Blanca Villalvazo, 38-year-old, came to the United States three years ago to help her sister raise her nephew Pedro. 

Nowadays, she works at La Canasta Produce at 2097 Mission St., near 17th Street. 

Working there is not unlike being a reporter, she says in Spanish.  Every day she listens to the stories of individuals from all walks of life, and she loves hearing those stories. 

“In the end, everyone comes here for a different reason but at the end everyone is doing the same thing, fighting for how to live and trying to find a feeling for being here. You know that you should be here but your heart feels like you have to be in your own country because you miss your family and want to be with them.”

It’s the small things that make her ache for Jalisco, Mexico.  “In the street, when you say, ‘good morning,’ nobody answers. Nobody looks at your face. Here, it’s just one more bus passing, one more car.”

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Clara-Sophia Daly is an award-winning journalist who covers immigration for Mission Local. Previously, she reported for the Miami Herald, where she covered education and worked on the investigative team. She graduated with honors from Skidmore College, where she studied International Affairs and Media/Film, and later earned a master’s degree from Columbia Journalism School.

Her reporting portfolio includes investigations into a gymnastics coach who abused his students for more than a decade — work that led to his arrest.

She also covered the privatization of Florida’s public education system, state-funded anti-abortion pregnancy centers, and the deputization of university police officers under federal immigration programs.

A Northern California native, she first joined Mission Local as an intern for a year during the pandemic — and is excited to be back writing stories about immigration.

Got a tip? Email her at clarasophia@missionlocal.com. Her signal is clarasophia.13

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2 Comments

  1. I understand her feelings, is something that people has lost along the way, and is been kind and human, said good morning to someone and care about others. I love the story. Thank you for sharing.

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  2. This is absolutely INSANE. Go back …. I hope covid has taught us to value life and health. You only get to live life once. You should enjoy every precious moment you have. If your heart is in Jalisco, you should be in Jalisco. If your heart is seeing homeless people crap on the sidewalk, you should live in SAN Francisco.

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