A Place To Stand by Jimmy Santiago Baca

A Place To Stand is a memoir written by Jimmy Santiago Baca, on the subject of his troubled childhood, his maturation into an adult life of crime, and his discovery of poetry as an outlet. Baca is one of many children to mexican immigrants, as a child he lives in an illiterate and impoverished area in California. His mother leaves him and his sibling for an American man sending his father into a drunken depression. Baca's life quickly spirals down a road of drug dealing and homelessness. In an unfortunate circumstance, he finds himself in the middle of a police raid that turns into a shoot out and he is sent to prison for the attempted murder of an federal agent. It is obvious that it was not Baca who pulled the trigger, in fact he had no gun, but because of his life of poverty and crime and his Latino nationality, he is sentenced to years in a maximum security prison without parole. While serving his time in prison he is threatened, attacked, beaten, and is ultimately forced to kill to survive. He begins to doubt God and to doubt the goodness in life when his long time girlfriend leaves him, his best friend joins the KKK, and his mother alienates him as her child because he looks Mexican. When his life is falling apart, a church going man becomes penpals with him in jail and teaches him to read and write. At the age of 21, Jimmy Santiago Baca learns to read in jail and this small feat changes his life. Through his penpal he meets a woman who will later become his wife, and she sends him poetry from famous American writers. Baca discovers his hunger for poetry and begins to write his own poetry and this allows him to survive prison and move on with his life to become the do-good authour he is today. Today, Baca runs charities and travels around the nation speaking to impoverished youth about the goodness in life and the healing powers of simple hobbies like reading and writing.

Here is a poem from the novel (this happens to be my all time favourite poem).

Oppression

is a question of strength,

of unshed tears,

of being trampled under,

and always, always remembering you are human

Look deep to find the grains of hope and strength,

and sing, my brothers and sisters

and sing. The sun will share

your birthdays with you behind bars,

the new spring grass

like fiery spears will count your years,

as you start into the next year;

endure my brothers, endure my sisters.

Topic Questions:

1. Baca bases his whole novel on his hard life and his overcoming of obstacles to become a better person. Many people say that it is possible to change one's entire personality, other people say it is completely impossible. After reading this summary of the novel and seeing how he has changes his perspective, do you think that it is completely possible that this could happen, or do you believe that his criminal instincts are still lurking underneath his do-good character?

2. Baca grows up completely illiterate. In one instance, he signs a contract on the subject of his jail sentence and he has no idea what it says. Once he learns to read it's as though his whole life has turned around and he begins to see the good in life. He soon discovers poetry and this becomes his sole outlet in life. As stressed as we teenagers are, what is/are your outlets to life that keep you sane?