Elisa's Latinx Journal

PRLS 2105

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Before Night Falls

The story told in Before Night Falls is one that describes the life story of Reinaldo Arena, and the hardships he faced through his journey as a young boy in Cuba, to a grown man in NYC. The story of his journey is particularly intriguing because it is one of shock as it describes events and experiences in Cuba during a time when no one knew what was really occurring there. Arena’s tone throughout describing his experiences varies and can sometimes be of more reminiscent than anything else. While Arena reflects on some experiences that may seem morbid or traumatizing, he does so in a way that assures the reader that he did not regret or fall victim to his hardships and very different upbringing. Reading his story made me feel sadness for him, that his youth was filled with poverty and many different instances of sexual abuse and the violent encounters his faced during his time in communist Cuba. A large part of Arena’s story included sexuality, and his own curiosities he dealt with on an island that viewed homosexuality as a disgrace. Arena reflects on an experience that made him aware of this view on homosexuality while a student La Pantoja when two boys were caught performing sexual acts together: “Their comrades were supposed to come from their lodging ands and throw stones at them and beat them up. It was a sinister expulsion because it also included a dossier that would follow each person for the rest of his life and would bar him admission to any other state school… and I realized being a “faggot” in Cuba was one of the worst disasters that could ever happen to anyone” (Arenas, 48). Homophobia was a very deeply grounded issue in Cuba at the time Arena was living through, and in fact had worsened during the Cuban Revolution. Fidel Castro coming into power brought about increasing levels of homophobia within Cuba as stated in previous articles: “Homosexuality is revolutionary in Cuba: not because it is at the vanguard of political thought and action, not because it embodies the ideals of regime, but because it has become, all too closely, bound to the image, especially abroad, of the revolution itself” (Epps, 231). Arena’s story illustrates the interrelation of dissidence, homosexuality and literature because he found himself fighting against a government and state that was against all three. The Cuban government was fearful of literature as it could expose its faults. The Cuban government under Castro’s control had become severely aggressive towards homosexuals as Arena has exposed: “The Castro regime, in other words, regarded women, along with homosexuals, as inferior beings”, (Arena, 151). Arena had become a writer whose work reflected these corrupt and horrid foundations of this very government. Arena’s literature was a direct example of dissent against the government under Castro and its grasp on homophobia. Unfortunately, Arena’s expression through literature and homosexuality led him down a torturous path. After his imprisonment for which he had suffered terrible conditions, he fled and was in exile. The trauma experienced by Arena were those of which I cannot imagine ever surviving. The effects he endured from this exile were extreme: “In exile one is nothing but a ghost, the shadow of someone who never achieves full reality. I ceased to exist when I went into exile; I started to run away from myself,” (Arena, 303). I mentioned earlier how I felt sad reading Arena’s story; however, I also felt a sense of proudness for him that we able to make it through all he did and share his story of the corruption back in his homeland. While it is quite unfortunate to see his story was shared under such circumstances and which he succumbed to in the end, it’s important that stories like this is are exposed to the world. Arena’s goal to shed light on these horrors was met in my opinion, and it put so poetically into the most beautiful and saddening book. While much has been exposed regarding the Cuban government under Castro and the oppression of sexual minorities in the years to follow, change was still far away: “The

revolution’s very real struggle to stay afloat—in the face of one economic crisis after another, the dissolution of the socialist bloc, continued hostility from the United States, and the double-edged “solution” which is tourism—has inevitably kept issues such as gender, race, and sexuality on the back burner,” (Hutchison, 196). The stories Arena shares are those that many other individuals have experienced in Cuba under the same circumstances, and his writing reflects the strength and bravery it takes to survive such horrors and to risk one’s life to expose them.

Hutchison, Elizabeth Quay. “Women, Gender, and Sexuality in the Cuban Revolution: Conversations with Margaret Randall.” Radical history review 2020.136 (2020): 185–197. Web.

