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Puerto Ricans, the most bicultural of Hispanics, androgynous Americans,
born U.S. citizens, but born boricua, too.
You can hear it in the voice of Robert Andino, 41. His soft, near-exact
English, yet he left Puerto Rico just a year ago.
Andino had worked 15 years with a telephone company in the city
of Bayamon. He had never even thought of moving away from his country.
Then his boys grew to their teens, crime and shootings soared, jobs
dried up. The future did, too.
"We used to think 'Should we go out? Is it safe?' " Andino
says.
He and wife, Arlene, vacationed in Palm Beach County in the spring
of 2004, visiting friends who lived here. "We loved the peace
and quiet, the lack of stress," Andino says.
"Tranquilidad," adds Arlene, understanding the English
conversation, answering in Spanish.
Arlene's taking English classes at night and looking for an office
job. Robert easily found a job at a company where the demand for
Spanish is great, he says. He's since gone to work for the county
parks service.
The couple and their three children live in a small apartment just
across from Park Vista High School in suburban Boynton Beach. Near
parks and plazas. Near peace.
Robert plays the cuatro, a stringed instrument of Puerto Rico,
akin to a guitar. He and son Christian play with the Puerto Rican
Cultural Society and at church functions.
Arlene, too, sings in the coro at church. "How do you say
that in English?" he asks.
Chorus.
"That's it. Chorus," he says. Near perfect.
When he first arrived, Andino didn't meet many Puerto Ricans, he
said. Now he's meeting more.
Of course, he has other Hispanic friends. Mexicans. Hondurans.
Some without citizenship or residency rights or hardly any rights
at all.
Not lucky like Andino to have been born both boricua (Puerto Rican)
and American.
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