Another Kind of Connection, When the Internet is ReWiring our Brains

Update: Click here to sign up for the tour

The March 2009 issue of The Sun has an interview with Nicholas Carr, the guy who wrote the cover story in last July’s issue of The Atlantic: “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”

Whoa, you say. But Carr has an interesting argument: “As we increasingly connect with the world through computer screens, we’re removing ourselves from direct contact with nature. In other words, we’re learning to substitute symbols of reality for reality itself.”

Hmmm … kinda reminds me of those virtual flowers and martinis on Facebook.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love to connect via Facebook … and Twitter … but like Carr, I think it’s good to have some balance. I’m leading the We Media tour to Little Havana so we can all have an old-school, “off-the-grid” type experience in a real-life, non-virtual neighborhood of Miami.

Sure, you can go to the NY Times and see a video of the Cuba Tobacco Cigar Factory where I’ll take you. But the video will never capture the real ambience of the place … or what it feels like to watch a cigar being made before your eyes. The video doesn’t allow you to hold raw tobacco leaf, or a cigar made of dark and light tobacco and shaped with a pointy tip — nor does it allow you to sit at the domino table and learn how to play the game Cuban-style, with your tasty cafecito to sip on.

Nope. Gotta be there in person.

And yeah, the Molina Art Gallery has a Website and you can check out the photos of Molina’s paintings without having to visit. But that’s really different from meeting Molina himself and having him explain the symbolic meanings of his paintings. His site doesn’t show you his studio, or let you take in the smell of paint, or let you see a work in progress.

I could show you lots of online reviews (all positive) of El Exquisito, the Cuban restaurant where we’ll dine. But only in person can you taste the ropa vieja, wash it down with an ice-cold beer, and relax in good ole conversation (no text, no IM) face-to-face with others you just met via We Media. And the owner Juan will stop by and welcome you, make sure you’re enjoying yourself, and remind you that you are most definitely not in a chain store.

Marisol dancing at Little Havana

And who says you have to be a “tourist”? You can connect in ways even local Miamians don’t do, since this is a Magic City … a place with a lot of secrets. We’ll take you across the street and up the narrow staircase to the site of an old theater, which now is a large space with a wooden dance floor, mirrors and paintings hanging from ropes dangling from the ceiling. One of the most accomplished Afro-Cuban dancers in the world (still a hidden gem of Miami, since she’s been here for less than a year), will expose you to the sacred dances of the secretive religion of Santeria.

Sure, now you can find Santeros on Facebook and entire online communities for people in “the religion,” plus lots of Afro-Cuban dance videos on YouTube. But when you can actually hear the rustle of a skirt as it whooshes inches from your face, and feel the energy from the dancer, and are entranced by the sensual dance of rumba (the root of salsa): that’s the stuff that gives you goosebumps.

You don’t even have to be a passive audience member, watching like someone standing and selecting songs from their ipod. No, you have an extra hour when you can do two things: learn Cuban dance moves, or chill with a drink or a cigar (or both) next door, at a new cultural center.

Stay at the studio, and you can learn how to move that body of yours to the rhythm, and feel it in your bones, and hear the music without having to put any headphones in your ears. You can learn from Marisol, who will show you how to move and let you learn in a way not possible via an educational video on YouTube or anywhere else.

Walk next door to the cultural center, and you can relax in a courtyard with an oasis of flowers, or sit by the authentic tables that were saved from a former jazz club in Havana, Cuba — a favorite hangout of Humphrey Bogart. Have a drink, smoke a cigar and try out some Spanish! Plus, you might get some work — the manager (who speaks English) wants to digitize his entire library of valuable Cuban books and documents.

In a truly connected society, we are not connected to each other merely through technology, but we remember and respect the way to honor ourselves and others through the art of conversation, good music, good food, and yes, good dance.

I hope you’ll join me on February 25th for a night to remember.

Corinna Moebius, your Tour Guide
www.bordercross.com