A family tragedy sends the Corchados from Mexico to California, searching for greener pastures. Upon arrival, that’s hardly what they find, but some years later, a deal involving a 1978 Camaro sets the oldest son on a path to unlikely success.
Today we revisit the story of renowned journalist and outstanding storyteller, Alfredo Corchado, with a present-day update at the end.
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Alfredo Corchado is a multi-award-winning journalist and the 2026 recipient of the I.F. Stone medal for journalistic independence. He is the Executive Director of Puente News Collaborative and the author of Midnight in Mexico, a memoir about his childhood and his journalism career in Mexico, and of Homelands about the history of Mexican-American migration and the guest worker program that brought his family here. Alfredo is at work on a third book about the U.S.-Mexico border. He was a 2009 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, and he recently completed this moving tribute to his father, who passed away in March – if you enjoyed Alfredo’s story, you might really enjoy this too!
Thanks to the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard for introducing me to Alfredo, and to then-Curator, Ann-Marie Lipinski, and then-Deputy Curator, James Geary, for hiring me to direct Alfredo's story and many other Nieman stories for the stage.
Big thanks, as always, to my team:
Vix Jensen: Associate Producer Extraordinaire, Aviva Barry: Indispensable Intern, Paul Dreux Smith: Music maker, mixer, and soul mate, Heather Kitching: Viral reel maker, Jen Alevizos, Volunteer Project Manager & new friend.
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