Gabriella Flores-Jay comes from two ethnically diverse families that share similar and different stories in context with their stories of immigration. Born from Felipe and Wendy Flores-Jay, Gabriella, also known as Gaby, was raised in a predominantly male, Hispanic background. Her father was born and raised in Mexico, and her mother was born in the Dominican Republic. Her father started working at the age of five years old with his other siblings and had to constantly share clothes between the different age groups because his family at the time was far from affluent. They lived in a two-bedroom apartment with an aunt who worked in a factory while the other children worked to provide money for rent as well. Gabriella’s mother was born in the Dominican Republic, and lived a fairly average life with a steady income that came from living with her two parents. Unlike Felipe, who worked young and moved to America at the age of 24, Wendy moved to America when she was thirteen to start her high school career.
Both Wendy and Felipe’s first language was Spanish. They incorporated this part of their culture into their parenting, as Gaby and her siblings, although born in America, learned how to speak Spanish first. Gaby and her siblings were taught English in the school system in America, after her parents had already been established and accustomed to the American culture for years. Felipe moved to America at the age of twenty-four not having been to college; he moved to find job opportunities that would provide for him and his five brothers and sisters who had moved to America with him. His aunt stayed in Mexico, feeling as though she had already grown old enough to find comfort in the country she had lived in all her life. The Flores-Jay’s still sent money to their aunt whenever they could, seeing that respect and care for elders was a strong ideal built into the Mexican culture. Wendy lived with her two sisters, and they travelled to America together to pursue a well-built education.
Felipe was born in Mexico in 1968 and Wendy was born in 1972. These differences in age and upbringing in two different geographical areas amounted to a chance meeting that could have only occurred by a force great enough to drive citizens from two relatively disjointed countries to pursue a common goal. In the case of Felipe and Wendy, this cause was the pursuit of a better life due to economic troubles befalling both of their nations. Though, there were very big differences in the economy between Mexico in the and the Dominican Republic in the eighties and nineties, both economies were affected by the impact of decisions made by the nation that Wendy and Felipe would find themselves (and each other) eventually emigrating to.
At the time when Felipe was in the process of migrating from Mexico in 1992, the nation was beginning to recover from its worst recession since the great depression. The Mexican government was suffering from what was known throughout Latin America as the “lost decade” where many Latin American nations had taken on large amounts of foreign debt (much of it coming from the United States) in order to industrialize their country and build infrastructure. The hope was that the prices of their natural resources (in Mexico’s case, oil) would support the required debt payments. When countries began raising interest rates and lowering commodity prices, the debts became larger than Mexico could afford to pay. With soaring national debt and rampant inflation, the nation experienced a wave of citizens exiting the nation towards the United States in order to provide themselves with a better life.
Wendy’s situation in the Dominican Republic, was not too dissimilar from Felipe’s in Mexico, however there were a few dynamics that made the situation different. Though not a major producer of oil, the Dominican Republic was a major exporter of sugar. One of the issues, however, was the fact that its major export buying the sugar was the United States. As interest rates increased and sugar consumption in the United States decreased, similar economic pressure was put on the Dominican Republic as their interest rates would increase as the revenue from their commodities would decrease. This was particularly important given the large percentage of Dominicans working in agriculture. Because of all this, Wendy’s family brought her to the United States when she was 13 years old in order for her to obtain a High School education in the country as a foundation for her future.
Gaby was born in America, as the second oldest in her family. She is currently nineteen years old, and has an eighteen-year-old brother, a nine-year-old brother, and a recently deceased brother who would be turning twenty-three this year. Gabriella was raised in the Bronx in a highly Mexican/Dominican neighborhood. She was used to moving around to different houses and boroughs often, as well as the adoption of multiple siblings. The desire to provide a home for children who needed it was always implanted in the hearts of both of Gaby’s parents. Wendy grew up with a total of four adopted siblings from all different backgrounds (from Caucasian to Latin American). Recalling the fact that Felipe had been exposed to a difficult childhood, Filipe continued the tradition when he and Wendy adopted a young girl to be raised alongside Gabby and her two brothers. The parents did not want other children to experience the difficult childhood that they had to endure and made it their mission to provide a refuge for the defenseless.
