Reinaldo Arenas

Reinaldo Arenas, author of Before Night Falls, portrays the political, social, and intellectual struggles he had to endure both in Cuba and in the United States. As a teenager in Holguín, Arenas experienced how the current political activity in Fidel Castro’s attempt to overthrow Fulgencio Batista affected their Christmas. Arenas declares although he loved to hear his grandfather mention the topic of Christmas, in 1957, he did not mention it. Arenas discusses that, “[i]t was only the ‘the Bloody Christmas,’ as Bohemia magazine described it, because of the numerous political murders that the government committed that month” (39). Arenas then proceeds to mention how, “most of the dead were those killed by Batista’s henchmen – students; members…

Reinaldo Arenas was a Cuban poet and novelist. He was born in Cuba on July 16, 1943. While working at the Biblioteca Nacional José Martí, his literary craftsmanship was noticed and he was awarded prizes at Cirilo Villaverde National. By 1967, his openly gay lifestyle and writings brought him to a disaccord with the communist Cuban government. Consequently, Reinaldo was imprisoned in 1974 for ideological deviation and for publishing abroad without consent. He successfully escaped from prison…

The outcomes of being untrue are always the same. In “The Glass Tower” by Reinaldo Arenas, Alfredo, the main character, escapes his native country and currently lives in Miami. Tirelessly he goes to endless parties in his honor while being unable to write a story involving characters that beg him to write them down. Alfredo attends a big party where his characters, floating in his head, appear to come alive and do as they please. Alfredo’s identity is lacking and ungenuine due to his struggle…

JingJing Zhu Dr. Terrones Expository Writing 20 7 Oct. 2015 Mona: The Simultaneous Emotions of Denial and Horror while Coping with AIDS Elisa, the psychotic and sexually promiscuous murderer of the short story written by Reinaldo Arenas, represents more than just the archetypal villain. In particular, Elisa’s transition from being a lover to a murderer is a suspenseful plot twist; however, this transition is itself a peculiar shift in direction for the story. This caricature change does…

Falls is a biopic that chronicles Reinaldo Arenas’ life in Cuba as a writer and a homosexual. Arenas was an important figure not only for his achievements in his literature but also for his dissident homosexuality. He felt that being who he was as a gay in Cuba was a form of social protest. Arenas dealt with a lot of repression while living in Cuba. Through the portrayal of Reinaldo Arenas by his actor Javier Bardem and through the use of Johnny Depp’s two characters, Before Night Falls shows…

city’s urban community and its arena is correlated to their economic and political power (Schimmel, 2006, p.161,) of that city and its sports team(s). This article has practical importance because this article brings awareness to broad audiences that the addition or renovations of sports stadiums can be beneficial for a city; nevertheless, it is more beneficial for those within the affluent communities while it has dire and costly consequences for those living in the surrounding urban…

Growing up in Kentucky, a love for Kentucky basketball comes naturally. Will Davis has been a die-hard fan since he was just a baby. He loved Kentucky basketball more than anything, it was his life. Nothing made him happier than Kentucky winning, and nothing hurt him worse when they lost. He watched every game with his dad. When he was just a young boy, he vowed that he would one day wear those eight letters across his chest and play in front of the 23,000 rowdy Kentucky fanatics in Rupp…

Shakespeare establishes an outsider in several of his plays, and whether certain groups are considered to be “in” or “out”. The displays this theme by Othello being a general of color living in Venice that has to balance out being a moor and a Venetian. Othello shows various times in the play signs of difficulties that he has while he tries to balance those two things out. He is put into situations that call out characteristics from both personas that affect the way he communicates with various…

Now Those Are Some Expensive Socks Mark Cuban is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks. He also owns a plethora of businesses such as Landmark Theaters and Magnolia Pictures. As a personality, he is likely best known for his role as an investor on the television show "Shark Tank." Cuban is also a multi-billionaire and can buy pretty much whatever he wants. Even so, $250,000 is a lot to spend on socks. To be fair, the investment was not for a single pair of high-end golden footies, but for a 20…

On October 31st of this year, at the Mercedes Benz Arena in Berlin, two teams will be competing against one another as a horde of at least seventeen thousand spectators rally from across the globe to support their respective teams. What could they be going to see you ask? Only what can be arguably seen as the largest e-sport event of the year, the League of Legends World Championship finals. E-sports have finally come to a point where they’re not something to be taken lightly or scoffed at the…