Epps, Brad. “Proper Conduct: Reinaldo Arenas, Fidel Castro, and the Politics of Homosexuality.” Journal of the History of Sexuality, vol. 6, no. 2, 1995, pp. 231–283. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3704123. Accessed 26 May 2021.

Arenas, Reinaldo. Before Night Falls: a Memoir. Penguin Books, 2020.

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Changes in Bushwick

Growing up in the neighborhood Bushwick in Brooklyn was completely different than the same neighborhood I see today. The amazing memories I have here in this exact neighborhood are so distant not because of the time that has passed, but the change that has occurred in that time. Over the years, the thriving Latino and minority culture has died out rapidly and the neighborhood that was once so familiar has turned into something of the foreign. This change that has occurred in Bushwick is the same change that has occurred in so many other neighborhoods in NYC over the years, and it’s all due to gentrification. Gentrification has become so common amongst NYC that many natives to neighborhoods have been forced out, including businesses and other facilities that once served the community. While gentrification has ultimately made my neighborhood a bit safer and brought new fun businesses to enjoy, it has also stripped the area of the culture that made this place feel like home. Many of the stores and restaurants I grew up shopping from or eating at have closed down, and the store fronts have been taken over by new businesses that many of the locals are unable to enjoy due to higher pricing. It has been heart wrenching to see so many of the local shops be closed down due to rent increase, as well as so many friends and family moving away. Many of my neighbors have moved away due to rent increase, and now the familiar faces I grew up seeing everyday have disappeared and have been replaced by people who come from other areas to check out the “East Williamsburg” neighborhood which is what sellers call Bushwick to make it sound more appealing to those able to afford the new rent pricing. I am fortunate enough to live in a building that is family owned and not have rent increase affect my family so much as it did for others. However, in being able to stay in the neighborhood that has been forced to change leaving so many of my fellow Latinos and minorities behind, I have also become a firsthand witness to what gentrification has done to the neighborhood. While so much has changed over such a small time, there are still some businesses and people that have been able to adapt to the rent increase and culture changes to Bushwick. A restaurant I grew up eating, and my parents grew up eating called La Isla has been able to make the best of this change in the neighborhood. La Isla has been around for over 50 years and is my favorite spot to go to for some found that is native to my tongue. The restaurant became a staple to the Latinos of Bushwick many years ago and continues to serve the community it’s delicious alcapurrias and pastellios today. I am grateful to be still be able to go this restaurant which is part of the Latino culture that raised me in this neighborhood.

Inside La Isla of Bushwick, Brooklyn:

Not only certain restaurants survived the gentrification of Bushwick, but so did the arts. Growing up I would always see so much beautiful artwork on a lot of buildings in the neighborhood. At time the time a lot of the artwork was done so illegally but now many of them are done by request or with permission. Nearby my building there is a painting of Bad Bunny, a Puerto Rican rapper who has become quite popular amongst the Latino music culture. Walking to the train I some mornings I see his picture and I’m reminded that some of the Latino culture in Bushwick is still surviving, and it makes me happy.

Bad Bunny Painting in Bushwick, Brooklyn:

So much has changed over the years in Bushwick, and unfortunately as rent increases all throughout NYC the change will continue. I hope that the surviving culture in Bushwick will continue to thrive enough to keep some familiarity in this neighborhood. While I appreciate the little good that gentrification has done to the neighborhood, I also resent how much it took from the minorities that resided here before.

