Crossing Cultural Lines: Mexican American Pressman Helps Produce Sing Tao Daily

This is one of those nice stories when we say "Only in America". DP

New America Media, News Feature, Jun Wang

news.ncmonline.com: SAN FRANCISCO – Although Jesus Garcia doesn’t speak a single word of Chinese he calls the Sing Tao Daily – a Chinese language newspaper – “our paper” whenever he talks about it.

Called “Jessy” by his Chinese colleagues, Garcia works as a senior pressman in Sing Tao’s printing facility in South San Francisco. In a yellow building filled with the stinging smell of ink and the blaring of 20 print units, Garcia produces the Sing Tao Daily with more than a dozen Chinese-speaking colleagues under tight deadlines seven days a week.

However, Garcia thinks the lack of common language is no problem. “Presses are very international machines,” he said. “[The machines] print newspapers in more than 200 languages.”

Before joining the Sing Tao staff, Garcia had more than 20 years experience working as a pressman. But still, he felt “nervous” one month ago when he started at the Sing Tao Daily because of its Chinese-speaking working environment. He pays extreme attention to “even small things,” as a pioneer exploring cross-cultural areas in ethnic media.

“To work at the press,” Garcia said, “you have to have patience. It’s very critical. You can’t freak out.”

He and his colleagues have to work as a team on problem solving. The ability to deal with the high pressure environment and having the same professional path helps Garcia and his colleagues understand each other and work together.

Garcia, 46, is the second Latino pressman joining the Sing Tao Daily. He was born and raised in San Francisco as the fifth generation in an immigrant family from Mexico. He doesn’t speak Spanish. “My parents are the last generation who speak some Spanish at home,” Garcia said.
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