Generation Bootstrap

A couple of days ago I received message from the director of a senior center in Cleveland Ohio who’s majority of residents are from Yauco. In an exchange of messages I happen to ask how many of her residents were from Yauco and her response was “ Wow so many that I believe Yauco has no residents of this generation left”. This simple message fueled me with a sense of urgency to finish my book. So intertwined is our history that I hear the echos of their stories humming the melodies of my history. These folks saw the birth of the colonial rule and U.S intervention that lead to the revolutions of the 1950’s they are the Bootstrap generation and I am one of their descendants. They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions and Operation Boostrap is one of those intentions. Disguised as a path for economic growth that lead my grandparents to chase the American Dream that took them further and further way from their beloved Yauco. I sit here and wonder if they found their American Dream because I know the price of admission was the loss of that paradise they left behind.