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.
Struggling to become a citizen is still no easy task for anyone attempting to migrate to the U.S., a situation Sáinz said is only getting worse. Undocumented immigrants are forced to maintain a low profile, often living in fear.
Sáinz writes in a voice heavy on Spanish sprinkled with English.
"I just tried to reflect the way I grew up speaking both languages," he said.
Being comfortable with both languages, he had no problem switching back and forth between them. An example of this idiom includes such words as "plebe" meaning kids, and like the title of his novel "mica chueca" signifies a phony green card.
Sáinz said he will continue to be the voice of all people he grew up with, as well as the next generation of immigrants making their way to the U.S.
This includes writing for the San Diego Union-Tribune, La Prensa San Diego and several creative writing projects, including a bilingual collection of children's poetry and a collection of prose poems on border life.
Next year a local Tijuana publishing house will release "Reporte de garitas. Periodismo cultural fronterizo," a non-fiction collection on border arts and culture.
These projects serve as small steps towards his major goal, establishing a Spanish creative writing program in San Diego to publish the work of Californian writers who focus on Spanish writing.
Sáinz said it is fun and elucidating to weave in and out of popular American culture while maintaining his roots.
"I feel comfortable as a consumer of U.S. popular culture as well as Mexican popular culture."
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