Baca during the videotaping of Add-Verse, 2004, "Jimmy Santiago Baca, Compton College guest speaker", "Episode 1143 - Jimmy Santiago Baca: Words Have the Power to Change The World", "Hispanic Heritage Awards for Literature", "Award-Winning American Poet and Writer Jimmy Santiago Baca To Read at WNMU, Detention Center", Western American Literature Journal: Jimmy Santiago Baca, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jimmy_Santiago_Baca&oldid=1107761633. Reviewer's Bookwatch, September, 2004, Willis M. Buhle, review of A Place to Stand. They wanted to use the guys eye to win an upcoming marble tournament. . For additional information on Clif, Fletcher, Ralph 1953- Quotes [ edit] I was institutionalized from age five to thirty years, first in an orphanage and then in prison. Kliatt, spring, 1980, review of Immigrants in Our Own Land, p. 20; May, 2005, James Beschta, review of Winter Poems along the Rio Grande, p. 32, Tim Davis, review of The Importance of a Piece of Paper, p. 38. Jimmy Santiago Baca was born on January 2, 1952 (age 71) in New Mexico, United States. He has such character about him. Kym_LiteracyRX@comcast.net, Ghost Ranch, NM August 31-September 4, 2015. We are a living entity made of parts and will continue to grow! Publishers Weekly, February 3, 1992, p. 71; May 28, 2001, review of A Place to Stand, p. 58; June 18, 2001, review of Healing Earthquakes, p. 78; December 22, 2003, review of The Importance of a Piece of Paper, pp. As more and more words emerged, I could finally rest: I had a place to stand for the first time in my life. . Rector explained: "It's a powerful orchestration and revision of a narrative and lyrical admixture with an utterly compelling dramatic form." E-mail[emailprotected]. purchase. A fellow inmate convinced him to submit some of his poems to the magazine Mother Jones, then edited by Denise Levertov. Although a Publishers Weekly reviewer found many of the themes and images included in the collection to be predictable, the critic assured that Baca's readers "will certainly want to come along for his heartfelt exploration of the American Southwest. He didnt look like the cholo, the tough guy who comes up in his poems. Jimmy Santiago Baca's Life Path Number is 2 as per numerology. Agent c/o Author Mail, New Directions Publishing, 80 8th Ave., New York, NY 10011. So lets get together and do this. Over the last 28 years, Baca's published a dozen books of poetry, a memoir and a book of short stories. The only way of transcending was through language and understanding. ., But he gives himself credit for being that one Chicano who said, This (treatment) is legally and morally wrong. First came reading (from an anthology stolen from a jail guard): It was late when I returned to my cell. ", Critics found much to praise in Martin and Meditations on the South Valley. [10], In 2004 Baca started a non-profit organization, Cedar Tree, Inc., that supports literary workshops for inmates and troubled youth, through charitable donations. . He was convicted on drug charges in 1973 and spent five years in prison. I wanted to learn how to read and to write and to understand. It is a contemporary hero tale. Jimmy Santiago is an ideal celebrity influencer. Gary Soto, one of the worlds best-known Chicano poets and an associate professor of English at UC Berkeley, has similarly followed Bacas work for more than a decade and suspects that publication by such a respected publisher helped bring the world to Bacas doorstep. Cookouts, fireworks, and history lessons recounted in poems, articles, and audio. Calling Out to the Yeti (1957) Jimmy Santiago Baca - I Am Offering This Poem - YouTube 0:00 / 1:20 Jimmy Santiago Baca - I Am Offering This Poem APlacetoStand 219 subscribers Subscribe 496 57K views 9 years ago. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. Ghost Ranch offers adobe houses and dormitory accommodations, a cafeteria and pool, big sunlit rooms, hiking and horse back ridingeverything to refresh ones spirit. Raised by his grandmother and later sent to an orphanage, he became a runaway by age 13. Denise VanBriggle . Because he consistently got into fights with his cellmates, he spent four of those years in isolation, in a dungeon, with, Baca claims, no sunshine save for a single hour once each week. We moved half way across the country to Missouri when I was 8 years old. . By facilitating this Smashing The Pipeline From School to Prison Summit I want to give back what Ive been gifted, blessed and honored with. The small burned area of memory, / where your face is supposed to be, / moons' rings pass through / in broken chain of events / in my dreams." The cost of the workshop is $850.00 (does not include accommodations). Jimmy Santiago Baca is an American poet writer of Apache and Chicano descent. