ACubanInlondon

The Royals No, not the baseball team, dear

One of the downsides, and there are many, is that this newfound love for the type of establishment that Prince Williams (and his dodgy uncle Andrew) represent, belies the true nature of contemporary Britain, especially in urban areas.
medium.com/zenite/the-r... #WritingCommunity #creativity #culture

Did you mean "peek"? 😊

Of Literature and Other Abstract Thoughts What prices rhythm?

This is the difference between a good and a bad #poem: #rhythm. An under-par poem sounds flat to me whichever way I read it. On the other hand, a poem with its own groove, jumps, skips and hops around.
medium.com/the-howling-... #WritingCommunity #creativity #culture #diversity #poetry #writing

Shooting London Autumn colours at Kew Gardens

I wanted to shoot the oranges, coppers, and golds @kewgardens1099.bsky.social is famous for. It had been some time since I’d seen the autumn display Kew likes to put on, though.
medium.com/full-frame/s... #photography #WritingCommunity #writing #creativity #culture #diversity #creativewriting

Is It Possible to Feel “Rooted” in a Cuisine That’s Not Yours? My love affair with Spanish food

Love for another culture’s food is not new or odd. Somehow, though, I also feel “rooted” in #Spanish #culinary output. That feeling grew tenfold this time around.
medium.com/rooted-publi... #WritingCommunity #foodwriting #food #culture #creativity #diversity #photography #foodwriter #creativewriting

Urban Diary Nature gets its way (again)

#Autumn’s soundtrack is #KarenDalton’s smoky voice. Its outlook, a seasonal crimson. Its sunsets, earlier and more dramatic.
medium.com/the-daily-cu... #WritingCommunity #photography #writing #creativewriting #creativity #culture #diversity #autumnlandscape #autumnal #autumnleaves #meditation #yoga

Urban Diary Parklife

What a strange figure he cut on this early autumn morning amongst the many runners, dog walkers, home-bound, late-night dishevelled revellers, and flat latte-holding #Hackney regulars.
medium.com/long-sweet-v... #WritingCommunity #London #creativity #culture #diversity #amwriting #creativewriting

Coffee, Reflections, and Music Big Brother’s televised revolution

We have disassociated ourselves so much from reality that we have ended up empowering corporations to build our personalities for us.
medium.com/writers-blok... #Facebook #Twitter #WritingCommunity #writing #creativity #culture #diversity #creativewriting #amwriting #writerslift #Instagram #TikTok

On Life’s Supporting Characters Where would we be without them?

People like my ex-classmate are the small, imperceptible details in our lives. They make no big splashes, and yet years later, we stumble upon their faces in an old, yellow photograph
medium.com/the-howling-... #WritingCommunity #creativity #culture #diversity #writing #amwriting #creativewriting

The Ground Beneath My Feet Barefoot in the Sierra Nevada

#Walking barefoot has a rich pedigree. From #hermits to #ascetics, many have chosen to forgo shoewear and opt for a simpler life, one in which #religion and #spirituality have often crossed paths.
medium.com/heart-revolu... #WritingCommunity #writing #creativity #culture #diversity #amwriting

The Return How I fell in love with La Alpujarra

So, what brings you to #Andalucía? The young immigration officer asked me once my plane had landed. I’m in love with your land, I answered; no hesitation in my voice whatsoever. We both had a giggle.
medium.com/globetrotter... #WritingCommunity #creativity #culture #diversity #Spain #writing #travel

Shooting London More random images of an urban nature

Pausing for a few minutes on either side of the bridge, I realised that the light hitting the river rendered it painting-like. The light was not very strong, but not so weak that one could label the day cloudy.
medium.com/full-frame/s... #WritingCommunity #photography #London #creativity #diversity

Walking the Capital Ring Crystal Palace to Streatham

Still, as the late #poet, Mary Oliver, once said: “If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy/don’t hesitate. Give in to it.” So, we did.
medium.com/globetrotter... #CapitalRing #writingcommunity #travel #photography #creativity #culture #diversity #walking #creativewriting #writers #poetry #London

Pieces of Me, Pieces of Havana The “solar habanero” (the Havana slum)

Ripples of laughter undulate in the windless, stifling heat, carrying the mirthful tones of the two women’s voices across each dwelling
medium.com/woodworkers-... #writing #creativewriting #WritingCommunity #Cuba #Havana #amwriting #creativity #culture #diversity #writerslift #memoir #autobiography

Coffee, Reflections, and Music Lessons the Boss taught me

It is at times like these, that I switch off and tune in to #theBoss and, like that man at the end of his working day, think of the “wreck on the highway”
acubaninlondon.medium.com/coffee-refle... #BruceSpringsteen #WritingCommunity #writing #creativity #diversity #culture #music #creativewriting

A River Runs Through All of Us Let its waters tell their own story

My #bicycle’s wheels get into a da DUM/da DUM/da DUM rhythm like one of #Shakespeare’s iambic pentameter-driven #sonnets.
medium.com/know-thyself... #WritingCommunity #creativity #culture #diversity #creativewriting #photography #amwriting #writerslift #London #RiverLea #cycling #bicyclelife

Watch out, England – you’re being Ulsterised | The Observer Flag-waving, patriotic spray-painting and men shimmying up lamp-posts. Why do I feel like I’ve been here before?

observer.co.uk/news/columni...

