Rob Baker’s Jimmy Santiago Baca: Poetry as a Lifesaver (Baker 858), writes an interesting story of Chicano poet Jimmy Santiago Baca (who goes by Baca in the story), and the amazing account of a young man’s start at life at the very bottom of society’s ladder, through his many trials and tribulations throughout childhood to his inevitable incarceration in the state’s prison system. Baker takes it one step further in his story as he provides a glimpse of not only the hell this young man must endure while in prison but the chance meeting of an author working through a church outreach program for inmates that forever changed his life. The message of the story to me is that everyone has value and a voice. A person, such as Baca in this story,
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To say that Baca hit rock bottom is an understatement and his time in prison was nothing close to rehabilitating his evil ways, but more designed to slowly kill him through inmate violence or something as simple and plain as boredom. The reference of Dante’s Inferno was especially descriptive of the environment Baca lived in. (860). Baca did not start out book smart, but he also was not dumb. He was street smart and was able to maneuver throughout the many levels of hell without getting himself hurt or worse killed. Out of desperation, Baca accepted a letter from an author that was part of an outreach program. What may have started out as a distraction from prison life became the very catalyst to Baca needed to start climbing out of hell …show more content…
Baker writes that Beca painstakingly taught himself to read and write. The young man that not too many years ago proclaimed that he “hated books, hated reading”, (858) suddenly found himself embracing the art. He continued his correspondence with the writer and was referred to a poet friend. What started out as distraction from everyday prison life became an eye opening, earth shattering realization for Baca. Poetry gave him a voice and an outlet for his emotions. He even stated, ‘Wow! I can actually communicate like this. There are actually people who talk like this and write like this.” (860) Beca is thrilled by this realization and embraces the art to tell his stories. He realized that he had purpose and could help others that are struggling. Beca successfully broke his self-destructive cycle by learning to learning to read and write. He took it one step further by having the courage to expand his intellect through poetry. Beca realized that he not only had value but also a
To say that Baca hit rock bottom is an understatement and his time in prison was nothing close to rehabilitating his evil ways, but more designed to slowly kill him through inmate violence or something as simple and plain as boredom. The reference of Dante’s Inferno was especially descriptive of the environment Baca lived in. (860). Baca did not start out book smart, but he also was not dumb. He was street smart and was able to maneuver throughout the many levels of hell without getting himself hurt or worse killed. Out of desperation, Baca accepted a letter from an author that was part of an outreach program. What may have started out as a distraction from prison life became the very catalyst to Baca needed to start climbing out of hell …show more content…
Baker writes that Beca painstakingly taught himself to read and write. The young man that not too many years ago proclaimed that he “hated books, hated reading”, (858) suddenly found himself embracing the art. He continued his correspondence with the writer and was referred to a poet friend. What started out as distraction from everyday prison life became an eye opening, earth shattering realization for Baca. Poetry gave him a voice and an outlet for his emotions. He even stated, ‘Wow! I can actually communicate like this. There are actually people who talk like this and write like this.” (860) Beca is thrilled by this realization and embraces the art to tell his stories. He realized that he had purpose and could help others that are struggling. Beca successfully broke his self-destructive cycle by learning to learning to read and write. He took it one step further by having the courage to expand his intellect through poetry. Beca realized that he not only had value but also a