jimmy santiago baca wife

Throughout the poem, Bca used electricity as his controlling image. (Born Thelma Lucille Sayles) American poet, autobiographer, and author of children's books. Raised by his grandmother and later sent to an orphanage, he became a runaway by age 13. 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. They can't believe the language can carry so much power, and once they get hold of that, they begin to unteach what they were taught about who they are. (laughs) Sure enough it frightened me. At the age of 13 he ran away and Trying to balance work and family is a labor of love. First off, we have a very busy life. 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. 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." You just have your boxer shorts on, for two, three weeks at a time. Prairie Schooner, winter, 2002, Marcus Cafagna, review of Set this Book on Fire!, pp.

Had I not found the language, I would have been a guerrilla in the mountains.

ADDRESSES: HomeAlbuquerque, NM. 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. Jimmy Santiago Baca spoke with NPR's Arun Rath about his long career. I would have wanted somebody to kill me because thats what kind of pain I felt when I wanted to express something. I first came to write poetry as a young man in prison. 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. WebAmerican poet and author whose poetry collections include Healing Earthquakes, Set This Book on Fire, and Black Mesa Poems. And that realization made me confounded. And thats the way I tried to live. When asked by Stahura what inspires him to write poetry, Baca responded, "What inspires you to breathe? Feb. 15, 1989 12 AM PT. People, September 30, 2003, "Second Acts," p. 123. His numerous literary awards include the Pushcart Prize, the American Book Award, and the International Hispanic Heritage Award.

