He was illiterate when he arrived at the Arizona State Prison. WORK IN PROGRESS: A Glass of Water, a novel for Grove; Hand Signs and Closing the Circle, sequels to Set this Book on Fire!, for Cedar Hill. Jimmy Santiago Baca Jimmy Santiago Baca was born in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Thats what it is, and thats what you are, and those truths are with you and if youre stripped of everything, you cant shake yourself from those. While serving a five-year sentence in a maximum security prison, he learned to read and began to turn his life around, eventually emerging as a prolific artist of the spoken and written word. Then is when the struggle begins, the true struggle. The wife wanted more freedom, a bigger mansion. The mansion could represent her need for more things. Notes Toward A Journalism Of Consciousness. BACA: Oh, it was pretty much of an urchin life. He loves to feel himself breathe and run and play basketball or baseball. 19-20. Salt (1962) If they were taught to be racist or violent, language has this amazing ability to unteach all that, and make them question it. He taught himself in his cell. "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. SUN: You didnt write anything before then? Jimmy Santiago Baca Home Page, http://www.jimmysantiagobaca.com (September 21, 2005). Trying to balance work and family is a labor of love. Personal First came reading (from an anthology stolen from a jail guard): It was late when I returned to my cell. Im not content to look at nature as Thoreau might have, or as a scientist might have. Hudson Review, summer, 1989, Liam Rector, review of Martin and Meditations on the South Valley, pp. Booklist contributor Donna Seaman concluded, "Baca's harrowing story will stand among the world's most moving testimonies to the profound value of literature. They come three times a day and open up a little gate on the door and pass you your tray and close it back up again. 
Ilan Stavans of Nation found, "overall the work is stunning, the product of a poet in control of his craft, one worth paying attention to. Whats terrifying is that they are building a lot more prisons. Throughout the poem, Bca used electricity as his controlling image. First came reading (from an anthology stolen from a jail guard): It was late when I returned to my cell. Nobody else knows about it. Baca: A Poet Emerges from Prison of His Past. I remember I was sitting there at the window and the sun was coming in. Santiago Baca lives in Albuquerque with his wife and two teenagers. 
I was more fearful of being evil than I was of getting hurt or being in prison or killing somebody. He closed the door and refused to let me out because he thought Id left earth. And they happen to be working in a prison because its not a job an intelligent man would want. Jimmy made it out and came to live in North Carolina with Hurdle Mills poet Virginia Rudder. In the Way of the Sun, Grove Press (New York, NY), 1997. . I was directed to that as the only salvation I had. 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." The threats were often carried out. Some human beings are like animals caught in traps. 
WebSantiago Baca lives in Albuquerque with his wife and two teenagers. How? He has two older children as well. . I just try to stay within the rules of the earth, within the boundaries of dignity. He wrote the popular 1993 screenplay for the movie Blood In Blood Out aka Bound By Honor. Swords of Darkness (poetry), Mango Publications (San Jose, CA), 1981. WebJimmy Santiago Baca is an award-winning American poet and writer of Chicano descent. I had people from death row giving me the books that they were reading after they read them. I had correspondences with other writers that were writing me after I learned how to write. He has two older children as well. You must live intensely, each moment, recognizing new feelings and new ideas about you and the world around and perceiving those with the innocence of a child and the vigor of a wise man. Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, TX), March 17, 2004, Cecil Johnson, "Collection Confirms NM Poet's Reputation as a Writer for the People.". Working in the Dark: Reflections of a Poet of the Barrio (poetry, stories, and essays), Red Crane Books, 1992. Writing in the American Book Review, Ron Arias commended the poet's skill and versatility: "At times [Baca] can be terse, narrowly focused, directly to the point. Ordinary people are often the ones who invent and improve on older models. 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. 175-177. ADDRESSES: HomeAlbuquerque, NM. Saturday, September 20th from 5:30 6:30 p.m. At the age of 13 he ran away and Agentc/o Author Mail, New Directions Publishing, 80 8th Ave., New York, NY 10011. His semiautobiographical novel in I didnt even know how to write a letter, how to address a letter, Id never even used a stamp before. If prison elevates strength, then you have to be weak. Other times he can resemble an exuberant Walt Whitman in the long-lined rhythm and sweep of his emotionsexpansive, wordy, even conversational." The guards get to know what youre like, and you find out what theyre like, and you find out that after work, they just go have a beer and go home, and that they need money, and they are very dumb. A mercifully brief memoir of the Pushcart Prize and American Book Awardwinning Hispanic poets criminal past, and his agonizingly slow discovery of the redemptive power of writing while serving a prison term. If you want to live, you breathe.". Jimmy Santiago Baca. Jimmy Santiago Baca (born January 2, 1952 in Santa Fe, New Mexico) is a Chicano-American poet and writer. The more of a reputation you have in prison, the better off you are. Abandoned by his parents at the age of two, he lived with one of his grandparents for several years before being placed in an orphanage. I wanted to know why it devoured my family and answer the question: why was my family ravaged by a society that refused to accept an indigenous peopleoppressed by vigilantes, military scavengers, homesteaders, pioneers, looters, land speculators, politicians and bankers. When I became 15, or so, I did search for a mother unconsciously and I found that in the nuns, in authority. The work that I began very early on was a homage to those who were silenced by oppression. He will also share a clip of the forthcoming. And damn if it didnt work. There are people there who, if you let them out of their cells, would slash the first person they see. WebBorn 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. Thats why you see so much shallow conversation, shallow people, shallow culture. Theyre good people. Most of the time our farm and animals are also a labor of love, They have such a reverence for language. WebBorn 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. 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. INTRODUCTION I wanted to know how to function in this world. 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. 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. We love getting letters to the editor for our Correspondence section. 