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. . Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series. . Kym Sheehan is a secondary literacy specialist for a Florida school district, as well as a teacher-consultant with Tampa Bay Area Writing Project, an affiliate of the National Writing Project. First off, we have a very busy life. She currently serves as an official prison visitor and Co-convener of the Dauphin County Chapter of the Pennsylvania Prison Society and owns Cityscape Consulting, devoted to designing curriculum and programming to meet the unique needs of her clients. ADDRESSES: Home Albuquerque, NM. Jimmy Santiago Baca (born January 2, 1952 in Santa Fe, New Mexico) is a Chicano-American poet and writer. He'd had two years of formal schooling. Attuned to real-life circumstances, each of Baca's books represents a concrete step in the process of rebuilding his life from the point of nonexistence that he associates with the years spent in prison. . When he was twenty-one he was convicted on charges of drug possession and incarcerated. An internationally known poet and professor of English at Stanford University, she began corresponding with him, ran his work in Mother Jones and found him a publisher for his first book, Immigrants in Our Own Land (Louisiana State University Press). Hes writing about his life. His semi-autobiographical novel in verse, Martin and Meditations on the South Valley, received the 1988 Before Columbus Foundation's American Book Award. I live on a day-to-day basis. American young adult poet, nonfiction writer, y, Lowell, Amy [5], Immigrants in Our Own Land, Baca's first major collection, was published by the Louisiana State University Press in 1979. Born in New Mexico, poet Jimmy Santiago Baca recounts his long saga of imprisonment, beginning in childhood and stretching into adulthood. Wiki: Biography & Celebrity Profiles as wikipedia, Tina Stuerzinger Wiki, Biography, Age, Net Worth, Family, Instagram, Twitter, Social Profiles & More Facts. Common Core State Standards Text Exemplars, [Yesterday, the sunshine made the air glow]. Events include: Viewing of A Place to Stand with focused discussion, Writing Under the Influence led by Baca, and Baca reading from his new book, "When I walk Through That Door, I Am." Please visit PC Rising's Facebook page for more details. Hogan, however, praised some of the poems' "wry humor" and "disarming ingenuousness," reflecting that Baca "is a gifted poet and has a natural lyricism in the best of his work." Within the Cite this article tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. MAJOR WORKS: SIDELIGHTS: Jimmy Santiago Baca, an ex-convict who taught himself to read while in prison, is a highly acclaimed poet who won the prestigious American Book Award in 1988. Now an award-winning poet, novelist, and essayist, Baca is the recipient of UC Santa Barbara's 2010 Luis Leal Award for Distinction in Chicano/Latino Literature. . He later divulged to Krier: "[In prison], I saw all these Chicanos going out to the fields and being treated like animals. I always had thought reading a waste of time, that nothing could be gained by it. They have such a reverence for language. Jimmy Santiago Baca. Ethnicity: Hispanic Education: University of New Mexico, B.A., 1984, Ph.D., 2003. Never solid ground beneath me, never a resting place. This California farm kingdom holds a key, Six people, including mother and baby, killed in Tulare County; drug cartel suspected, These are the 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles, New Bay Area maps show hidden flood risk from sea level rise and groundwater. He sold these poems to fellow inmates in exchange for cigarettes. ", Despite his impressive accomplishments, Baca claims to maintain the humble attitude he first fostered while in prison. Join our friends at Phoenix College Rising as the Creative Writing Department hosts Jimmy Santiago Baca. He swiftly became a teen-age street urchin, alcoholic, drug addict and wanderer. By the time he was five, Baca was living in a New Mexico orphanage, his father dead of alcoholism and his mother involved with a second husband who would one day murder her. If they were taught to be racist or violent, language has this amazing ability to unteach all that, and make them question it. 214-231. its analysis of Jimmy Santiago Baca's