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The year was 1970, and Juan Gonzales was newly graduated from SF State. The year before, SF State had founded the first ethnic studies program in the country, and they asked Gonzales if he’d be willing to develop a class for it.

He decided to teach a journalism class. The final project? Create a bilingual newspaper. The class and a group of volunteers paid for printing costs by throwing a fundraiser, and collecting a dollar at the door from everyone who showed up. With the resulting $400 in donations, El Tecolote — Spanish for owl — was born . The publication’s first ever-staff consisted of about 10 volunteers, half Gonzalez’s students and half

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