As a first-generation Latina, iIt’s been up to me to be the glue that puts back the pieces of shattered dreams that once belonged to the 19-year-old version of my mother — a burden placed on me the second I was born.
I’m not alone in that sentiment.
Like many other first-generation Hispanic or Latine students, the burden of having to be successful is one of the heaviest weights we carry. We see our loved ones struggle, whether that's through financial or personal means, and are gifted with the curse of breaking generational debt and trauma.
So when I told my mom I wanted to be an artist, maybe a painter or a singer or an actress, she laughed in my face.
Sure, she knew I was “good” at those things and knew it made me happy, but I was the eldest and only daughter. To her, being in the arts wouldn't make me any money or guarantee that I’d be able to take care of her when she got older.
I was the only one in my family who could speak, read and write in English. Why waste that privilege on careers that she believed had no guaranteed stability. At every birthday and holiday party, my family would surround me and ask if I was going to study medicine and be a doctor so I could eventually “buy them a house.”
Well, does writing about bad doctors count?
Burnout and expectations
About 23.85% undergraduates in UF’s College of Journalism and Communications identify as Hispanic or Latine, according to university enrollment data. That’s hundreds of other students, like me, who probably woke up every Sunday morning to Celia Cruz or Selena singing on the TV because Sunday was the start-cleaning-or-mom’s-going-to-yell-day.
Graduate CJC students make up about 17%.
And overall, we make up about 20% of UF’s population, and about 19% of the U.S. population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
For us who choose journalism, it can be hard. You feel like an imposter amongst a sea of wealthier, white peers. Or feel like maybe you’re letting everyone in your family down because you still chose an “unstable” career.
You try to work harder than everyone just to prove you’re more than a statistic, but the same industry we work for is constantly letting us down.
Those national publications we work ourselves to death for a shot at just an internship, like The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and the New York Post, have no Hispanics or Latines on their editorial boards, according to a 2023 report published by the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.
The NAHJ found that “out of 22 newspapers studied, there are zero U.S. Latino presidents, zero Latino publishers, and only three executive editors.” The numbers are just as bleak in digital news, with 16 out of 22 organizations having a complete absence of “Latino representation in key positions, such as presidents, CEOs, editors-in-chief, executive editors, and managing editors,” according to the report.
And when the LA Times laid off employees due to “financial losses,” the paper’s Latino Caucus estimated about a 38% loss of its members.
It’s hard.
Despite letting go of the things that brought me joy like acting, singing and painting, when I thought about my life and the things I’d gone through it hit me that there were other ways I could tell stories about myself and the people around me.
I could still go to art shows, I could still listen to music and I could keep those moments alive forever. A pen and paper was now all I had to look forward to, so what better way to have it all come together and remain a piece of history than picking a field as difficult and rewarding as journalism.
Did I make the right choice, I think so. Sorry mom?
Vivienne Serret is a UF journalism and criminology senior.
Vivienne Serret is a UF journalism and criminology senior, serving as the Fall 2024 race and equity reporter for The Alligator's Enterprise desk. She previously worked as a columnist and previously reported for The Alligator's university desk as the student government reporter. She loves karaoke and lifting at the gym.
