Summer of Strangers: Midnight in Mexico – Then & Now

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.

If you’d like to see photos that go with his story, check out our free posts on Substack and Patreon, and if you like what we do, you can also become a paying member on either platform and unlock 100+ countless benefits and episodes.

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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