Issue date: 10/17/09 Section: Arts

Bart Simpson, Bugs Bunny and Spider Man are teachers, too. Just ask their favorite student, bilingual journalist and author Pablo Jaime Sáinz.

"What Mexican kid in the 1980s didn't grow up watching American cartoons on Mexican television channels?" said Sáinz

Bugs and Bart helped young Pablo learn English and American culture when he was a little boy in Sinaloa, Mexico.

Sáinz, 30, came to Southwestern College to share readings from his first novel, "Mica chueca," his poetic and entertaining bilingual stories of immigrants striving to carve out a life for themselves in el norte.

"Mexican immigrants assimilate into mainstream America culture without a problem," said Sáinz, due largely to entertainment media.

Viewing the same media and sharing the same values in a foreign society gave his generation of immigrants common ground with more established Americans.

"'Mica chueca' is somewhat autobiographical," said Sáinz, with ironic understatement.

His novel focuses on the story of Rene Gastelum, a high school student who does not have a legal green card and has no legitimate future in the United States.

Rene scores a counterfeit green card on the streets of Los Angeles.

Throughout the novel Rene grows tired of false hope for a better life.

Realizing a fake green card will get him closer to a burger joint job rather than a proper education, Rene destroys it.

Sáinz shares slight similarities to the protagonist. Sáinz migrated from Sinaloa to Los Angeles at the age of 11.

A major difference from his counterpart Rene is that Sáinz attended a university.

His father was a U.S. citizen, giving him an easier route through college.

Sáinz attended SDSU where he studied journalism and Latin American literature, something many of his childhood friends never managed to achieve.

"Many are still undocumented, living in the shadows, trying to survive," he said.

Continued...

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