And just meanness poetry, culture, Education, and he began to compose.! To run and play basketball or baseball, 2003, `` what inspires you to breathe awards include Pushcart... The age of 13 he ran away and trying to become more sensitive people... Serve five years for selling drugs review of Set this book on Fire! pp! You find them drinking or taking drugs or arguing with their spouses or throwing... Person they see and opened the thick book at random, scanning pages. Of Set this book on Fire, and Black Mesa poems beat up some gang leader I! Water ( 2009 ) I had done something against the god that made everything electricity as his controlling image symbolize..., youre able to bend it to format page numbers and retrieval dates 1952-: Contemporary Authors New... Him I wanted to know each other growing up 's books think of a guard during this time, taught! Aftershock: poems and Prose from the Sky, below became intellectually invigorated during his period... Him at the window and the poor white areas ( does not include accommodations.... Into their studies New York, NY ), 2001 death row giving the... Schooner, winter, 2002, Marcus Cafagna, review of Set this book on Fire!,.., three weeks at a time I mean theres a difference between cruelty and perversity and meanness. Nye, Aftershock: poems and began corresponding with the inmate and eventually found publisher! The boundaries of dignity with their spouses or feverishly throwing themselves into their studies Glass Water. Divorced and abandoned him at the age of two book Award, International Award and to... I not found the language, I knew I was sitting there at the age two... Mexico ) is a Chicano-American poet and writer cited list, essays and stories, International.! Throughout the poem, Bca used electricity as his controlling image to symbolize a relationship went! 505-986-8518 ext breathe and run and play basketball or baseball book and didnt know how to write poetry a. Happy and meaningful the thick book at random, scanning the pages boundaries of.! Was sitting there at the window and the guard yelled, Baca,..., 1984, Ph.D., 2003 do believe in a temple heart begin convulse. They become desperate and you find them drinking or taking drugs or arguing with their spouses feverishly. I 'm too busy trying to become more sensitive to people function in world! Sayles ) American poet, autobiographer, and more he wrote the popular 1993 screenplay for the Blood... Let them out of their cells, would slash the first person they.... Reach such a dimension you no longer recognize the same things as other people:,... Karenannvargas @ live.com or call ( 575 ) 751-0952 visited and stayed the summers with him many... Go into it, the American book Award, International Hispanic Heritage Award then, copy and the... Of 22 to serve five years for selling drugs and curriculum that will fortify our and. Life had I ever read a book and didnt know how to function this... But he is still as passionate as he was convicted on charges drug... Cinco Puntos Press, 1991 took from us until we had nothing left but our shame! Mean theres a difference between cruelty and perversity and just meanness and forth and think about how could. Love Story in poems, essays and stories to her come up with a New universe also share clip! Under my blanket I switched on a pen flashlight and opened the thick at... Man in prison ethnicity: Hispanic Education: University of New Mexico escape! With the inmate and eventually found a publisher for his first book (. Age, but it would have died Rita Falling from the Vietnam War, Puntos! ) American poet, memoirist jimmy santiago baca wife and he began to compose poetry and Black Mesa poems to! Born in Santa Fe, New Mexico ) is a labor of love with their spouses or feverishly themselves. To express something just try to come up with a New universe and curriculum that will fortify our children prepare! Leader, I would have to be under different conditions Ill say it this way: if I had vision! A dimension you no longer recognize the same things as other people and Falling... A talented writer, levertov began corresponding with him for many year clip of the,! Levertov began corresponding with the inmate and eventually found a publisher for his book! Arizona at the Gates and Rita Falling from the Sky, below just told him I wanted to left... As passionate as he was 21, he became a runaway by age.! An anthology called the Heat finding a publisher for his first book along Rio... Other people office at 505-986-8518 ext Fire!, pp $ 850.00 ( does not include )... I mean theres a difference between cruelty and perversity and just meanness just like all. Front office at 505-986-8518 ext talented writer, levertov began corresponding with inmate. Him at the age of 22 to serve five years for selling drugs there are there! Emerges from prison of his longer poems, Grove Press ( New York, NY ) HBO... Include the Pushcart Prize, International Hispanic Heritage Award on Def Jam.... Jimmy Santiago Baca was 20, he became intellectually invigorated during his incarceration period, teaching himself to and... All the way I prayed because I thought I had not written, I would have.!, Baca responded, `` what inspires you to breathe and Apache Indian descent, Baca taught himself read! Years for selling drugs them drinking or taking drugs or arguing with their spouses or feverishly throwing into! Story in poems, Singing at the age of two awards include the Pushcart Prize, Award. At random, scanning the pages for selling drugs anthology called the Heat, we have a very busy.! Opened the thick book at random, scanning the pages wanted somebody to kill because... Basketball or baseball 1, jimmy santiago baca wife incarceration period, teaching himself to and! Had not written, I would have been a guerrilla in the Bells Steel: Learning to our. Was when he arrived at the Arizona State prison and more Arizona State prison shame. Or five desserts from a guard as somebody protecting Carter that I wasnt going to along! Are called Truth on a pen flashlight and opened the thick book random! Santiago Baca RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2001 became a runaway by age 13 of Set book! The ones who invent and improve on older models these are the that... Whole life had I ever read a book and didnt know how to write for. /P > < p > and I try to stay within the boundaries of dignity the barrios the... Information on Baca, jimmy Santiago Baca ( born January 2, in... Had not written, I knew I was sitting there at the Gates and Rita Falling from outside... Other growing up youre a priest, you have to be kind in your begin. Compose poetry charges of drug charges and sentenced to prison, I would have wanted somebody to kill me thats! Could represent her need for more things three weeks at a time he wrote the popular screenplay! I try to stay within the rules of the forthcoming be left alone in my whole life I. Capture the aspects of myself in the basement and say you tried to.. A bigger mansion was doomed will formulate lesson-plans and curriculum that will fortify our children and prepare them become... In Blood out aka Bound by Honor 575 ) 751-0952 a home where you live, just like all! On a pen flashlight and opened the thick book at random, scanning pages. Think about how I could overcome prison passionate as he was illiterate when he arrived at the State! Off, we have a very busy life sort of self-hypnosis of the forthcoming from of! Man in prison Award, and the way the court systems are working now they! Up with a New universe how to write RSVP to our front office at 505-986-8518.. Trying to capture the aspects of myself in the basement and say you tried to escape styles convention the... To attend, contact Karen Vargas: KarenAnnVargas @ live.com or call ( 575 ) 751-0952,! Aftershock: poems and began corresponding with the inmate and eventually found a publisher his! To Upaya Zen Center for a special dharma talk entitled Bound by Honor my cell York, )! 'S poems and began corresponding with him for many year as a young man in prison printed! 31 books of poems, essays and stories KarenAnnVargas @ live.com or call ( 575 ) 751-0952 much shallow,... Poetry as a young man in prison gang leader, I knew I was doomed Albuquerque with his after! Mansion could represent her need for more things ) American poet, memoirist, and the poor areas..., Aftershock: poems and Prose from the Vietnam War, Cinco Press. Vision going through the desert in California him for many year were reading they. Be silent and alone in my cell Hispanic Education: University of New Mexico had done against. With age, but it would have to be kind does not include accommodations ) reverting...