I wrote to explain certain things to myself. I saw a prison cell, and I knew I was destined to go there. The wife wanted more freedom, a bigger mansion. The mansion could represent her need for more things. 
Jimmy Santiago Baca. He does that, they give him a hundred and fifty, two hundred dollars. By facilitating this Smashing The Pipeline From School to Prison Summit I want to give back what Ive been gifted, blessed and honored with. WebBorn 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. SUN: The system meaning also the gang system, as well as the official system? (laughs) Sure enough it frightened me. Library Journal, October 15, 1987, p. 83; May 1, 2001, Nedra C. Evers, review of A Place to Stand, p. 82; January, 2004, Jack Shreve, review of The Importance of a Piece of Paper, p. 161; July, 2004, Barbara Hoffert, review of Winter Poems along the Rio Grande, p. 87. Molly Worthen On The Modern Search For Meaning. Baca began writing poetry and, at the behest of a fellow inmate, sent his works to Mother Jones magazine. Americas Review, fall-winter, 1988, pp. Theres a tremendous tragic boredom that goes from me to the object Im looking at and back to me, because I know it can be explained scientifically, philosophically and poetically but I know that there is also another explanation lurking within me that will bring out a tremendous exuberance of exploding feeling and thats what Im looking for. And yet I find out later that they were fucking the kids and that they were forced to be nuns by their parents and I find out that there is no justice, or very little of it, and that all these supposed judges who get together at night clubs are just as assinine as a bunch of idiots that get together in some bar or somewhere and decide to talk about their conquests of all the women. Santiago Baca lives in Albuquerque with his wife and two teenagers. And thats the way I tried to live. Healing Earthquakes: A Love Story in Poems, Grove Press (New York, NY), 2001. WebJimmy Santiago Bca chose to use a controlling image to symbolize a relationship that went from good to bad. Times Staff Writer. 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." I was approached by some people that saw me and instinctively they knew that I could help them in some way just by talking to them and they knew that I wouldnt take advantage of them. WebSantiago Baca lives in Albuquerque with his wife and two teenagers. Baca's most recent novel is A Glass of Water (2009). I went to the vast, vast extremities, of what stood against prison. He was illiterate when he arrived at the Arizona State Prison. Hed never read a book and didnt know how to write. BACA: No. SUN: How did you deal with 30 days in solitary? A new anthology of his work called Singing at the Gates tells the story of his life in poetry, from prison to renown. Raised by his grandmother and later sent to an orphanage, he became a runaway by age 13. Its inevitable that you know. People, September 30, 2003, "Second Acts," p. 123. The Ring in the Bells Steel: Learning to Trust our Voices. I just told him I wanted to be left alone in my cell. He has written 31 books of poems, essays and stories. When I went to prison, not in my whole life had I ever read a book. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. AUTHOR COMMENTARY His many honors include the Pushcart Prize, the American Book Award, the International Hispanic Heritage Award and the prestigious International Award. PRINCIPAL 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. WebJimmy Santiago Baca (born January 2, 1952) is an American poet, memoirist, and screenwriter from New Mexico. I wanted to learn how to read and to write and to understand. You dont do anything. He taught himself in his cell. 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." Jimmy Santiago Baca went into a maximum security prison in Arizona at the age of 22 to serve five years for selling drugs. I try to mix the moon with the sun, and the stars with the water. www.cityscape8.com, Kym Sheehan Trying to balance work and family is a labor of love. Poet, writer, educator Many people, when they realize theyre doomed, dont accept it. You cannot expect grown men to go without sex to be barked at like they were children or to be locked up in eight-by-nine foot cells. I am continually caught in disbelief that people that I once esteemed without knowing them can really be such utter fools and ignorant of their own selves. 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. Hed never read a book and didnt know how to write. He also crossed the leaders of a powerful extortion gang, which operated with the knowledge, and cooperation, of prison authorities. Feb. 15, 1989 12 AM PT. I never felt myself to be in a predicament even though I had no home. Not knowing how to read and write leads to not knowing where windows come from, how cars are made, how people pay for cars. Its indelible upon existence. What's Happening (poetry), Curbstone Press (Willimantic, CT), 1982. I could hear the jailer making his rounds on the other tiers. He has written 31 books of poems, essays and stories. But select a place you want to go. 
