Brea Jones

Today is the final section of a series called, “And a song shall carry them home: The Journey of the Brothers Fermin,” which has been running in The Record and on Recordnet.com for the past four Sundays. This is what the series is about:

Two years ago a group of brothers left Acojtapachtlan, a village of about a dozen cement houses in the hills of southern Mexico. They came to San Joaquin County without education, without money, certainly without permission. Really, they brought little more than their ambition and their audacity. One of them carried along his dream to save money, buy instruments and lead a band.

The brothers Fermin were like millions of other Mexicans who have crossed the border already and like thousands who, even today, will attempt it. But the ties of home and family are strong. On Oct. 17, the village of Acojtapachtlan was to honor its patron San Lucas with a festival. Two years of work in San Joaquin County had earned the brothers enough money for televisions, clothing, tools, accordions, guitars, speakers — and a truck to haul it back. One of them would stay behind. Three were headed home. Record reporter Jennifer Torres and photographer Victor Blue followed. This series is running in The Record’s Perspectives section and online every Sunday in December.

Kirk designed the landing page: http://recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=A_SPECIAL92 He made an interactive map tracing their journey and brought all of the elements together nicely.

I was moved by the video, done by the reporter and photographer with help from our multimedia reporter, who also designed the Flash presentation: http://online.recordnet.com/projects/fermin