pulitzer prize-winning journalist goes home

This is a cool San Jose Mercury News story on Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter Jose Antonio Vargas, who won the prestigious award earlier this year for his coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings: Mentors helped him make it to the big time.

Jose's got a really great story. He was 12 when his mother sent him to live with his grandparents in Mountain View, California, and apparently improved his English by watching movies from the public library. He got it in his head that he wanted to be a journalist, and with some help, he graduated from San Francisco State University in 2004 and landed a job at the Post.

Now, at age 27, Jose's already got a Pulitzer under his belt. Not bad. He was back in his hometown last week to speak at a fundraiser for MVLA Community Scholars, the scholarship program that got him through college. Personally, I've been a fan of Jose's work since he wrote this article back in 2005.