Rice and Beans & Everything In-Between: One Puerto Rican's introverted observations from an otherwise extroverted life!

"Rice and Beans & Everything One Puerto Rican's introverted observations from an otherwise extroverted life!" is a memoir of growing up in a Puerto Rican household in the Bronx. Some of my recollections are tragic, others comical, and at times some tragically comical! As with many families, I witnessed and participated and even contributed to my family being dysfunctional. What's so different about my life story? Well, I don't think most people have had their mother ask her husband to go to the corner bodega to buy plantains (platanos) and find out that he decided to leave for Puerto Rico with his friends AND show up in Puerto Rico with the plantains in hand! At least he followed through! Or find out that my own parents have been keeping a forty seven year old secret to themselves that they vowed to take with them to the grave! I've even seen family members pour urine in a baby's ear to stop an earache which is described in a chapter under the title "Cause it's Witchcraft, simply Witchcraft!" "Rice and Beans . . . . ." recalls many stories like the plantain story plus other observations such as growing up during the Star Wars 70's, Crack 80's, and some adulthood issues such as being a parent, all while trying to figure out what a Puerto Rican man should be.To my knowledge, I have not seen too many memoirs from men let alone Latin men. As a Nuyorican, as some of us here in New York are referred to, we (macho men that we are) don't usually like to express our thoughts and feelings. For me, this memoir was therapeutic, enlightening, and after stepping back and analyzing my adventures, just plain funny!I am a father of two, married twenty years ( I got married at the age of twenty), and was one of those career changers who decided to teach after working for a huge company (Time Warner). I earned my undergrad degree (Corporate Communications) while attending classes at night and received my Masters Degree in Teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) soon after. I teach at a Middle School in Westchester County, New York and have not looked back!