Teresa Puente: Fourth-generation Mexican-American and Proud of it

Teresa Puente shares, in a Time Magazine column she wrote last year, a moment she had with a clueless person. She was waiting to board a plane in Chicago. A fellow passenger asked if she was Muslim. Puente describes herself as being taken aback before shooting out her answer, “No. I’m Mexican.” Spend any time with Teresa Puente and you wouldn’t expect her to say anything less.

Teresa Puente

Teresa Puente is a full-time lecturer in Journalism and Mass Communication at California State University, Long Beach.  She has been in Long Beach less than a year but that doesn’t mean she’s a stranger to the city. “I like to say that I’m a Chicana from Chicago,” but this is her second time living in Long Beach. Twenty-five years ago, shortly after graduating from Indiana University-Bloomington. a bachelor’s degree with a double major in journalism and political science, she made her way here.

 “Shortly after graduating from University, one of my first jobs out of school was to be a reporter at the Press-Telegram.”

Teresa Puente Discovers Journalism

Originally from Chicago’s west side, there were no Journalism roots in her family but she found her voice for it there in the windy city. Her father was an avid newspaper reader.

         “He subscribed to the Chicago Sun-Times and he would just devour the newspaper.”

Puente would, as a child, wonder, “There must be something really important in that newspaper.”

 “I think that was something that sparked my interest in Journalism and the contribution, I would say, that was from my Mom…She took us to the library all the time.”

Those library visits left an impression. Teresa Puente loved going to the library, checking out books, and she even belonged to one of those book of the month club where she would order books and get them in the mail.

“I’m really grateful to both my parents for giving me that love of reading books and reading newspapers so I think that’s really where it began.”

She worked on the high school newspaper and knew, at sixteen, that Journalism would be her career. Puente gives credit to her parents for their support in those early years of her decision to pursue Journalism as a career.

“Sometimes with parents, especially Latino parents, they may want to guide you in one direction of another but they never discouraged me from Journalism.”

Impressive Resume Matched by Teresa Puente Passion

In addition to her double-major, Puente has an M.F.A. from Columbia College Chicago. She’s also worked for other newspapers including Chicago Tribune, The Chicago Sun-Times, and The Orange County Register. Puente’s articles have also appeared in The Guardian, The Daily Beast, The Hill, and Time magazine.  Puente has also been a visiting assistant professor at Columbia University in New York in the Graduate School of Journalism and previously taught journalism and communications at the Tecnológico de Monterrey campus in Guadalajara, Mexico. She’s also the recipient of the Studs Terkel Award in 2000 for her coverage of Chicago’s diverse communities.

Teresa Puente is passionate about Journalism and the stories that need to be told. One is Immigration. Last year, Puente wrote a number of stories for Time Magazine including one titled, “Donald Trump Makes Me Proud To Be Mexican.” In the article, she speaks about then candidate Donald Trump and his dog-whistle anti-immigrant rhetoric. I asked Puente if there was one issue about Immigration that most U.S. born Americans would be surprised to discover.

“Well, here’s a fact that probably most Americans don’t realize…most Latinos are not immigrants. 60-70% of Latinos, depending on what city you’re in, are native born. “

Puente goes on to explain that the idea that Latinos are from another place or somewhere else is the narrative that she would like to break.

“That said, it is important to tell stories about immigration.”

The Journalism professor and journalist says she believes she was one of the first to report about the Dreamers when she was at the Chicago Tribune.

Real stories with real facts can sometimes get lost in the noise of “Fake News” and just everyday living. Think about where you get your news most of the time. It could be a website, television, radio, and even a newspaper. In any case, all of us, as media consumers are constantly challenged in trying to decide what is fact and what is not. Teresa Puente knows there is a challenge.

“In my lifetime, you know, of being a Journalist for more than 25 years and a Journalism educator for more than 10 years, I have never seen the truth twisted and bended [sic].”

The idea of fake news, Puente explains, is not all that new. There have always been fake stories. But, she goes on, we are seeing an explosion of all these challenges to the truth because of money and politics.

“It’s more and more challenging for people to get to the truth but I will tell you, the truth is there.”

Following Teresa Puente

If you want to follow Teresa Puente online, you can find her at @chicanisima and @tcpuente on Twitter. You can also read her blog at medium.com/@chicanisima.