Puerto Rican Culture: A Small Window

1547 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Puerto rico culture summary

A Small Window

My window into Puerto Rican culture is through the Jimeniez family. We spoke on a sunny Saturday afternoon over some cheeseburgers. The Jimeniez family has just purchased a very nice, two-story house in an upper middle class neighborhood; they are in the process of moving in. Humberto, the head of the family, is a friend and fellow paramedic ive known for some years. He lives in his new home with his wife Janice, and young daughter Jaidy. They moved to Florida for Puerto Rico in 2011, after his wife got a job as the Physician for the Alachua County Jail. Having known Humberto for some years, some of their backstory came as a surprise to me. They are very well adjusted to life in Florida, so much so I wouldn’t have known they …show more content…

I quickly realized that while I was hoping for some specific answers, the answer is necessarily complicated. As I watched Humberto struggle to define being Puerto Rican I empathized with him. I am not sure I could define what being a Floridian meant to me. What Humberto described as being the best part of being Puerto Rican is the gateway it provides to the life in the continental United States. As I listened to what being Puerto Rican meant to Huberto I realized he was saying that being Puerto Rican was being an American, his wife Janice seemed to agree. In fact they went on to describe a lot of their modern culture as very similar to life in the States. Their popular culture is our popular culture. One thing both Humberto and Janice noted, was how beautiful their Island is. Both of them had a wistful gaze as if they could see through time and space, and were staring at the clear blue waters rolling up onto shore, or hear the ocean breeze blowing through the palm leaves. While they identify as Puerto Rican/Americans, it was clear in speaking with them Florida is not really …show more content…

So much so, our conversation about jobs actually began as a discussion of politics. Humberto relates, “When I was 18 years old, I was very deep into politics with the mayor of our town.” “Frequently I would be invited to his house to have dinner, he is super wealthy.” He then relates a story of how one night while having dinner with the Mayor; he was presented with a job opportunity. Humberto said, “the Mayor pulled out a pack of papers and said just sign here on the X. Then go tomorrow at 8 in the morning, take this packet to the Puerto Rico Electric Port Authority and you will have a job.” Humberto said he turned down the offer, the work did not appeal to him. He went on to express regret at passing up that opportunity. He explains he would have been making $35 dollars an hour starting pay. He says had he taken that job he would have likely stayed in Puerto Rico. Ultimately, he’s happy with his decision, because it brought him to his current life with his wife and daughter. Job opportunities in Puerto Rico are predominately government positions. The majority of jobs are either in the Army, Fire Department, Police, Corrections Officer, or Paramedic. Although there are other jobs available from American businesses, like working for Hewlett Packard, or Baxter pharmaceuticals, the impression I got was they weren’t desirable or plentiful. It is unclear exactly why these jobs are undesirable outside of a statement

Show More
Related

  • Struggles of a Dominican American Family

    859 Words  | 2 Pages

    Junot Diaz is Dominican American, and he came from a very poor family with five other siblings. Since they were not that wealthy, they lived in a simple way. Even though his mother was basically the bread winner of the family since his father could not keep a job, she still manages to send money back home every six months or so. When they got home from their vacation, they had found out that someone has broken into their house and stole most of his mother’s money. It was easy for them to be a target because they were recent immigrant, and in their neighborhood cars and apartment were always getting jacked. His mother was very upset; she blamed her children, because she thought it was their friends who had done such a thing. “We kids knew where

    Read More

  • A Partial Remembrance Of A Puerto Rican Childhood Summary

    895 Words  | 2 Pages

    #1.The thesis in “A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood” by Judith Ortiz Cofer is that because of the stories her grandmother told every afternoon when she was a child, her writing was heavily influenced and she learned what it was like to be a ‘Puerto Rican woman’. The thesis of the selection is stated in the first and last sentence of the second paragraph: “It was on these rockers that my mother, her sisters, and my grandmother sat on these afternoons of my childhood to tell their stories, teaching each other, and my cousin and me, what it was like to be a woman, more specifically, a Puerto Rican woman . . . And they told cuentos, the morality and cautionary tales told by the women in our family for generations: stories that became

