Laura truly is a family person. While I hardly ever visit relatives to avoid being a burden for anyone, she takes extreme care of getting in touch with everyone and visiting them everytime she's in town. This time, finally, I came along for the ride. So for the past 3 days she's been dragging me across town, uptown and downtown, East and West of New York, to meet her relatives from both sides of her family.

From Jackson Heights and Queens to Washington Heights, to Brooklin and Coney Island, to so many places I had never been before in New York, although I used to spend summers as an intern in Manhattan and had mom undergo cancer treatment about an hour from downtown Manhattan.

Places where English is a second language, and Spanish evolves into a unique local dialect that combines accents and expressions from all over Latin America. Places where the Dominican flag is displayed in every corner and where stores have names of places back home and even the streets have dominican names...

I met kids who barely speak spanish, but have a big "Dominican Flavor" sign in their room and a stylish dominican flag as a backdrop on their portable playstation (psp) and pictures of places back home as screensavers in their computers.

But the most significant thing that has caught my attention is to meet kids on full scholarship, earning awards and opportunities on their own without their family pressuring them about the opportunities ahead, for they can see for themselves the results of their efforts.

Kids aware of the sacrifices their parents made to bring them here or to be here. Kids who know how it is back home and how no matter how much they would study or their parents worked hard, they would have very slim opportunities of accessing good quality education and becoming well recognized productive members of society in any field they would choose.

What is it that makes this kids behave in such a responsible way, when their parents are not necessarily formally educated people and when their parents are hardly home to boss them around and pressuring them into studying...?

They're 10, 12 years old and are already earning scholarships, awards and admission on advanced schools, programs and classes, while their parents sweat everyday in bodegas or do odd jobs across town...

My only guess is that they've been able to see how the system responds to their efforts and feel motivated by the certainty of a positive response to their efforts...