SANTiAGO BACA. I know your a busy man but I would like to one day have the pleasure of meeting you in person and hopefully getting the help to get back to my writing. You mentioned a poem your friend wrote on a trip to the ghost ranch, i cant find it and i was wondering if you could send it to me! Thus, I was very touched to find that you saw and recognized the heroism and guts of those steelworkers, that you saw the need for them to express who they were as unique craftsmen who gave their all to be the best at what they did--and got nothing in return. They realize that someone else has gone through the fire, and survived. A Place to Stand is a documentary adaptation of award-winning poet Jimmy Santiago Baca's best-selling memoir of the same name. The poet Will Inman published Mr. Baca's poetry in his 1977 anthology Fired Up with You: Poems of a Niagara Vision (Border Press), one of the earliest anthologies to include Jimmy Santiago Baca's poems. I guarantee you will not be disappointed with some of these. New Mexico native Jimmy Santiago Baca reading some of his work as the 2011 Elizabeth Bishop Poetry Series Poet at Vassar College on November 14, 2011. Based on the memoir of the same name, A Place to Stand takes viewers into Jimmy’s past and present to uncover how the power of the written word lifted him from the violence and pain that had defined his early life. I don't kno if u remember but about 4 years ago u visited charlotte high school in punta gorda florida and a poem of mine was shared to u and u came out to a juvenile program where we were able to visit and I talked to u. I was given your books to borrow from a teacher and a place to stand was one of my favorite books. His story just resonated seismically with me. I guarantee you will not be disappointed with some of these. and I hope to hear form u soon. The reason I am writing, Jimmy, is that I played that clip for my students and, to help them get in touch with imagery and the abstract, I asked them to draw pictures depicting, essentially, whatever word/phrase leapt out at them. Mr. Baca reads selections from his work before an audience at La Jolla's Sherwood Auditorium. For Jimmy Santiago Baca, it seemed every day was his point of no return. ©2016 by Jimmy Santiago Baca and Cedar Tree, Inc. Website by Unity Design, "A film based on the critically acclaimed memoir, of one of America's greatest living poets.". I was told I had an amazing writing talent. A Place to Stand is the amazing true story of how Jimmy Santiago Baca —a man with seemingly no future— became a celebrated teacher, poet, novelist, and screenwriter. You are a man of many dimensions; I just discovered that you had done a writing workshop for steelworkers at the Indiana plant. THANK YOU for being that voice and that person for them. The kids are eager to read them. I want to write down all the feelings I have been "holding in" for the past 46 years of my 58 years on this planet. I am studying to become a teacher and I go tutor at a high school and I tell the students about your book because I know it will inspire them too! You are touching so many people in so many different ways; surely this was in God's plan for you. But soon the heartache of having missed so much of life, that had numbed me since I was a child, gave way, as if a grave illness lifted itself from me and I was cured, innocently believing in the beauty of life again. The jangle of his keys and the sharp click of his boot heels intensified my solitude. Never have I been so moved by the written word. This program is limited to student teachers, however, in a credit course. I have always felt the tug to do something for people in the prisons, but have not felt the required urgency until now. Daniel made a documentary about A Place to Standand it has enjoyed notable success nationally. Photo by Lonnie J. Anderson 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. whenever u get this message please feel free to message me back if u have the time. 2: The Lucia Poems. The film was produced by Gabriel Baca, David Gruban, and Andres Salazar [15] The creators of the movie also made a school curriculum to strengthen and highlight the morals within Baca's life story, containing a workbook and films.  Even though I was in the marines I had a harable time while I was in mainly because I really dint want be a cook and I kept getting stuck in the kitchen no matter how many schools I went to to get different jobs Then I went to aphganastan war is harable any way but they then decided that I dint have to cook any more then my girl friend died then my grand father died I couldnt leave for either one I couldnt get ahold of anyone from home all I new was that a plane had gone down in PA so I thought my hole family was dead. I stumblingly repeated the author’s name as I fell asleep, saying it over and over in the dark: Words-worth, Words-worth.”, (“Lock and Key” from Working in the Dark: Reflections of a Poet of the Barrio, pg. Topics include poetry, culture, education, and more! At every turn, Jimmy was alone… until one kind act changed the way he saw the world, and himself. He sold these poems to fellow inmates in exchange for cigarettes. 