The Value of Simplicity Sometimes the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth can be surprisingly straightforward

In #Beale’s case, one of his choices was #Bach’s St Matthew Passion, one of the #German composer’s better-known works, and one in which a younger #Simon used to take part as a choirboy.
medium.com/the-daily-cu... #WritingCommunity #creativity #culture #diversity #creativewriting #amwriting #writers

I'm just listening to "Save Me" now. On You Tube, of course. 😆

The Most Important Lesson the River Thames Has Taught Me Just like its waters, life in London flows endlessly

Yet, over the years, I fell for #WilliamBlake’s flowing “charter’d #Thames” and a few days ago I joined a bunch of strangers belting out #TheClash’s line “I live by the river”
medium.com/globetrotter... #WritingCommunity #writing #creativity #culture #diversity #creativewriting #writers #writerslift

How to Find One’s Flow in the Midst of the Din And leave all distractions behind

Inspiration strikes more often when we’re off guard. When we allow in the stories that have been gnawing at us for a long time. Unfinished sentences suddenly take shape and our “writing voice” steers the ship safely to port.
medium.com/zenite/how-t... #WritingCommunity #creativity #culture #identity

Shooting London More random images of an urban nature

After many years living in the #BigSmoke I’ve begun to fall in love with the Thames. Last Saturday I saw it with the tide in and it looked ominous, but also beautiful.
medium.com/full-frame/s... #writingcommunity #photography #writing #creativity #diversity #culture #amwriting #creativewriting

As hundreds committed the offence of putting ink to cardb... Nurses, doctors, retired people and architects among 466 protesters arrested as terrorism suspects

"Many among the silent protesters in Parliament Square yesterday had to be asked if they were mobile enough to make the short walk to the police van."
observer.co.uk/news/nationa... #PalestineAction #Palestine #Gaza #MiddleEast #Palestinians #Palestinian

The Day the Music Died Yes, Don, you were also part of the cull

Variety was always the word on people’s lips whenever they were confronted by the hundreds of #CDs bulging out of my towers.
medium.com/the-narrativ... #WritingCommunity #music #writing #musicwriting #creativity #culture #diversity #amwriting #creativewriting #memoir #writerslift #writers #writer

Playing with Charcoal Pencils — Mario Lopez-Goicoechea Post by Mario Lopez-Goicoechea

I just published a new post on my #buymeacoffee
Playing with Charcoal Pencils
buymeacoffee.com/mariolopez/p... #WritingCommunity #writing #art #visualarts #creativewriting #creativity #culture #diversity #writerslift #amwriting #Cuban #Immigrant #Londoner #Londres #londinense #London

Coffee, Reflections, and Music — Mario Lopez-Goicoechea Post by Mario Lopez-Goicoechea

I just published a new post on my
#buymeacoffee
Coffee, Reflections, and Music
buymeacoffee.com/mariolopez/c... #WritingCommunity #writing #philosophy #creativit #culture #diversity #creativewriting #amwriting #writerslift #Cuban #Immigrant #Londoner #London #Londres #londinense

In Praise of Medium Editors The unsung heroines and heroes who make this platform the beautiful community it is

We love #writing. We love reading. And we love the fact that the more pieces we publish, the more we will be contributing to the craft of writing.
medium.com/writers-blok... #writingcommunity #creativity #culture #diversity #creativewriting #writerslift #selfimprovement #writers #writer #writinglife

Jazz and I My decades-old affair with this much-loved genre

There is a certain built-in philistinism in a teenager’s life. It is easier, however, to notice it in others than in yourself. Aged fifteen, I was exposed to #DizzyGillespie, #CharlieParker and #SonnyRollins
medium.com/the-howling-... #WritingCommunity #jazz #creativity #culture #creativewriting

Diary of a Cycling Instructor The crows ‘ave it! The crows ‘ave it!

Like a school of rainbow fish swimming together in a beautiful, synchronised way, the #cyclists — of different ages, body shapes, and complexions — disappeared
medium.com/woodworkers-... #WritingCommunity #cycling #photography #writing #creativity #culture #diversity #amwriting #creativewriting

Discovering “The Prince of Darkness” in 1980s Havana Ozzy Osbourne and my younger self

The #guitar riff. The #rhythm section. The #wail. #BlackSabbath arrived in my life in Year 10, along with booze and a curfew-challenging attitude.
medium.com/the-memoiris... #OzzyOsbourne #OzzyOsbourneForever #OzzyForever #Ozzy #WritingCommunity #writing #creativity #culture #diversity #heavymetal