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Growing Up in Bushwick

The older I get the more I reminisce of my past times as a child growing up. I think often of the countless memories made in the same neighborhood I live in today. Growing up in Bushwick of Brooklyn during the late 90s and early 2000s was quite eventful and I have so many joyous times to look back on. A lot of my family all resided in the same neighborhood, so I frequently spent time at a cousin’s house or we would all go over to my grandmother’s building. In that building, my grandparents resided on the second floor, my cousins from my dad’s side resided on the first floor, and my cousins from my mom’s side resided on the third floor. Every holiday, every summer, all the weekdays after school we would all gather at that building together as a family and create some of my most favorite memories. Back during this era of Bushwick, there was always so much going on outside. During the summer, the streets were always filled with sounds of kids’ laughter, salsa music playing, and men yelling at each other in Spanish at the bodega on the corner. Most summers I spent running around the neighborhood with my older cousins spending time at our favorite parks. This one park at the time was very dangerous but was my absolute favorite because it had a lot of sprinklers and my best friend lived across the street from it. The park was always packed in the summer, and I remember back in those days spending hours there running around, and then enjoying a nice piragua before the sun set and I had to run back home or to my grandma’s for curfew. Although the park has been renovated recently a few years ago and looks completely different, I still pass by form time to time and remember how much fun I would have there when it was still filled with the friendly faces of my fellow neighbors all sharing the same summer with me.

Linden Park

Growing up in Bushwick I don’t recall there being much art to look at which is ironic because it has become such a hot spot for art today. I like to think that the art was expressed through the people at the time, and the culture that pulsed through the streets surrounding me. I only remember a few murals, one of them being a beautiful design that was painted around the park behind a high school by my house. I remember when they first began painting the mural over 15 years ago, and everyone in the neighborhood was so excited that they would walk by and watch as the artists painted over the concrete wall under one the parks I used to go to often. That mural became quite a staple of our area for a while because it was so beautiful and vibrant. The mural still remains there today and has never been drawn over or ruined by other people spray painting which was rare in this neighborhood. I would see this mural often as I would walk by to get to my aunt’s house, and some days I pass by just to see the old park I would hang out at and the beautiful painting that reminds me of my childhood so much.

Bushwick High School Park

Where Bushwick lacked in the artistic beauty, the neighborhood thrived in communal traditions. Not a summer would go by that there weren’t fireworks being set off in the neighborhood. They would usually start going off once school ended, and you could hear them in the distance at night. As the time passed closer to the month of July, fireworks were going off almost every other day of the week. Then came one of my favorite times in the neighborhood- the 4th of July. Most people go see the fireworks in the city, but here in Bushwick it wasn’t necessary. I swear some summers the fireworks were more beautiful as I watched from my roof than those crazy big ones on television. On that night, everyone in the neighborhood was outside with their families, grilling and listening to music. Every block you went to there were kids in the streets lighting up rows of fireworks. Although it is illegal, watching fireworks in the neighborhood on that night will always be some of my favorite past times.

Fireworks in Bushwick on the 4th of July

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The House on Evergreen

I am second generation of my family here in the United States. My parents were both born here in the states to immigrant Latino parents. My mother, is the daughter of a Puerto Rican-native woman named Isa and My father, is the son of two Mexican-native individuals named Ignacio and Martha. My grandmother Isa was part of the huge wave of Puerto Ricans who migrated to here in New York during the 1950s. She settled down in an area of Bushwick known as Graham Avenue which became a heavily Puerto Rican populated area of Brooklyn. My grandparents Ignacio and Martha migrated here from Mexico in the late 1950s and originally settled down in South Bronx for a few years before relocating to Bushwick in Brooklyn. It was in Bushwick where my parents met in the early 1980s. It was also in Bushwick where they started a family, had and raised me, and to this day I reside in the same beloved neighborhood.

