All posts by Arlene Ovalle-Child

About Arlene Ovalle-Child

Arlene Ovalle-Child grew up in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, a child of immigrants from the Dominican Republic. She attended Drew University, where she concentrated in both Physics and Spanish, then received her M.A. in Hispanic Studies from Boston College. She earned her doctorate at Boston University with a dissertation entitled Objetos de deseo en los cuentos de Silvina Ocampo. She is a member of the Modern Languages Department at Simmons University, where she teaches Spanish.

In the Heights

Photo probably taken at the park on 175th and Fort Washington, ca. 1990.

When the trailer for In the Heights was released in late 2019, I got flashbacks of my childhood and I couldn’t wait to watch it. I never got the opportunity to see the musical live, but I am drawn to anything about the neighborhood of Washington Heights in New York City, since it was the backdrop to my more recent family history: it’s where I spent my formative years and where my parents met and fell in love. Continue reading In the Heights