memoir, A Place to . Posted in Past Guests | Tagged A-F. Jimmy Santiago Baca learned to read and began writing poetry during the five years he spent in prison on drug charges. Thats what I want us to explore in a larger framework at the Ghost Ranch retreat. By Jimmy Santiago Baca. When he was 21, he was convicted on charges of drug possession and incarcerated. "I took a wild chance," he related to Krier, "I didn't even know how to put the stamp on the envelope and address it." " And so I pray I am today as honest with myself, with life all around me and below and above me, with all who I encounter. Do you know what you are? An essayist for the Dictionary of Hispanic Biography, concluded: "Though Baca's poems speak to the experiences of people in the American Southwest, particularly the Chicano Mestizo people, his poems strike a universal chord; the quest of one individual for identity and meaning." By discovering language and capturing himself through it, Baca claimed, he totally transformed his life: . I visited and stayed the summers with him for many year. What's Happening (poetry), Curbstone Press (Willimantic, CT), 1982. Adam Fuss by Ross Bleckner. His the best movie is Blood In Blood Out. Had I not found the language, I would have been a guerrilla in the mountains. "Baca has enriched the [short fiction] genre and exposed another facet of his multi-dimensioned literary talent," praised Cecil Johnson in his Fort Worth Star-Telegram review. He'd never read a book and didn't know how to write. Lately, thats been novels. He was born in New. 995 Words4 Pages. (Author of poem) Benjamin Alire Senz, Que Linda la Brisa, photographs by James Drake, University of Washington Press (Seattle, WA), 2000. Most importantly, Kym believes in the power of literacy to save lives. Most of the time our farm and animals are also a labor of love, but some times it is just hard labor. Even now, Baca sees his refusal to work as a creative, positive act. . I wrote about it allabout people I had loved or hated, about the brutalities and ecstasies of my life. I live on a day-to-day basis. Winter Poems along the Rio Grande, New Directions (New York, NY), 2004. Jimmy Santiago Baca . 2. ", Baca's first major collection, Immigrants in Our Own Land: Poems, appeared in 1979. . Baca has published his remarkable poetry books collections such as Black Mesa Poems (1995), Poems Taken from My Yard (1986), and Healing Earthquakes (2001). For a child whos isolated and only hears the sound of horses and cows and church bells ringing, it was an incredibly exhilarating playground. She is also an independent literacy consultant at the local and national levels. (January 16, 2023). Jimmy Santiago Baca. Jimmy Santiago Baca was born in New Mexico of Indio-Mexican descent and spent his early years in an orphanage before he was sentenced to five years in a maximum security prison where he turned his life around through . Its very pure, innocent, but not naive writing. Photo: Adabel Allen. ", Baca has also had some success with dramas: his play Los tres hijos de Julia was performed in Los Angeles in 1991, and his film Bound by Honor, for which he cowrote the screenplay and produced, was released by a Disney company in 1993. Ethnicity: Hispanic Education: University of New Mexico, B.A., 1984, Ph.D., 2003. cityscape8@gmail.com / He served six and a half years in prison, three of them in isolation, and having expressed a desire to go to school (the guards considered this dangerous), he was put in the same area of the prison with the inmates on death row for a period of time before he was released. "With Martin and Meditations on the South Valley," Melendez suggested, "Baca brings to closure that phase of his poetry that deals with loss, dejection, a searching for identity, and a sense of belonging. I gorged at self-hatreds table and nourished my self-hatred on drugs, alcohol and violence until one day I remembered the beautiful boy I wasthat amazing clarity and kindness in my eyes, the shy smile, the universe cradling my heart with love, cascading lullabies of light on my soul, lighting up my entire being with joy. We just got caught in a situation we should never have been in, he said. While less well-received than his first effort, the book garnered praise for its subject matter concerning both the Chicano and prison experience. When he . Hes never been a careerist like so many other poets, with one eye on the publishing world and one eye on his subject. Baca deals with some unbelievable material, so much so that David Romo, writing for the Texas