I frequently ask my parents about what is was like to live through those times in the neighborhood. Most of the time they are very reminiscent of how happy they were as children growing up in Bushwick. My mom reflects often on how close everyone was on her block, and how funny it was to say “hi” to nearly everyone she passed as she walked to school because her mom surely knew them in some way or form. She describes how the streets in the summer were filled with all the kids of the neighborhoods, searching for a way to spend their short-lived warm days before the Fall. My dad remembers taking turns with his brothers riding a bike all around the neighborhood. My parents describe how nice it was to grow up in the neighborhood because mostly everyone came from the same place: a place of poverty and eagerness to escape from some neglection back in another country, but hopefulness for a better life here in New York City. However, my parents do no only reflect on the joys of growing up in Brooklyn, but also remember how dangerous the neighborhood was, as were many in NYC back in that time. Back in the 80s, Bushwick was a bit dangerous and had high crime levels- something I surely witnessed low amounts of in my time growing up here. The high crime levels and plummeting economy made Bushwick an area consisting of land lots made vacant by burnt down buildings and cheap properties. My grandfather Ignacio took full advantage of this time and built his small family legacy by becoming one of the first Hispanic property owners in Bushwick.

When my grandfather arrived here in New York City, he worked very hard as a car mechanic scrambling for enough cash to bring his wife, my grandmother, over here from Mexico. After succeeding in getting her here, my grandfather continued to hustle and eventually made enough money to open his own auto shop. In doing this, he was able to purchase three different properties a few years later. Of the three properties he purchased, he and my grandmother resided in this one building on an avenue called Evergreen. That building later became my entire childhood, as well as many of my other family members.

Ignacio and Martha enjoying a meal in their home on Evergreen Avenue in Bushwick, Brooklyn circa 1972:

I have always called that apartment building a house because once my grandfather became the owner of it, he rented out each apartment to a family and the entire building became one big home. One of the apartments eventually went to an aunt from my mother’s side, so both sides of my family were always together in that house. That house held so many birthdays and holidays for the many years to come, and to this day my grandfather still resides there along with some other family members. I become filled with so much joy remembering all the wonderful memories in that house with my family and friends. My parents also reminisce of their own years of memories from that house on Evergreen, long before I came in the picture. That house became the center of our giant family here and will always be a huge influence in the culture I embraced as a Latina growing up in a little Brooklyn neighborhood called Bushwick.

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Racial Disparities during COVID-19 in NYC

I have lived in a neighborhood in Brooklyn called Bushwick my entire life, and this is where I was quarantined during the pandemic. Although Bushwick has become more gentrified over the years, there are still large amounts of areas that consist of predominantly Latino and African American individuals. When things began to worsen and the virus began to spread, unfortunately a lot of these predominantly Latino and African American areas were hit the hardest. Everyday my household was filled with sounds of ambulance sirens from outside. As I looked out the window I watched as the ambulances would stop in front of different buildings along my block everyday, all of which I knew many of the families that resided there. The virus ravaged it’s way through our neighborhood here in Bushwick, and had taken away so many of the neighbors I have known my whole life, and even my own family- all of whom were either Latino or Black. When I watched the news I noticed that the same thing was happening in other areas that were predominantly Latino and African American. Areas like the South of Bronx, the Heights in Manhattan, Jackson Heights in Queens and Corona, were showing extremely high numbers of positive COVID-19 tests and hospitalizations. Here is an image showing the differences of positive COVID-19 tests based on zip code:

Notice the areas with the darker shades of purple indicating higher positivity rates. Many of these areas are predominantly Latino and African American areas. So why was this occurring? And why weren’t other areas that consisted of less Latinos and African Americans doing as poorly as those that were? I have read so many articles and posts claiming that the causes of these positive tests disparities were due to these areas being more populated and compact. The articles claimed that most minorities resided in smaller living areas with more people residing in each living space making it harder for people to social distance and easier for the virus to spread. 

I thought about this disparity, and how it is true that many of these areas are heavily populated and consist of tighter and busier living spaces. But if these communities have been hit the hardest, then why is there a disparity now showing that people of color are being vaccinated at dramatically lower rates? Just on the news last week I saw that people were outraged that a vaccination site meant to serve a hard-hit Latino neighborhood in Washington Heights ended up serving more Whites from other areas. It’s interesting to me that this is occurring in many areas in NYC, and as a Latino myself I am fearful of more disparities that will continue to occur in relation to this pandemic.