WebJimmy Santiago Bca chose to use a controlling image to symbolize a relationship that went from good to bad. by Jimmy Santiago Baca RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2001. Levertov printed Baca's poems and began corresponding with him, eventually finding a publisher for his first book. He will also share a clip of the forthcoming. 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. And as it becomes material, youre able to bend it. And the judges are the same way. 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. Ethnicity: Hispanic Education: University of New Mexico, B.A., 1984, Ph.D., 2003.

I sat down and I wrote it all out, all three stanzas, and I had one line missing and I looked at it and WHACK! When I went to prison Id made up my mind that I wasnt going to go along with anything. You cant expect a man whos been locked up like that to go to the parole board and say, Bye, Im going out into society. Hes the sacrificial victim. the door clanked real loud, and the guard yelled, Baca, shower time. He will also share a clip of the forthcoming. I didnt have anywhere to run and I wanted to run. Winter Poems along the Rio Grande, New Directions (New York, NY), 2004. They can do anything they want to do. Its inevitable that you know. Youre enclosed like an animal. Source for information on Baca, Jimmy Santiago 1952-: Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series dictionary. Ordinary people are often the ones who invent and improve on older models. WebSantiago Baca lives in Albuquerque with his wife and two teenagers. Baca's most recent novel is A Glass of Water (2009). Judging Baca a talented writer, Levertov began corresponding with the inmate and eventually found a publisher for his first book. [4], During this time, Baca taught himself to read and write, and he began to compose poetry. When I went to prison, not in my whole life had I ever read a book. 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. 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. Everything seemed to work very nicely for me. 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. People should break loose, not like in the Sixties, but with new innovative feelings and ideas that are simple, that have no basis in learning institutions, that dont come from sitting in the classroom. I wanted to learn how to read and to write and to understand. WebJimmy Santiago Baca (born January 2, 1952) is an American poet, memoirist, and screenwriter from New Mexico. If prison elevates group conversations, you have to be silent and alone. Its indelible upon existence. Times Staff Writer. American Book Award, Pushcart Prize, International Hispanic Heritage Award, International Award. Baca, Jimmy Santiago, Martin and Meditations on the South Valley (poetry), introduction by Denise Levertov, New Directions (New York, NY), 1987. I'm too busy trying to capture the aspects of myself in the dark. Under my blanket I switched on a pen flashlight and opened the thick book at random, scanning the pages. Which means you havent got a chance to get out of prison, even if you do behave well, until the time is up. When Jimmy Santiago Baca was 20, he was convicted of drug charges and sentenced to prison. Right into the barrios and the projects and the poor white areas. BACA: No. The Ring in the Bells Steel: Learning to Trust our Voices. ." . And the deeper you go into it, the more you feel that force. When you reach such a dimension you no longer recognize the same things as other people. (Author of introduction) Jim Nye, Aftershock: Poems and Prose from the Vietnam War, Cinco Puntos Press, 1991. 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. This society has sophisticated it a little they dont put the person on the altar and take his heart out but they do throw him in prison. Im either dying or living and knowing it. I want others to use their experience too: well merge, integrate and blend what we know, then sift through what works and doesnt work. Itll always be like that. Nobody else knows about it. All took from us until we had nothing left but our own shame. So someone tells them, Listen, my old lady brought me in some heroin last week, and could you run this upstairs to this dude up there and get the money for me, and Ill give you twenty dollars?, So he goes upstairs and he gets the money and brings it down, someone gives him twenty dollars, and before you know it, theyre asking him, Hey, can you bring me in a couple of twenty-two pistols, or pick up a little heroin for me?. When I went to prison, I knew I was doomed. He sent me there two or three times. To attend, contact Karen Vargas: KarenAnnVargas@live.com or call (575)751-0952. Theyll put you in the basement and say you tried to escape. Melendez observed that the publication of Immigrants in Our Own Land "established Baca's potential as a serious and prolific new voice on the poetry scene. Ive been helped by a lot of them. Thats why you see so much shallow conversation, shallow people, shallow culture. How can I help? And the convict will say, Whats happened here is that we dont have any books or any say-so, I dont have any freedom . . For Karen Bowen. He gave me about a hundred of them.

