Newly arrived from Cuba, Angelica, Dora, Marina, and Damaris attempted to negotiate new surroundings and immigrant identities, building a sense of home for themselves and their families. Data from qualitative interviews, classroom observations, and focus group conversations revealed hopes that by acquiring English language skills, they would improve their quality of life in their new country. Struggles included personal factors situated in their pasts in Cuba and their new surrounds in the Miami Cuban exile enclave, contexts that were further complicated by uncertain expectations of new lives in Miami and the overwhelming task of learning a new language at a local adult education center.
Discusses the themes of subjectivity and sexual, racial, and cultural identity in literature by LGBT Cuban authors, with particular focus given to the short stories "Piazza Margana" by Calvert Casey and "La más prohibida des todas" by Sonia Rivera-Valdés. The exiled status of the authors and its influence on their work is examined, and the different experiences of Cuban gay men and lesbians are explored.