Arnaldo Cordero Román earned his PhD in Comparative Literature at the University of Maryland, College Park after having attained a BA/MA in Hispanic Studies at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras. Since 1999, he has been teaching at Stockton and is now Associate Professor of Spanish. His research fuses photography and literature. The Climb, a composed image, is from his series Imágenes del Quijote, a photographic essay that portrays literary reflections from Don Quijote, el caballero de la triste figura.