Puerto Rican Culture: A Small Window

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

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

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