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. I am a huge fan of yours. He provided fire. I want to write down all the feelings I have been "holding in" for the past 46 years of my 58 years on this planet. Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Mexico They were so hopeful after seeing  A Place to Stand. I came across it on poetrypoetry.com. I started reading "A Place to Stand" day before yesterday...I couldn't put it down so needless to say, I finished it within 18 hours. They need that message from someone who has been there. BTW, the young girl in the video is his daughter, Lucia. One day, I will meet you and get your autograph. This is written by a non-traditional student whose hopelessness came out in sarcasm throughout most of the semester: "I really enjoyed the seminar today I heard other people complaining that he was nothing but a thug wich made me enjoy it even more. He has conducted hundreds of writing workshops in prisons, community centers, libraries and universities throughout the country.Baca is the winner of the Pushcart Prize, the American Book Award, the International Hispanic Heritage Award and, for his memoir "A Place to Stand," the prestigious International Award. For Jimmy Santiago Baca, it seemed every day was his point of no return. I am an English teacher at Fairview High School in Boulder, Colorado. ... Cedar Tree has produced two documentary films Clamor en Chino and Moving the River Back Home. The book profoundly changed my thinking about reading, writing and human experience. This page was last edited on 10 October 2020, at 10:29. Sincerely, In 1987, his semi-autobiographical minor epic in verse, Martin & Meditations on the South Valley, received the American Book Award for poetry, bringing Baca international acclaim and, in 1989, the Hispanic Heritage Award in Literature. ©2016 by Jimmy Santiago Baca and Cedar Tree, Inc. Website by. A Place to Stand Documentary. He told the others she had dogs, etc and to move on. Just think of the strength and joy you'll be giving them in their cells--it's such a gift! (candidate) Thank you for listening. As well as writing workshops, Cedar Tree has produced two documentary films Clamor en Chino and Moving the River Back Home. And thank, too, for the books. Truthfully the world needs more down to earth people like you to inspire youth and give a better understanding of peace. Jimmy Santiago Baca - On Writing Stories from the Edge. Thank you for listening. I was toiling away in graduate school and searching in earnest for some fire. I am hoping I will have some success there because these students are so young and do not know what it means to work until you are required to go past what a human body was meant to endure. ​ Fusing Jimmy Santiago Baca's talents as a writer of memoir with ReLeah Cossett Lents expertise in building and empowering classroom communities, Adolescents on the Edge offers a completely new approach to reaching at-risk adolescents. My students are enthusiastic about the idea of sending you their pictures, but they are concerned that you will feel weird about it - they don't want you to feel invaded, and they don't want to bring back bad memories for you. His "memoir", A Place to Stand (2001), chronicles his troubled youth and the five-year jail-stint that brought about his personal transformation. The organization employs ex-offenders as interns. One guy said that he always thought poetry was "only for girls and rich people!" I always had thought reading a waste of time, that nothing could be gained by it. I wanted to just give testimony to the kind of impact that Mr. Baca has had on me and my teaching practice. I'd say keep doing what your doing but i think your well aware of your impact on this world, have a good day. So thanks again, hermano. Your presentation at NCC last week was so wonderfully personal and inclusive...everybody left feeling like they had made a friend. He vowed one day to own that home and after years of personal challenges and success he did end up owning that home. I first came to write poetry as a young man in prison. ", A suite of effective poetry-driven tools for teachers, writers, at-risk students, inmates, and ex-convicts, Filmed by multiple Emmy winner Chris Schueler, Poems Written and Read by Jimmy Santiago Baca, Purchase Single Videos or Subscribe Monthly, Presented by Jimmy Santiago Baca & Special Guests.