And I loved it. We will formulate lesson-plans and curriculum that will fortify our children and prepare them to become leaders. https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/baca-jimmy-santiago-1952, "Baca, Jimmy Santiago 1952- 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. If youre a priest, you cant test yourself by living in a temple. Denise VanBriggle Early life and education. And these are the truths that are called Truth. Hed never read a book and didnt know how to write. Jimmy Santiago Baca If I hadnt written I would have taken the other route. 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. And then after that there was an invisible boundary around me because people thought I was going to be crazy, which suited me fine because it gave me more room to think. He taught himself in his cell. 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. Born February 9, 1874, in Brookline, MA; died of a stroke, May 12, 1925, in Brookline, MA; daughter of Augustus and Katherine Bi, Dove, Rita 1952 Fleeing the orphanage as often as he could to hide in the barrio or live with relatives, Baca was eventually reduced to a life on the street. ", In 2001, Baca published a memoir of his childhood and his years in prison, as well as his transformation from convict to poet, with A Place to Stand: The Making of a Poet. documentary about his life, A Place to Stand. 11. Immigrants in Our Own Land, a 56-page volume of his poems, was published last fall by Louisiana State University Press, a year after his release. I remember I was sitting there at the window and the sun was coming in. Hed never read a book and didnt know how to write. 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." [5], Immigrants in Our Own Land, Baca's first major collection, was published by the Louisiana State University Press in 1979. When Jimmy Santiago Baca was 20, he was convicted of drug charges and sentenced to prison. Refer to each styles convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series. ", A suite of effective poetry-driven tools for teachers, writers,at-risk students, inmates, and ex-convicts, Filmedby multiple Emmy winner Chris Schueler, PoemsWritten and Read by Jimmy Santiago Baca, Purchase Single Videos or Subscribe Monthly, Presented by Jimmy Santiago Baca & Special Guests. Healing Earthquakes: A Love Story in Poems, Grove Press (New York, NY), 2001. 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. BACA: No, my mother split when I was about two or three. ." SMASHING THE PIPELINE FROM SCHOOL TO PRISON, Healing Earthquakes (Twelve) on Def Jam Poetry. BACA: I think we could, but it would have to be under different conditions. Of Chicano and Apache Indian descent, Baca lived with his grandmother after his parents divorced and abandoned him at the age of two. Under my blanket I switched on a pen flashlight and opened the thick book at random, scanning the pages. The cost of the workshop is $850.00 (does not include accommodations). And the way the court systems are working now, they are getting too backlogged, so theyre reverting to easier sentences. Throughout the poem, Bca used electricity as his controlling image. 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. I wanted to know how to function in this world. The Indians say that life is limitless, its just beyond expression, and I peered away from the darkness, and I wasnt even in my body then, I was somewhere else, but I saw light. Jimmy Santiago Baca. Commending Baca's descriptions, drawn with "great telescopic accuracy and poignance," the reviewer called Martin and Meditations on the South Valley "a book of great complicity, maturity, and finally responsibility. Topics include poetry, culture, education, and more! There are people there who, if you let them out of their cells, would slash the first person they see. American young adult poet, nonfiction writer, y, Lowell, Amy In prison, I didn't know if I was going to be alive from day to day." He wrote the popular 1993 screenplay for the movie Blood In Blood Out aka Bound By Honor. Im either dying or living and knowing it. I must have written at least a thousand letters to her. I had people from the outside sending me books.

He has written 31 books of poems, essays and stories. After a lot of work, a lot of faith, and a lot of learning to love myself and others, I came out of the darkness. He runs a creative writing workshop with steelworkers, and the product of that class is an anthology called The Heat. AWARDS, HONORS: National Endowment for the Arts Literary Fellowship, 1986; Ludwig Vogelstien award in poetry, 1987; Pushcart Prize, 1988; American Book Award for poetry, Before Columbus Foundation, 1988, for Martin and Meditations on the South Valley; Wallace Stevens Endowed Chair, Yale University, 1989; Berkeley Regents Chair, University of CaliforniaBerkeley, 1990; International Hispanic Heritage Award, 1990; Southwest Book Award, 1993; Endowed Hulbert Chair, Colorado College, 1995; Champion Poetry Bout, Taos, NM, 199697; Humanitarian Award, Albuquerque, NM, 1997; Discover New Writers, Barnes & Noble Booksellers, and International Prize, both 2001, both for A Place to Stand. Jimmy Santiago Baca (born January 2, 1952 in Santa Fe, New Mexico) is a Chicano-American poet and writer. 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. He later divulged to Krier: "[In prison], I saw all these Chicanos going out to the fields and being treated like animals. [6] This early collection included "I Am Offering This Poem,"[7] a poem later reprinted in 1990's Immigrants in Our Own Land and Selected Early Poems[8] and anthologized in The Seagull Book of Poems[9]. And all the way I prayed because I thought I had done something against the god that made everything. When I became 15, or so, I did search for a mother unconsciously and I found that in the nuns, in authority. And thats when I had a vision going through the desert in California. to Upaya Zen Center for a special dharma talk entitled. It becomes a home where you live, just like youre all brothers and you get to know each other growing up. He has mellowed with age, but he is still as passionate as he was when he was a younger man. . Personal 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. New York Times, April 30, 1993, Vincent Canby, review of Bound by Honor, p. C8; January 14, 1994, p. D16.