Observer, initially reacted with disbelief. ", Another poetry collection was published the same year as Baca's debut fiction collection; titled Winter Poems along the Rio Grande, the collection contains personal, confessional poetry, much of which describes the terrain along the Rio Grande. U.S. poet laureate Rita Dove is the third African Americanand the youngest poet everto hold the post of dis, Heaney, Seamus Also find out how he got rich at the age of 69. With his large number of social media fans, he often posts many personal photos and videos to interact with his huge fan base on social media platforms. It doesn't mean anything. And hes being courted by famous literary agents. Free standard shipping with $35 orders. ADDRESSES: HomeAlbuquerque, NM. This early collection included I Am Offering This Poem, a poem later reprinted in 1990s Immigrants in Our Own Land and Selected Early Poems and anthologized in The Seagull Book of Poems. Read Past Interviews in the series: Mike Rose, Virginia Pye. In the exercise yard. (Baca responded by throwing a chair at him.) All told, he spent six years in jail. . . Contributor of poetry to periodicals, including Mother Jones, Ironwood, Bilingual Review, Harbor Review, Confluencia, Las Americas, New Kauri, Quarterly West, Puerto del Sol, and others. ", The success of Martin and Meditations on the South Valley brought international attention to the former prison inmate, who found himself in demand for teaching positions and poetry readings; he also enjoyed the publication of another book, Black Mesa Poems, in 1989. Set This Book on Fire! Want to more about Him? Then, after living on the streets for nine years, he was convicted of drug possession with intent to sell. There he learned to read and began writing poetry. Santiago Baca lives in Albuquerque with his wife and two teenagers. Levertov printed Bacas poems and began corresponding with him, eventually finding a publisher for his first book. Immigrants in Our Own Land (1979, 1991) was Bacas first significant collection, one based on his imprisonment. Discussing the themes in Healing Earthquakes, which include acceptance in a community, the loss of family, and contradictions in romantic relationships, a Publishers Weekly reviewer considered the work "a sprawling journal of epic proportions certainly a breakthrough book for Baca." A Place to Stand Jimmy Santiago Baca. ", Baca produced another work, the ten-poem collection What's Happening, in 1982. Jimmy Santiago Baca was born in New Mexico of Indio-Mexican descent. Black Mesa Poems, New Directions (New York, NY), 1989. "If you compare a life to daytime photography, my life has been more like nighttime photography. a year ago Pages Liked by This Page Swimming with Elephants Americas Review, fall-winter, 1988, pp. Abandoned by his parents, he fell into crime young, and taught himself to read and write when while serving time in his twenties. He was raised by his grandparents but later lived in an orphanage until running away at eleven years old. Texas Observer Online (Austin, TX), http://www.texasobserver.org/ (September 21, 2005), David Romo, "The Unbelievable Goodness of Jimmy Santiago Baca.". He published an original essay in 2013 called, The Face, in ebook form with Restless Books, along with digital editions of his Breaking Bread with the Darkness poetry volumes. And when he finished his discussion with the kids, one of them said: Can we have one of your books? He wrote in it and dedicated it to them and gave it to them. So many people I know, their parents give them their homes, and they get married and have children, or whatever. Jimmy Santiago Baca was born in New Mexico in 1952. . I was swimming in the murky lagoons of my familys decent and I stayed in that swamp, abscessed with the decaying souls of my brothers and sisters. Baca was born in rural New Mexico of parents of Apache and Mexican descent. To survive as a child I challenged the colonial darkness that consumed my family. Baca was born in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, in 1952. A semi-autobiographical work that critics termed a novel in verse, the book chronicles the life of Martin, an orphaned "detribalized" Apache who sojourns across the United States in search of permanence and meaning in his life. The importance of a piece of paper . 