The Flores-Jay extended family’s makeup was largely symbolic of the mix of populations currently residing in New York at the time the Felipe and Wendy moved to America. Where the earlier decades saw influxes of immigrants from Europe and the former Soviet Union, the 80’s into the early 90’s saw a significant swing towards immigration from South America and Latin America. In fact, the Dominican Republic and Mexico were 2 of the top 3 nations (with China being number 2) where the majority of New York’s immigrant populations hailed from. Indeed, the mix of the various races just in the household of Gaby’s youth provided her with the ability to gain perspectives simply form the various members of her family. This melting pot nurtured and cultivated Gaby’s personality and helped her stay grounded as she approached the most challenging time of her life.
Gaby was raised in the Bronx, but moved to many different boroughs throughout New York City, such as Queens, Manhattan (specifically Harlem), and other locations such as Yonkers. Traveling to different areas in New York became a norm after Gaby received the devastating news that Wendy and Felipe would be getting a divorce. It was during this time that Gaby struggled the most with her identity, trying to find a balance between who she was versus who her families wanted her to be. Being Mexica, Dominican, and American provided a lot of confusion for Gaby in deciding which parts of her culture she resonated with most.
Throughout the time where Gaby was dealing with the aftermath of her parents’ divorce, Gaby was searching for meaning in her life as well as a way to cope with and understand her parent’s decision to separate. Her journey led her to a number of dark places emotionally as confusion began to convert into resentment and manifested itself into outright defiance. Gaby’s frustration over having to now split time shuttling between her mother’s new home in Queens and her father’s place in the Bronx led to a see saw of parental preference that swayed back and forth. The separation began to take its toll on the family, especially due to the number of adopted siblings and relatives who were so sensitive to witnessing family turmoil. To them, the instability forced many of them to relive some of the feelings of abandonment they had felt prior to being added into this wonderful extended family. At this point Gaby’s feelings of frustration began to focus around her mother who had recently began distancing herself from many of the friends and family, including the tight knit church community the group was a part of. All of these sudden changes began to culminate into constant conflicts between Gaby and her mother. As the clashes became more and more frequent, Gaby, out of frustration, decided to look to her close friends and members of her church community for guidance. It was at this point that Gaby decided to begin studying the bible in order to learn more about God as well as herself. Learning about the extent of God’s love and the plan for her life and well-being, Gaby began shifting her focus from highlighting the ways others were driving her conflicts to begin working on the one person she could actually change, herself. Because of this, Gaby was eventually baptized and began to follow God, which brought her a greater sense of peace. Seeing her daughters example and willingness to better herself, Wendy was moved to the point that she returned to her church and began to mend her relationship with Gaby and rebuilt a friendship with Felipe. Though her parents have not re-married, they now have a better relationship not only with Gaby but also with each other.
Gabby’s multi-national background and immigrant roots seem to give her a greater capacity to relate to different cultures and gravitate to various new pursuits. This is particularly true of her love of media. She is an avid listener of Korean Pop music and loves watching Japanese anime. She relishes when she is mistaken for being of Asian decent (due to her unique bone structure) “I love it when people confuse me for being Japanese”. She has even begun to teach herself to speak Korean, adding to her already bilingual background. Because of her growing up having to relate to multiple identities (Mexican, Dominican and American), she is able to fit into nearly any cultural setting and relate to various groups with relative ease.
Gabriella Flores-Jay’s story is a rich tapestry of various cultures coming together to develop a well-rounded, caring and greatly understanding individual. Only with the opportunity of a better life and the possibility of immigration that her wonderful story of vibrant story could come to fruition.
Comments