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Ilan Stavans of Nation found, "overall the work is stunning, the product of a poet in control of his craft, one worth paying attention to. Whats terrifying is that they are building a lot more prisons. Throughout the poem, Bca used electricity as his controlling image. First came reading (from an anthology stolen from a jail guard): It was late when I returned to my cell. Nobody else knows about it. Baca: A Poet Emerges from Prison of His Past. I remember I was sitting there at the window and the sun was coming in. Santiago Baca lives in Albuquerque with his wife and two teenagers. I was more fearful of being evil than I was of getting hurt or being in prison or killing somebody. He closed the door and refused to let me out because he thought Id left earth. And they happen to be working in a prison because its not a job an intelligent man would want. Jimmy made it out and came to live in North Carolina with Hurdle Mills poet Virginia Rudder. In the Way of the Sun, Grove Press (New York, NY), 1997. . I was directed to that as the only salvation I had. 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." The threats were often carried out. Some human beings are like animals caught in traps. WebSantiago Baca lives in Albuquerque with his wife and two teenagers. How? He has two older children as well. . I just try to stay within the rules of the earth, within the boundaries of dignity. He wrote the popular 1993 screenplay for the movie Blood In Blood Out aka Bound By Honor. Swords of Darkness (poetry), Mango Publications (San Jose, CA), 1981. WebJimmy Santiago Baca is an award-winning American poet and writer of Chicano descent. I had people from death row giving me the books that they were reading after they read them. I had correspondences with other writers that were writing me after I learned how to write. He has two older children as well. You must live intensely, each moment, recognizing new feelings and new ideas about you and the world around and perceiving those with the innocence of a child and the vigor of a wise man. Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, TX), March 17, 2004, Cecil Johnson, "Collection Confirms NM Poet's Reputation as a Writer for the People.". Working in the Dark: Reflections of a Poet of the Barrio (poetry, stories, and essays), Red Crane Books, 1992. Writing in the American Book Review, Ron Arias commended the poet's skill and versatility: "At times [Baca] can be terse, narrowly focused, directly to the point. Ordinary people are often the ones who invent and improve on older models. 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. 175-177. ADDRESSES: HomeAlbuquerque, NM. Saturday, September 20th from 5:30 6:30 p.m. At the age of 13 he ran away and Agentc/o Author Mail, New Directions Publishing, 80 8th Ave., New York, NY 10011. His semiautobiographical novel in I didnt even know how to write a letter, how to address a letter, Id never even used a stamp before. If prison elevates strength, then you have to be weak. Other times he can resemble an exuberant Walt Whitman in the long-lined rhythm and sweep of his emotionsexpansive, wordy, even conversational." The guards get to know what youre like, and you find out what theyre like, and you find out that after work, they just go have a beer and go home, and that they need money, and they are very dumb. A mercifully brief memoir of the Pushcart Prize and American Book Awardwinning Hispanic poets criminal past, and his agonizingly slow discovery of the redemptive power of writing while serving a prison term. If you want to live, you breathe.". Jimmy Santiago Baca. Jimmy Santiago Baca (born January 2, 1952 in Santa Fe, New Mexico) is a Chicano-American poet and writer. The more of a reputation you have in prison, the better off you are. Abandoned by his parents at the age of two, he lived with one of his grandparents for several years before being placed in an orphanage. I wanted to know why it devoured my family and answer the question: why was my family ravaged by a society that refused to accept an indigenous peopleoppressed by vigilantes, military scavengers, homesteaders, pioneers, looters, land speculators, politicians and bankers. When I became 15, or so, I did search for a mother unconsciously and I found that in the nuns, in authority. The work that I began very early on was a homage to those who were silenced by oppression. He will also share a clip of the forthcoming. And damn if it didnt work. There are people there who, if you let them out of their cells, would slash the first person they see. WebBorn 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. Thats why you see so much shallow conversation, shallow people, shallow culture. Theyre good people. Most of the time our farm and animals are also a labor of love, They have such a reverence for language. WebBorn 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. 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. INTRODUCTION I wanted to know how to function in this world. 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. 