Tijerina Report
The Why Behind the Report
My path here wasn't conventional; it was forged through disappointments that turned into fire. From a difficult childhood marked by abuse, bullying, a failed school system, to homelessness with nothing but the clothes on my back.
And within that time, while navigating my own mental health struggles, I’ve seen how easy it is for people and institutions to fail us even as adults year after year.
In 2015, I had a 'friend', an employee from Child Protective Services, a division under the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS), tell me to go jump off a bridge if that's what I wanted to do, in front of her mother, in their own home, and before dinner.
By 2016, her husband, an employee of a financial service institute called USAA located in San Antonio, Texas, had supported and encouraged the idea of me killing myself by crossing a busy street without pressing on the brakes after we had gone out for a bike ride.
But he wasn't done with me yet, because in 2023 he physically assaulted me, telling me that I'm lazy for using my depression as an excuse while taking advantage of the people around me. That I'll never get to a better place and never will, that I'm alone for a reason.
I've experienced burnout within the service and hospitality industry that really never had my back, mirroring the trust issues I developed early in life. It wasn't until after the pandemic that I realized I was just a replaceable component within an already broken machine that never really valued my skill sets.
I felt like cheap labor who could be forced into commercialism for survival. These experiences taught me a crucial lesson: Spin and packaged lies have real-world consequences. When systems fail, people get hurt.
While life prevented me from pursuing a traditional degree from places like Northwestern (Medill), known for its intense focus on investigative labs and high-level networking, or Missouri, famous for the "Missouri Method," which puts students in real-world professional newsrooms, I refused to be silenced by a lack of institutional approval.
Instead of waiting for permission to join the 'machine,' I sought out secondary alternatives and specialized certifications to master it from the outside. I learned the rules of the game so I know exactly where the red tape is—and how to cut through it. This background fuels my commitment to rigorous, independent reporting that provides a lifeline for those the status quo has failed.
By all means, based on the things I've gone through, Mike Tijerina shouldn't exist today, and neither should the Tijerina Report, but here I am, alive another day, surviving but struggling, ready to tell my side of things. Life's short. Don't confine yourself to other people's spaces. Create your own and speak your truth. Remember, sometimes people want to keep you in your place.
My recommendation: Be careful. Not all sense is common in a world that’s been soot-stained by distrust, censorship, and greed.
Sometimes that soot-stained can be seen from across the street.
- Mike Tijerina