11-12; November, 1983, Michael Hogan, review of What's Happening, pp. Judging Baca a talented writer, Levertov began corresponding with the inmate and eventually found a publisher for his first book. It was language that saved my (posterior). While Baca clearly appreciates such comments, especially from distinguished friends in high places, he does not appear to need them. He was illiterate when he arrived at the Arizona State Prison. Jimmy has both eyes on his subject.. All eight stories in the book focus on Chicano culture in the Southwest and feature characters who come from underprivileged backgrounds striving to do more with their lives than merely survive. The mission of cedar tree poetics is to improve the human condition; to advance knowledge through compassion and literacy, through excellence in learning, discovery and engagement; and to serve asdiverse a community as we can, adolescents on the edge and incarcerated children and adults. Jimmy's partner, Stacy, had given birth only a few days before I flew to Albuquerque to meet him, so I felt touched that he could find the time for me. The Importance of a Piece of Paper (short stories; includes "The Three Sons of Julia," "The Importance of a Piece of Paper," "The Valentine's Day Card," "Enemies," "Mother's Ashes," "Bull's Blood," and "Runaway") Grove Press (New York, NY), 2004. In prison. Why was I so ignorant and deprived? $ 9.39. Baca radiates a gentleness, serenity, and lack of anger. He has two older children as well. Only by action, by moving out into the world and confronting and challenging the obstacles, could one learn anything worth knowing. New York Times, April 30, 1993, Vincent Canby, review of Bound by Honor, p. C8; January 14, 1994, p. D16. At the age of 14 he ran away and wound up living on the streets. I noted very early on that my family flailed in the darkness, and the shadows attracted me because I wanted to free them from this moral quandary and into the light. We now have a herd of 4 Nubian milking goat, that will double in the spring when all the new baby goats arrive. Memories began to quiver in me, glowing with a strange but familiar intimacy in which I found refuge. 5-6). You can read todays latest tweets and post from Jimmy Santiago Bacas official Twitter account below, where you can know what he is saying in his previous tweet. We built a green house last year and started hundreds of heritage plants that we used in our organic garden and gave to friends. When I read his poems, I think, This is what literature is about. . (poetry), Cedar Hill (Mesa, AZ), 1999, 2nd edition, 2001. Jimmy Santiago Baca is a well-known American poet and writer. Baca's most recent novel is A Glass of Water (2009). Use tab to navigate through the menu items. John collects turtles to remind him to be patient and persevere. The island grew, with each page, into a continent inhabited by people I knew and mapped with the life I lived. Jimmy Santiago Baca (born January 2, 1952 in Santa Fe, New Mexico) is a Chicano-American poet and writer. Rather, he became intellectually invigorated during his incarceration period, teaching himself to read and write. In the Way of the Sun, Grove Press (New York, NY), 1997. "A Place to Stand", p.102, Grove/Atlantic, Inc. 13 Copy quote. Raised by his grandmother and later sent to an orphanage, he became a runaway by age 13. This was a positive transition for Baca, he was started self-learning to read and write by his . I'm too busy trying to capture the aspects of myself in the dark. Even as I tried to convince myself that I was merely curious, I became so absorbed in how the sounds created music in me and happiness, I forgot where I was. While several recognized the work as a forceful sociological and cultural document, Liam Rector in the Hudson Review also deemed the poetry volume "a page-turner." It scared me that I had been reduced to this to find comfort. Trying to balance work and family is a labor of love. According to Manazar Gamboa, a Santa Monica poet who works with incarcerated youths throughout Los Angeles County, Baca visited three centers for juvenile offenders in the Los Angeles area during another recent visit here. Though a Publishers Weekly reviewer felt that occasionally the prose is overly literary for the stories, the critic acknowledged, "Baca has the ability to convey much in few words, and his precise use of detail delivers small, startling truths." Jimmy Santiago Baca Popularity Most Popular #93057 January 2 Author #3 71 Year Old Capricorn #17 Author Born in New Mexico #3 Capricorn Named Jimmy #9 Last Name Baca #1 71 Year Old Author #9 Jimmy Santiago Baca Is A Member Of 71 Year Olds Poets First Name Jimmy Capricorns Jimmy Santiago Baca Fans Also Viewed Gary Soto Poet Julia Alvarez Poet www.cityscape8.com, Kym Sheehan Step up and join us for this