    Read More

  • Puerto Rican Identity and Spanish Colonial Rule

    1399 Words  | 3 Pages

    The debate on Puerto Rican Identity is a hot bed of controversy, especially in today’s society where American colonialism dominates most of the island’s governmental and economic policies. The country wrestles with the strong influence of its present day colonizers, while it adamantly tries to retain aspects of the legacy of Spanish colonialism. Despite America’s presence, Puerto Ricans maintain what is arguably their own cultural identity which seems largely based on the influence of Spain mixed with customs that might have developed locally.

    Read More

  • Superstitions And Etiquette In Puerto Rico

    995 Words  | 2 Pages

    Puerto Rico is the neighbor to the south of Florida. There is a growing population of Puerto Ricans in the United States. There is also a large United States interest in Puerto Rico. It is important to understand the culture of our neighbor should the United States wish to continue a positive relationship as well as globalization. Understanding the superstitions and the proper business etiquette in Puerto Rico can serve as a glimpse into the culture of the island.

    Read More

  • The Benefits of the Statehood for Puerto Rico

    1814 Words  | 4 Pages

    The intention of this essay is to demonstrate to a vision rational, concordant political leader to the Puerto Rican, American and worldwide reality. It responds to the necessity that to the statehood it is necessary to imagine it and to expose it with all the evidence available, since many Puerto Ricans, including many political leaders, do not know like defending it or exposing it before the peculiar ones or our adversaries.

    Read More

  • The Impact of United States Rule on Puerto Rico

    2264 Words  | 5 Pages

    When the United States first took Puerto Rico from Spain, its plans concerning what to do with the island appeared to be noble. According to Fernandez, "The United States would resurrect Puerto Rico, like Lazurus, creating, in Senator Foraker?s words, ?a new era?a new life?and prosperity far exceeding any hopes that have been excited or any anticipations that have been entertained.?(Fernandez 2)" In other words, the United States viewed Puerto Rico as something that had to be saved, and claimed that their plan was to rescue it from its inferior status and improve the standard of living. Puerto Rico was to remain under the control of the U.S. until it was capable of taking care of itself. In the words of Trías-Monge:

    Read More

  • The Different Experience of Puerto Ricans' Migration to the United States

    1840 Words  | 4 Pages

    When Puerto Ricans migrated to the United States they did it in two major waves. The first wave of emigration occurred in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. The second wave occurred from the 1940s to the present. The workings of Bernando Vega and Jose Cruz deal with the different generations of Puerto Ricans that these two waves brought to the United States. While Vega discusses the early emigration of Puerto Ricans to New York City, Cruz discusses the later emigration of Puerto Ricans to Connecticut. Each author describes a different Puerto Rican experience in the United States. The experiences differed in most aspects; from the context in which each wave of emigration occurred to the type of politics that was practiced.

    Read More

  • Hard Lives in South Bronx depicted in The Boy Without a Flag

    2097 Words  | 5 Pages

    In this story, the reader can see exactly how, many Puerto Ricans feel when living on other grounds. Throughout this time, the boy that Rodriguez presents us realizes he has his culture and that he wants to preserve it as much as he can. “Because I’m Puerto Rican”. I ain’t no American. And I’m not a Yankee flag-waver”

    Read More

  • Latino Community Of Chelsea

    1539 Words  | 4 Pages

    Puerto Rico is a Commonwealth of the United States which makes it easy for natives to travel back and forth. Puerto Ricans first began to arrive in the United States to fill the work void left but those who went on to fight in World War I. Operation Bootstrap was a series of projects that attempted to turn Puerto Rico; a known agricultural economy to one that would concentrate on industrialization and tourism. Puerto Rico enticed many U.S companies with tax exemptions and differential rental rates on industrialized properties and so the shift in the economy had commenced. The shift however did not help the high unemployment rate on the island. Rather than having to deal with the droves of people seeking work they noticed the active recruitment of Puerto Rican workers by U.S. employers. The government began to encourage the departure of Puerto Ricans to the U.S. by requesting the Federal Aviation Administration to lower the airfares between Puerto Rico and the United States. This was an attempt to ch...

