Personal Narrative: My Life As A Puerto Rican American

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Puerto Rican American When I was thirteen years of age, my family and I boarded on a plane heading towards New York City. I was extremely upset about the move because I loved my school and was going to miss our house, and all of my friends in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. My mother seemed excited for my father’s interview and possible new job in the service industry at a restaurant that he got from his brother in law. My mother was also ecstatic to possibly start a career as well because she also said New York City is the city where dreams come true. My parents told me I had cousins in New York City and we were going to move in with them in Brooklyn. I felt a little better knowing I had other family there but they reminded me that I would like the schools much more and I would make…show more content…
I wanted to be like Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, and Ricky Martin; successful singers that are Puerto Rican as well. My plan was to be the first person in my family to get a college degree and I did; I have my Bachelor’s in Performing Arts from Juilliard. Soon after graduation, I met a special someone by the name of Vincent while working on Broadway for a play called West Side Story. Vincent was Italian and was curious about my culture and wanted to know if Puerto Ricans faced any consequences coming to New York. I explained to him that it was definitely a change but we were accepted. However, 25 percent of all Puerto Ricans are still living in poverty (Countries and Their Cultures, 2009). New York has proved to me that Puerto Rican assimilation has been a great success mixed with serious problems (Countries and Their Cultures, 2009). The main problem is that Puerto Ricans are the most economically disadvantaged Latino Group in the United States with problems such as crime, drug-use, and poor educational opportunity in Puerto Rican communities (Countries and Their Cultures,

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