workshop and embrace the world with us. Jimmy Santiago Baca (BAH-kah) has drawn extensively on the difficult circumstances of his early years and on his involvement with the social and political concerns of his cultural community in. by Kirsten Ogden. His is a gifted, young vision, and judging from this collection, I get the feeling he is just warming up. Sincere in his intent and uncompromising when it comes to his principles, Jimmy Santiago-Baca is helping to change lives, person by person - with words. A Publishers Weekly critic felt that "readers may find Baca's poetry more dazzling than this prose memoir," but acknowledged that "the content of his story is so interesting and his poetry simply shines." Abandoned by his parents at the age of two, he lived with one of his grandmothers for several years before being placed in an orphanage. He found his inner light and he worked by it, said Will Inman, the former publisher of New Kauri poetry magazine, who began encouraging and visiting Baca while he was still in prison. By 5, the young mestizo (half Chicano/half detribalized Apache) was abandoned again, left at a New Mexico orphanage where he stayed until he was 11, running away the night before he was to be transferred to Boys Town. $ 7.19. Jimmy Santiago Baca is an award-winning American poet and writer of Chicano descent. As Bacas dark eyes widened, he flashed to the simple, childhood logic behind the quest for the glass eye: We thought it could see!, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Im afraid for her life: Riverside CC womens coach harassed after Title IX suit, Want to solve climate change? Ordinary people are often the ones who invent and improve on older models. The award, which is co-sponsored by the Santa Barbara Book Council, will be presented at a ceremony at 4 p.m. on Thursday, October 28, in the campus's Corwin Pavilion. But in the darkness, Baca was reborn. Martin and Meditations on the South Valley (poetry), introduction by Denise Levertov, New Directions (New York, NY), 1987. I first came to write poetry as a young man in prison. PRINCIPAL WORKS Jimmy Santiago Baca Jimmy Santiago Baca was born in Santa Fe, New Mexico. ". I took a wild chance and sent Mother Jones three poems. we sat huddled in our prison jackets, Born in New Mexico of Indio-Mexican descent, Jimmy Santiago Baca was raised first by his grandmother and later sent to an orphanage. 1, 6-7. I was tired of being treated like an animal. Also, he insisted that his hard work should have deserved him for learning as the reclassification committee's promise. A Place to Stand: The Making of a Poet (memoir), Grove Press (New York, NY), 2001. Not the least of Baca's contribution to Chicano literature has been to widen the critical attention directed by mainstream critics and publishers toward his own work and that of other Chicano writers." He was born in Santa Fe, New Mexico on January 2, 1952. ." ., Levertov also noted that Martin was published by New Directions, a very, very fine publisher thats published most of the major poets over this century.. shelved 17,121 times Showing 30 distinct works. Her passions for reading and writing fuel her craft and are embedded in her daily responsibilities. In the MAS curriculum, Baca's activism for education parallels the trope of Xipe Toltec, the will to act. A runaway at age 13, it was after Baca was sentenced to five years in a maximum security prison that he began to turn his life around: he learned to read and write and unearthed a voracious passion for poetry. PBS is preparing a documentary on his life. Jimmy Santiago entered the career as Screenwriter In his early life after completing his formal education.. Personal touch and engage with his followers. Jimmy Santiago Baca. 1. He maintains that he never committed the crime for which he was convicted. Jimmy Santiago is gaining More popularity of his Profession on Twitter these days. This is the third interview in a series about the intersections of writing, teaching, and identity. Jimmy Santiago Baca, best known for being a Poet, was born in New Mexico, United States on Wednesday, January 2, 1952. Intended to convey the sometimes traumatic Chicano experience in America, Martin and Meditations on the South Valley details the protagonist's sense of abandonment and displacement. This was his turning point. I was raised on my great uncles hog and dairy farm. His verse novel, Martin and Meditations on the South Valley, received the American Book Award in 1989. Abandoned by his parents at the age of two, he lived with his grandmother for several years before he was placed in an orphanage. BellaOnline, http://www.bellaonline.com/ (September 21, 2005). As success stories go, its a grisly one. I saw the walls were not the enemy. When he was 21, he was convicted on charges of drug dealing and incarcerated. Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA). He published an original essay in 2013 called, "The Face," in ebook form with Restless Books,[12] along with digital editions of his Breaking Bread with the Darkness poetry volumes. $1 Million - $5 Million. I had the idea I was intended for an incredible amount of suffering. Although enduring emotional pain, the narrator, by book's end, finds spiritual comfort. My work is the only thing Ive ever had that I could hold onto. Not in Library. INTRODUCTION Jimmy Santiago Baca Baca during the video taping of Add-Verse, 2004 Born (1952-01-02) January 2, 1952(age 70)Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S. He taught himself to read and write while serving a six-year prison sentence for drug possession. Booklist contributor Donna Seaman concluded, "Baca's harrowing story will stand among the world's most moving testimonies to the profound value of literature. Nedra C. Evers of Library Journal called the memoir an "unflinching account of his incarceration, with its brutality and occasional benevolence," and considered the book "worth reading from both a literary and a social perspective." He just looked like a guy happy to be there. If you compare a life to daytime photography, my life has been more like nighttime photography. He is seen as one of the most successful Screenwriter of all times. I look forward to more." The poems, highlighting the splendor of human existence amidst the desolate surroundings of prison life, met with rave reviews. . You can find out how much net worth Jimmy Santiago has this year and how he spent his expenses. Baca is a member of a dysfunctional family, and both parents abandon him and his siblings when the children are quite young. . Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 122: Chicano Writers, Second Series, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1992. Immigrants in Our Own Land, Bacas first major collection, was published by Louisiana State University Press in 1979. And not only for me: from our meeting place we drove to a poetry slam featuring local high-school students. He also published essays and a screenplay. He was in cutoff pants, Soto remembered. A film based on Bacas memoir A Place to Stand, directed by Daniel Glick, was released in 2014. Right into the barrios and the projects and the poor white areas. He taught himself to read and write, shouting to inmates, for instance, when he became dazzled by the difference between nouns and verbs, Hey Flaco! Immigrants in Our Own Land, a 56-page volume of his poems, was published last fall by . . He had gone to visit a friend, he said, and wound up in the midst of a shoot-out in which an FBI agent was wounded. View Jimmy Santiago Baca results including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. Exploring Latino/a American poetry and culture. Though the words were direct and tinged with challenge, Baca is hardly the tough homeboy you might expect from hearing his life story. "Your departure uprooted me mother," writes Baca in the book, "Hallowed core of a child / your absence whittled down / to a broken doll / in a barn loft. They united with Sovereign Grace Bible Church in Phoenix, Arizona in January 2008 where he serves as a teaching elder. Jimmy Santiago Baca was born on January 2, 1952 in New Mexico. Jimmy Santiago Baca is one such escapee. He is the author of numerous poetry collections, including Immigrants In Our Own Land, published in 1979, the same year Baca was released from prison.Other poetry titles include Healing Earthquakes (2001), C-Train & 13 Mexicans (2002), Winter Poems Along the Rio Grande (2004), and Spring Poems Along the Rio Grande (2007). Under Review. In 2004 he launched Cedar Tree, a literary nonprofit designed to provide writing workshops, training, and outreach programs for at-risk youth, prisoners and ex-prisoners, and disadvantaged communities. ", Baca's following work, The Importance of a Piece of Paper: Stories, is a collection of short stories, one of which has the translated title of his earlier play, "The Three Sons of Julia." It was language that saved [me]." Noting that although this is his first fiction collection, Janet St. John commented that "his short fiction seems like second nature," in a review for Booklist. . Importance