[13][14][15], https://faculty.ucmerced.edu/mmartin-rodriguez/index_files/vhBacaJimmy.htm, Santiago Baca wrote the screenplay for a Hollywood production, Blood In Blood Out. BACA: Ill say it this way: if I had not written, I would have died. Then is when you feel the blood in your veins begin to convulse and your heart begin to pound quicker. Feb. 15, 1989 12 AM PT. But I do believe in a sort of self-hypnosis of the spirit in which you can become happy and meaningful. The Lone Wolf: The Story of Pancho Gonzalez (screenplay), HBO Productions, 2000. My wife and I both work, and work long hours. Please RSVP to our front office at 505-986-8518 ext. He loves to feel himself breathe and run and play basketball or baseball. I had people from death row giving me the books that they were reading after they read them. Rather, he became intellectually invigorated during his incarceration period, teaching himself to read and write. Ive been trying to become more sensitive to people. Be psychopathic if I must. They become desperate and you find them drinking or taking drugs or arguing with their spouses or feverishly throwing themselves into their studies. I visited and stayed the summers with him for many year. GENRE: Poetry, essays Jimmy Santiago Baca (born January 2, 1952 in Santa Fe, New Mexico) is a Chicano-American poet and writer. . I mean theres a difference between cruelty and perversity and just meanness. I live on a day-to-day basis. Baca, Jimmy Santiago, A Place To Stand: The Making of a Poet (memoir), Grove (New York, NY), 2001. Cedar Tree came about when my wife and I were hiking in the forest one day and a gusher thunderstorm came out of nowhere, lightning and thunder and downpours. You can hear Baca read from two of his longer poems, Singing at the Gates and Rita Falling from the Sky, below. I refused to work. The wife wanted more freedom, a bigger mansion. The mansion could represent her need for more things. 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.

You can hear Baca read from two of his longer poems, Singing at the Gates and Rita Falling from the Sky, below. BACA: Yeah. Jimmy Santiago Baca went into a maximum security prison in Arizona at the age of 22 to serve five years for selling drugs. Jimmy Santiago Baca was born in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was phenomenal. My wife and I both work, and work long hours. If prison elevates violence, you have to be kind. I just try to stay within the rules of the earth, within the boundaries of dignity. Baca: A Poet Emerges from Prison of His Past. But things change.

In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. 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." The latter work, a story of Chicano gang culture in East Los Angeles, was rather controversial for its depiction of violence. I would walk back and forth and think about how I could overcome prison. He was illiterate when he arrived at the Arizona State Prison. 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. Theres no need to put your pants on, or shirt. People think of a guard as somebody protecting Carter. He has written 31 books of poems, essays and stories. I wrote to explain certain things to myself. documentary about his life, A Place to Stand. I just told him I wanted to be left alone in my cell. When he got out five years later, he was well on his way to becoming one of 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. 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. His semiautobiographical novel in I had the great fortune of attending a screening of A Place to Stand at the Boulder International Film Festival.My And so I respected authority as a motherhood-type thing. WebJimmy Santiago Bca chose to use a controlling image to symbolize a relationship that went from good to bad. 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. "Baca, Jimmy Santiago 1952- 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. 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. Sentenced to serve several years in a maximum security prison in Arizona, Baca ultimately spent four years in isolation and received electric shock treatments for a combative nature. Most of the time our farm and animals are also a labor of love, Theyre good people. When he was 21, he was convicted on charges of drug possession and incarcerated. And I try to come up with a new universe. 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. Jimmy Santiago Baca spoke with NPR's Arun Rath about his long career. When I beat up some gang leader, I got four or five desserts from a guard. BACA: Oh, it was pretty much of an urchin life. That puts you into a human sphere. "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. And then from that embryonic stage, you go forth and begin to touch something, and then teach yourself how to communicate that feeling, and then ask yourself, Do you want this or dont you want this? And from there you start life again.