In the summer of 1979, an 8 year old boy named Juan Jose Rodriguez stepped into a new city with the smell of pretzels and loud crowds.

He left behind a peaceful comfortable life in Chapinero Bogota with his family and all of a sudden his world became unrecognizable. 

Little did JuanJo know how much his life was going to change. 

After getting off the plane, JuanJo’s dad, Jose Gabriel, hugged him strongly and told him “This is where our dreams begin kiddo.”

JuanJo saw how much was going on: people rushing, signs in English he couldn’t understand, it was all so different from his usual way of life.

New York City was not what he imagined.

JuanJo’s new home was in a neighborhood called Jackson Heights, Queens. The whole area was completely packed up into tight little homes with fire escapes and the same color brick buildings each time.

Juanjo began to ask himself why they had to move here, but saw how comfortable his mom looked moving here and began to calm himself

Little did he know his mom was thinking to herself the exact same thing.

A few weeks passed and it was time for JuanJo’s first school day at The Elmhurst School.

He felt confident he was going to leave a good impression: he had his nice shirt on, he practiced his name in English, he felt ready. 

But this didn’t happen, the kids saw him and started laughing at how he looked and spoke. He didn’t know what they were saying but knew it wasn’t good

Then, lunch came for little old JuanJo. He didnt get a table, he had to stand with his food alone: The arepas and sancocho his mom always made him growing up.

He looked around the lunch area: sandwiches, chips, chocolate milk, it was all different from him and something changed in him.

He closed his lunchbox and lost all his appetite.

Late after school on the walk back home, JuanJo stops mid way after seeing something he never imagined: a Colombian bakery.

He stood there shocked. He saw stacks of freshly made pan de bonos, arepas in the corner, and a nice smell of guanabana.

Looking thru the window, he saw an older lady smiling and laughing… at her Spanish speaking radio.

Just by the bakery there was a small supermarket: La Tienda Latina. He saw people like him all around with their mango paletas. 

He looks to his right in shock. A church had a bulletin board all in Spanish announcements. “Misa en Español Sabados 6pm” Mass in Spanish Saturdays 6pm.  

JuanJo realized lots of people came to this city and found out how to bring there old life to this new one.

That night, JuanJo saw his dad’s work clothes and materials laid all across the table. 

Jose Gabriel began working a night shift at a coat factory on Northern Boulevard. His smell was strong and not in a good way. In Colombia, he engineered and built bridges all across the nation 

In the United States, he sewed coats for 12 hours a day.

One day after school, JuanJo went looking for a soccer ball he couldnt find and ended up searching in a secret room connected to his parents. 

He saw stacks of shoe boxes on top of each other but something else caught his eyes: his dad’s university degrees from La Javeriana, one of the best schools.

It looked like something dad wanted to leave behind.

Right before bed, he knew he had to ask his mom about the degrees. He waited, and silence.

She then mustered up the confidence to tell him “Your father is the smartest person I know, and soon this entire country will know too.” 

Juan Jo couldnt sleep under the sheets that night. He slept with his dads old work and dreamt about it too.

Even at school things started looking better. A boy in a red shirt with a monkey named Derek constantly told JuanJo he didn’t belong and wouldn’t let him play.

It was very difficult for JuanJo to handle it but he started taking his time thinking. He thought of his dad and his mom moving here and knew what to do and say.

“I belong here just fine” and just like that he started walking away.

One night after school, JuanJo gets home and his family is watching the TV. The news person is talking about a recent change in Queens

He noticed who was getting blamed for everything. Newcomers. He had heard of that word before and it didnt feel good and he started to understand what was happening

He wasn’t going to let this story go.

JuanJo knew what the newsman was saying on tv wasn’t right, JuanJo is the one that actually lives through everything  in queens!

Every morning, he would see his neighbors working to make the city better, street sweeping, graffiti removal, even his mom setting up clothes  and food drives for the church.

Despite this his people were still getting blamed!