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. We love getting letters to the editor for our Correspondence section. I wrote to explain certain things to myself. I saw a prison cell, and I knew I was destined to go there. The wife wanted more freedom, a bigger mansion. The mansion could represent her need for more things. Jimmy Santiago Baca. He does that, they give him a hundred and fifty, two hundred dollars. By facilitating this Smashing The Pipeline From School to Prison Summit I want to give back what Ive been gifted, blessed and honored with. WebBorn 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. SUN: The system meaning also the gang system, as well as the official system? (laughs) Sure enough it frightened me. Library Journal, October 15, 1987, p. 83; May 1, 2001, Nedra C. Evers, review of A Place to Stand, p. 82; January, 2004, Jack Shreve, review of The Importance of a Piece of Paper, p. 161; July, 2004, Barbara Hoffert, review of Winter Poems along the Rio Grande, p. 87. Molly Worthen On The Modern Search For Meaning. Baca began writing poetry and, at the behest of a fellow inmate, sent his works to Mother Jones magazine. Americas Review, fall-winter, 1988, pp. Theres a tremendous tragic boredom that goes from me to the object Im looking at and back to me, because I know it can be explained scientifically, philosophically and poetically but I know that there is also another explanation lurking within me that will bring out a tremendous exuberance of exploding feeling and thats what Im looking for. And yet I find out later that they were fucking the kids and that they were forced to be nuns by their parents and I find out that there is no justice, or very little of it, and that all these supposed judges who get together at night clubs are just as assinine as a bunch of idiots that get together in some bar or somewhere and decide to talk about their conquests of all the women. Santiago Baca lives in Albuquerque with his wife and two teenagers. And thats the way I tried to live. Healing Earthquakes: A Love Story in Poems, Grove Press (New York, NY), 2001. WebJimmy Santiago Bca chose to use a controlling image to symbolize a relationship that went from good to bad. Times Staff Writer. 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." I was approached by some people that saw me and instinctively they knew that I could help them in some way just by talking to them and they knew that I wouldnt take advantage of them. WebSantiago Baca lives in Albuquerque with his wife and two teenagers. Baca's most recent novel is A Glass of Water (2009). I went to the vast, vast extremities, of what stood against prison. He was illiterate when he arrived at the Arizona State Prison. Hed never read a book and didnt know how to write. BACA: No. SUN: How did you deal with 30 days in solitary? A new anthology of his work called Singing at the Gates tells the story of his life in poetry, from prison to renown. Raised by his grandmother and later sent to an orphanage, he became a runaway by age 13. Its inevitable that you know. People, September 30, 2003, "Second Acts," p. 123. The Ring in the Bells Steel: Learning to Trust our Voices. I just told him I wanted to be left alone in my cell. He has written 31 books of poems, essays and stories. When I went to prison, not in my whole life had I ever read a book. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. AUTHOR COMMENTARY His many honors include the Pushcart Prize, the American Book Award, the International Hispanic Heritage Award and the prestigious International Award. PRINCIPAL 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. WebJimmy Santiago Baca (born January 2, 1952) is an American poet, memoirist, and screenwriter from New Mexico. I wanted to learn how to read and to write and to understand. You dont do anything. He taught himself in his cell. 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." Jimmy Santiago Baca went into a maximum security prison in Arizona at the age of 22 to serve five years for selling drugs. I try to mix the moon with the sun, and the stars with the water. www.cityscape8.com, Kym Sheehan Trying to balance work and family is a labor of love. Poet, writer, educator Many people, when they realize theyre doomed, dont accept it. You cannot expect grown men to go without sex to be barked at like they were children or to be locked up in eight-by-nine foot cells. I am continually caught in disbelief that people that I once esteemed without knowing them can really be such utter fools and ignorant of their own selves. 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. Hed never read a book and didnt know how to write. He also crossed the leaders of a powerful extortion gang, which operated with the knowledge, and cooperation, of prison authorities. Feb. 15, 1989 12 AM PT. I never felt myself to be in a predicament even though I had no home. Not knowing how to read and write leads to not knowing where windows come from, how cars are made, how people pay for cars. Its indelible upon existence. What's Happening (poetry), Curbstone Press (Willimantic, CT), 1982. I could hear the jailer making his rounds on the other tiers. He has written 31 books of poems, essays and stories. But select a place you want to go. Youre enclosed like an animal. But you cant look to the institutions of learning for the moral way of living. 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