    Read More

  • Hispanic Culture

    982 Words  | 2 Pages

    Cultural value orientations are the, “basic and core beliefs of a culture; that have to deal with one’s relationship with one another and the world” (McCarty & Hattwick, 1992). All cultures may encounter challenges with the media and society of how their beliefs and values are represented. There are several factors that resemble how cultural values influence a culture, more specifically the Hispanic culture in Yuma, AZ. Some of those factors are, the expression of their individual and collective identity through communication, cultures identity expressed though the mass media channels, examples of the value orientations that influence the groups communications behaviors, and one of the major events that challenged Hispanics identities.

    Read More

  • Spanish Colonialism and Puerto Rican Identity

    1667 Words  | 4 Pages

    In order to understand the current situation of Puerto Ricans one must look at their history and retrace the sequence of events that led to the current formation of the Puerto Rican people. An important component of this history is the time Puerto Rico spent under Spanish rule. Studying this portion of Puerto Rican history forces us to acknowledge the contribution the Spaniards, European immigrants, and African slaves had on Puerto Rican identity as we consider it today. This also addresses contemporary debates on Puerto Rican identity. An example of this is evident in an essay written by Jose Luis Gonzales entitled "Puerto Rico : Th Four Storied Country". In the article Gonzales points out what he feels is a disregard toward the African contribution to the Puerto Rican identity. He argues that the first Puerto Ricans were black , based on his interpretation that Africans were the first group to come to Puerto Rico and reproduce who did not have ties to a "motherland" because they were slaves. This is unlike the Spaniard elites and Criolles that demonstrated their commitment and loyalty to Spain. Since they had no other place to go, Puerto Rico was their motherland. Gonzalez also points out that the culture of a region is always the culture of the elite, not the popular culture.

    Read More

  • Maria Full of Grace: United States Failing Global Expectations

    1186 Words  | 3 Pages

    Failing to find a positive opportunity for work, Maria’s next job is seemingly much worse in multiple ways. Maria gets offered enough money to hold her over for a long time in Colombia, by becoming a international narcotrafficker, even though it still “yields ve...

    Read More

  • The Workers By Richard Rodriguez Summary

    583 Words  | 2 Pages

    To begin with, the narrator happily took the job knowing that having a construction job will make his parents proud. “I would tell my father only after the summer was over, when I could announce after all, I did know what “real work” is like.” (Rodriguez 103) At the start of the story, the narrator begins to realize the diversity within the group of workers. “Carefully completing their work sheet; talking about the fortunes of local football teams; planning Las Vegas vacations; comparing the gas mileage of various makes of campers—they were not los probres my mother had spoken about.” (Rodriguez 104) Thinking that only los probres or the poor, worked menial jobs, the narrator soon realized that what his mother

    Read More

  • Coca Cola and Coco Frio

    1717 Words  | 4 Pages

    Every day , Puerto Rico is slowly adapting into the American way of life and is gradually losing what is left of their culture. Perhaps this is because Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of the United States. The poem “ Coca Cola and Coco Frio” by Martin Espada is a great example of someone who encounters the Americanized culture of Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is struggling to preserve their own identity.

    Read More

  • Cultural Issues In The Caribbean Essay

    750 Words  | 2 Pages

    As the Hispanic Caribbean has evolved it has managed to grow and thrive beyond belief, whether one is discussing art, music or just the culture alone the Hispanic Caribbean is truly reaping the benefits of allowing themselves to be influenced by many other cultures. While the Hispanic Caribbean is thriving they are still facing the many new found struggles that come along with the territory of becoming more affluent as well as more accepting to other cultures and their beliefs. Often with the growth of large proportions comes many problems, problems also can come about when incorporating of different cultures as a whole as well as just bringing in their beliefs and mannerisms. None the less it can be argued that the struggles being faced in

    Read More

More about Puerto Rican Culture: A Small Window

Open Document