Being
a part of
In the Heights illuminates the differences that Hispanic
people encounter depending not only on where they reside when they come to the
US but also how their families decide to acclimate. During the 1950’s when my
father came from Puerto Rico to go to medical school in upstate New York, he
was eager to shed any image of himself as “ethnic” or Hispanic. He wanted to
integrate into mainstream American life. My only exposure to his culture was
when we visited family once or twice a year in Puerto Rico throughout my
childhood. Most of my relatives there were eager to speak English (my
grandparents were both English teachers in their hometown) and so my siblings
and I didn’t become fluent in Spanish. At the time, this distancing was a more
comfortable approach for my father. I think as time has passed, he’s realized
that we all would have been better off embracing his roots more. Indeed as he
gets older his desire to return to PR seems to grow! I often lament not having
more enrichment of the culture as people in the Heights do. -Janice
Rivera, (Camila Rosario)
Being
a part of In the Heights illuminates the differences that Hispanic
people encounter depending not only on where they reside when they come to the
US but also how their families decide to acclimate. During the 1950’s when my
father came from Puerto Rico to go to medical school in upstate New York, he
was eager to shed any image of himself as “ethnic” or Hispanic. He wanted to
integrate into mainstream American life. My only exposure to his culture was
when we visited family once or twice a year in Puerto Rico throughout my
childhood. Most of my relatives there were eager to speak English (my
grandparents were both English teachers in their hometown) and so my siblings
and I didn’t become fluent in Spanish. At the time, this distancing was a more
comfortable approach for my father. I think as time has passed, he’s realized
that we all would have been better off embracing his roots more. Indeed as he
gets older his desire to return to PR seems to grow! I often lament not having
more enrichment of the culture as people in the Heights do. -Janice
Rivera, (Camila Rosario)
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