ABSTRACT
The flight attendant let out an icy scream of terror when she noticed a pair of hefty jueyes, native Puerto Rican land crabs, strutting down the center aisle of the plane. It was one of those infamous red-eye flights from San Juan to New York, filled to the last seat with Puerto Ricans from all walks of life, while the panicky flight attendant has the look of a stereotypical white-bread gringa, “angelical and innocent, a frigid blond like Kim Novak in her days as a frigid blond.” What is this, a prank, or a hijacking? Who are these terrorist jueyes? The hysteria spread to the rest of the crew, and to the passengers, though among the boricuas there is an underlying but pervasive giggle, that familiar jocularity laced with irony that Puerto Ricans call jaibería, or “el arte de bregar,” the art of dealing with the situation.1 The stage is set for a dramatic cultural collision.
