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Searching for an American Dream
Cow Lives in Brooklyn
By Marty Torres

This is Grandma Vaca today (with Grandma Yaya). This is a tree frog called a coqui, native to Puerto Rico.

        My family members come or came from Puerto Rico. My grandparents are not immigrants; they are migrants. ( My grandparents are migrants because Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of the United States of America). In 1923 my grandma (on my dad's side) and great- grandparents lived in central Puerto Rico. There they had a little amount of money. My Grandma Vaca (A.K.A. Maria Torres) was 16 at the time. My family and ancestors heard about America in stories from news and friends. From the stories they thought America was great (and it is). They gathered the little money they had and took the next boat to America. To get to America from Puerto Rico it only took an hour and 45 minutes! They landed in Miami, Florida and then drove north to live in Brooklyn, New York.

      They had enough money to rent a house for a while so my family could find permanent jobs.My grandmother has been living in the same house since she was 16. She completed her studies and worked as a preschool teacher and later as the school's director. She married my grandfather, Martin Torres Sr. in the 1960's. His family had migrated to New York decades earlier. They made a home and raised a family (my dad, Martin, Jr. and my Aunt Yvette) in Brooklyn.   In 1990 my grandfather died in of lung cancer. I always see my grandma every Thursday.

     That is the story how my grandma came to America. I named this story “ A Cow Lives in Brooklyn” because I call my Grandma Vaca (my oldest cousin gave her that nickname) which means "cow". My grandma is still in Brooklyn and still often says, "God Bless America".

This is a montage of my family that I made.

This is another cousin of mine in a Fire Engine Museum.

The Story Of Grandma Yaya

My mother’s side side of the family is also from Puerto Rico. When she came to America in March of 1957, my grandma, Velma Ivette Rivera, was 21-years-old. She took a flight from Puerto Rico. Back then, a flight from Puerto Rico to New York lasted 4-5 hours.

Luckily, when my grandmother arrived she knew English. (She tells me that school children in Puerto Rico were required to learn English). The purpose of her trip was to see relatives, to learn about people from different nations (so many different groups live in NYC), and to finish college. In Puerto Rico she had received a good education but had not finished college.

My grandmother found that America lived up to her expectations, except, in New York people rushed too much. Life was difficult for my grandma in her first few years in New York City. She brought money from Puerto Rico for expenses but it took some time before she found a steady job. The winter weather was harsh sometimes, and my grandmother was not used to the climate.

My grandmother decided to stay because she had settled with her new family. She lived with her brother, sister, and aunt in an apartment in Manhattan before she got married. In the mid 1960’s she got a job with New York City's Department of Human Resources, where she worked as a supervisor until she retired 35 years later. Sometimes my grandmother would wonder about Puerto Rico and would feel sad. Over the years, she went to church regularly but especially when she was feeling upset. She missed Puerto Rico.

My grandma says that she would have never met my grandfather, William Santos, if she had stayed in Puerto Rico. My grandfather had been living in New York City since he arrived from Puerto Rico at the age of 17. Grandfather (“Papa”) and Grandmother “Yaya” married and had three children (my uncle Felix, my aunt Catalina, and my mom Mayra). They raised their family in Brooklyn and later moved to Queens, where I now live.

Sometimes Yaya still gets homesick. She still keeps in touch with her family through phone calls and trips to Puerto Rico. Grandma Yaya lives with my family. She shares wonderful stories, traditions, and memories about her “Isla Del Encanto” (Island of Enchantment).

Click here to read my children's story

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This is Grandma Vaca today (with Grandma Yaya).	This is a tree frog called a coqui, native to Puerto Rico.