yes, it is indeed true that he looms large as a political personality, with an oversized role on the frontline of Cold War-era, pan-Latin American, and even global anti-Americanism disproportionate to the small size of the island country he governed.  But that oversized role cannot compensate for the dismal conditions of modern-day Cuba, a country mired in economic crises despite strong performance on the social welfare, healthcare, and educational fronts.

"You know, after you guys delivered the inputs out here to your shop.  Another big NGO came to the village officials asking if they can open a shop here to sell inputs like you guys," the local agricultural officer nonchalantly mentioned as he chatted away with the program staff on a rather not-so-busy afternoon, "apparently the village officials told them they already have your shop, so they can go somewhere else for their own shop-opening."  With that, the agricultural officer threw a sly smile at the program staff, not willing to explain further the process of the village officials' decision-making.

在著者爲組織運營的小店旁邊有一個販賣盜版DVD的商家。每天從清晨到傍晚，門前的一個巨型音響會將店内正在播放的任何DVD傳播到整個村裏。在這裏，這種DVD店非常常見。 若干月前，著者也談到它們正成爲把韓劇帶入當地人民的視野 。它們巨大的聲音給平靜的農村生活帶來一些色彩，也同時讓無電視、無網絡的農民間接的瞭解外面的世界。甚至可以説，當地農民的世界觀被這些店面銷售的DVD決定，而在他們無法走出農村的現實下，對外面世界的好奇心在某種意義上被滿足。