Chicago Sun-Times welcomes Esther J. Cepeda back

Thanks to everyone who has sent kind thoughts and wishes today!

 

As my colleague Neil Steinberg noted, today I rejoined the Chicago Sun-Times as a regular columnist in the commentary section.

This is what he said:

"Welcome home

Neil, I just read your Sunday article and could not disagree with you more," writes Tony Megaro, of Chicago. "The main point that the media and the White House don't get is this: The American people do not want to pay for the health care of illegal aliens. . . . Look, if Obama and Pelosi are hell-bent on giving every person free health care, they should change a few laws. The most important should be if you are in this country illegally and have a child, that child is not automatically a U.S. citizen. These immigrants who come into this country know this loophole and have been abusing it for decades."

Three of my four grandparents were born in Eastern Europe, and came to this country to escape the rigors of their homelands.

Thus, I instinctively oppose the contempt with which some greet our current wave of immigrants from Mexico and Latin America as the cowardice and hypocrisy it is.

Occasionally, I try to bang a few pans together on this subject, to point out that we have 12 million undocumented Hispanics living in this country in near serfdom, and the only solution is to put them on the path to citizenship, as we have always done in the past.

But the bottom line is, I'm not Hispanic, I don't speak Spanish and my ability to understand and comment upon Chicago's Latino community is limited. That's why I'm especially happy that my colleague, Esther J. Cepeda, is rejoining the paper today, in the commentary section, as a regular columnist. It takes a lot of personality, curiosity, spunk and confidence to fill an empty space, and Esther has got it, big time, and is an expert in an area that is only going to grow in importance. Welcome back."

Now that I'm "back," I'll be providing opinion journalism, thought leadership, conscientious objection, Succulent Prose, Brilliant Analysis, and more...just like I do here on www.600words.com, where I'll continue to write regularly.

Basically, thanks to the leadership at the Chicago Sun-Times I'll be continuing in my mission to change the face of English-language mainstream American media to more adequately reflect the current and future U.S. population which every day becomes more Hispanic.

I'll do my very best to inform, educate, entertain, and inspire you while I'm at it.

To read my first column back in the pages of the Chicago Sun-Times, "A sea change for Waukegan Latinos" follow this link. To access my archive on the Sun-Times web site, go to http://www.suntimes.com/news/cepeda/index.html. And yes, you can find me on Huffington Post/Chicago as well: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/esther-j-cepeda

See ya here - and in the funny papers!

~Esther

Esther J. Cepeda writes the "600 Words" & "Pregunta del Dia" columns, and is also the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer for the Illinois Student Assistance Commission. Her views and reporting do not necessarily reflect those of ISAC. "600 words" is a registered trademark of EeJayCee, Inc., Copyright 2008. May be reprinted with permission, contact eejaycee@600words.com

Comments

[Elisa Alfonso]

Esther, welcome home. I congratulate the Sun Times for bringing you back. Your fresh and unique analysis of the issues have been missed. You have the courage to say what you believe and this candor has been missed. Bienvenida de nuevo.

[Victor]

Esther, congratulations... On the other hand, I'm selfishly upset that now you won't do guest blogs for the Hispanosphere. I look forward to reading your columns; keep posting on Twitter.