By Signe Hammer

 

“The border, my homelands, is not just a geographical place, but a mindset,” says Alfredo Corchado, Mexico Border correspondent for The Dallas Morning News. Join San Miguel PEN on Tues, Jan 26, at 6pm, San Miguel and Central Standard Time for the inaugural PEN Zoom Winter Lecture, in which Corchado will discuss “the epicenter of my homelands, and the challenges ahead for the Biden administration.” Jennifer Clement, acclaimed novelist and International PEN president, will introduce him.

 

Demonized by the outgoing U.S. president, the border is neither “a no-man’s land overrun by criminals in need of a wall to separate us from them, nor a place of asylum seekers in limbo.” On the contrary, “for millions,” Corchado points out, “it’s a dynamic, vibrant place surrounded by some of the safest communities anywhere.” Unfortunately, “it’s also a piñata for politicians. Whether from the standpoint of demographics or economic integration, the border is a peek into an ominous future.”

 

Preregister to receive a free Zoom link on our website, sanmiguelpen.com. The free Zoom link is on our website, sanmiguelpen.com (includes Spanish translation and/or participation in post-talk Q&A) or listen (English only) and on our San Miguel PEN Facebook page.

 

Alfredo Corchado Jiménez is an expert on immigration, drug violence, and U.S.-Mexico foreign policy. His exposés include the murders of women in Ciudad Juárez, government corruption, and the reach of Mexican drug traffickers into U.S. communities. He was named 2020 Texas Star Reporter of the Year for his coverage of the shooting massacre in El Paso.

 

He is the author of Homelands: Four Friends, Two Countries, and the Fate of the Great Mexican-American Migration, and Midnight In Mexico: A Reporter’s Journey Through a Country’s Descent into Darkness. He has won Nieman, Woodrow Wilson, and Rockefeller fellowships, among others, and many journalism prizes.

 

Born in Durango, Mexico, Corchado was raised in California and Texas. He worked the fields of California’s San Joaquin Valley alongside his parents, members of the United Farm Workers union led by Cesar Chávez. He lives between El Paso and Mexico City but calls the border home.

 

San Miguel PEN is a chapter of PEN International, the organization of writers that fights for freedom of expression around the world. For more information and to preregister, visit sanmiguelpen.com.