of a Piece of Paper by Jimmy Santiago Baca (2004, Trade Paperback). Baca holds a BA in English and an honorary PhD in literature from the University of New Mexico. View full . Born in 1952 in Santa Fe of Chicano and Apache descent, Jimmy Santiago Baca was abandoned by his parents and at 13 ran away from the orphanage where his grandmother had placed him. It was while in jail that he taught himself to read and write. In July 2007, he married Allyn. In 2006, Baca was awarded the Cornelius P. Turner Award, which honors GED graduates who have made outstanding contributions in areas such as education, justice, and social welfare. It's a search for personal and collective myths, a first-hand account that goes to the heart of an American reality that's often ignored." Working in the Dark: Reflections of a Poet of the Barrio (poetry, stories, and essays), Red Crane Books, 1992. Bacas work is concerned with social justice and revolves around the marginalized and disenfranchised, treating themes of addiction, community, and the American Southwest barrios. as wind swings past broken glass. Raised by his grandmother and later sent to an orphanage, he became a runaway by age 13. Immigrants in Our Own Land: Poems, Louisiana State University Press (Baton Rouge, LA), 1979, enlarged edition published as Immigrants in Our Own Land and Earlier Poems, New Directions (New York, NY), 1990. . I do not want to lift this arm to work. Thats a creative act. Scroll Down and find everything about him. Though he suffered as a result, Baca does not appear embittered. Jimmy Santiago Baca Biography Jimmy Santiago Baca is an American Poet and writer. Contributor to anthologies, including New Worlds of Literature, edited by Jerome Beaty and J. Paul Hunter, Norton (New York, NY), 1989; The Pushcart Prize XIV, edited by Bill Henderson, Penguin (New York, NY), 1989; and An Anthology of Contemporary American Poetry, University of Georgia Press (Athens, GA), 1989. You can scroll down for information about his Social media profiles. Under my blanket I switched on a pen flashlight and opened the thick book at random, scanning the pages. Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series. During this time, Baca taught himself to read and write, and he began to compose poetry. People, September 30, 2003, "Second Acts," p. 123. Pub Date: July 1, 2001 ISBN: -8021-1602-7 Page Count: 272 Publisher: Grove In 2004 Baca started a non-profit organization, Cedar Tree, Inc., that supports these workshops through charitable donations. Poets.org, http://www.poets.org/ (September 21, 2005). In a Callaloo interview with John Keene, Baca claims, I approach language as if it will contain who I am as a persona statement that reflects the poets interest in the transformative and generative power of language. The critic concluded that Baca "is a freshly aggressive poet of many abilities. Do you know, brother, that you are a noun ???!! Stand. Read reviews and buy The Importance of a Piece of Paper - by Jimmy Santiago Baca (Paperback) at Target. Teacher and lecturer at universities. Jimmy Santiago Baca. They received him really well, especially at San Fernando Juvenile Hall, Gamboa said. Jimmy Santiago Baca (2007). He had come here to talk with directors at the Los Angeles Theatre Center about the possibility of having one of his plays produced. He taught himself in his cell. Orphaned from an early age, knowing only poverty and street violence, he eventually fell in with a bad crowd, got convicted and spent six and a half years in prison. I remember going with him and watching him set up the milking machines, preparing and feeding the cows, and of coarse, cleaning the stanchions. The latter work, a story of Chicano gang culture in East Los Angeles, was rather controversial for its depiction of violence. I have been hailed by some of the most severe critics in the country. And I believe that we the people can make it happen and raise our children in a way that allows them to love who they are. . Later, his mother was murdered by her second husband and his father died of alcoholism. He was convicted on drug charges in 1973 and spent five years in prison. Los tres hijos de Julia (play; title means "The Three Sons of Julia"; also see below), first produced at Los Angeles Theatre Center, spring, 1991. Baca has read from his work and provided an interview for a sound recording in the Archive of Hispanic Literature on Tape at the Library of Congress, 2004. Name one Iraqi poet, one Iraqi woman activist, one Iraqi singer. 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