Consuming and creating art

Radiolab borrows a story from Radio Ambulante, the podcast founded and produced by Daniel Alarcón, author of the novel At Night We Walk in Circles. The episode, reported by Luis Trelles, is about a group of Cuban punk rockers called Los Frikis who, in the late 80’s, began to inject themselves with HIV positive blood so that they would be sent to live in sanatoriums that existed largely outside the control of the communist regime. Although Los Frikis weren’t writers in the traditional sense, they sacrificed their lives to be able to consume and create art–at once a chilling protest and a metaphor for the irrationality of youth.