Bienvenido Pepe Lozano!

We are glad to welcome our new staff writer, Jose “Pepe” Lozano.

Lozano, 28, grew up in an activist Mexican American family in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood where he still lives. “I’m really proud that I am part of the People’s Weekly World and so are my mom and my brothers,” he said. His Chicago beat will focus on youth issues and peace and justice struggles. He also has a passion for baseball, especially the White Sox.

Lozano sees his role as a PWW reporter as that of reaching people and helping them to become engaged in real life struggles. His background in the arts and his medical studies give him a unique, compassionate approach to interviewing and writing.

“When I was a kid I used to take campaign signs and draw on the back of them,” he said. “Most of my drawings were of demonstrations and of speakers at the podium — speakers like my dad [the late labor organizer Rudy Lozano], Mayor Harold Washington and others like them.”

Lozano’s first jobs included “working as a stock boy at my uncle Jaime’s gas station. I also babysat his kids, changed diapers, the works!” One of those kids, now a teenager, was part of the U.S. delegation to the World Youth Festival in Venezuela this year, a delegation that Lozano helped organize. Lozano also made use of his bilingualism there, translating for delegates visiting Caracas neighborhoods.

Asked what he thinks of statements in the media that newspapers are on their way out, Lozano replied, “Young people are interested in newspapers as an important source of information. With your morning coffee, at the bus stop, on break, newspapers are an essential, very human form of communication. I want to be sure that what I write and what the PWW produces in each edition appeals to and interests young workers, students, youth activists and teachers.”

In addition to other stories, he hopes to write a description of how the PWW is produced each week, a remarkable story in itself.

“We are delighted that Pepe has joined the PWW and Nuestro Mundo team,” said PWW editor Terrie Albano. “He brings energy, smarts, working-class partisanship and a host of other talents to our newspaper. Some of us think his reporting was instrumental in helping the Sox win the World Series!”