Jimmy Santiago Baca Research Paper

Jennifer  Vazquez

December 6,2017

American Literature

Period:4

Jimmy Santiago Baca

In the words of Jimmy Santiago Baca “ ...At the gates we are given newspapers,

our old clothes are taken..”. The quote is stating that we are all given another chance to make up for the things that we have messed up in our life and your old decisions simply go away. Jimmy Santiago Baca was a very well known Chicano poet his unique words in his poetry has made him receive quite a few recognitions today. He didn't really have a great start to his life but that would all change. Today I will be informing you about his childhood, how a decision changed his life, and how his future turned out.  

Jimmy Santiago Baca had a very hard childhood growing up. He was abounded from both his parents at the young age of two. He never really felt that motherly love or fatherly love so he was very rebellious as a young kid. He wouldn’t listen to his grandmother would attend attend school and so on. When his parents left him his grandmother was in charge of Baca until the age thirteen. At the age of thirteen his life took a turn. He was later placed in an orphanage for just a little bit of time, because he later escape from the orphanage he was staying at. Baca ended up living in the streets till he reached twenty one. He later made a decision that would ruin his life.

When Baca was twenty one he was sentenced to a five year sentence in prison for trafficking narcotics. The falling into drugs, stealing, and fighting had caused him to make a decision that he would later pay while being behind bars. While he was locked up he had a mindset of regretting everything bad he had done and wanted a way to help him get back on his two feet. He deicide that if he was going to be locked up for many years he might as well make a good use of his time. So he began learning how to read and write all over again. He never really learned that well to read and write because of his lack of never attending school and he really never had a guardian to tell him that attending school was good for him. After sometime Baca had learned to read and write so that’s when he began writing his poetry and getting messages sent to people that were on the same path as he was one point of his life. But he didn’t just stop there that was only the beginning of what was ahead of him.

While Jimmy Santiago Baca remained in jail his opportunities were getting closer to a happy ending. While he was still in jail Baca’s poems began getting publicity that a University from Louisiana published his first poem called “ Immigrants in Our Land”. He then started writing more and more in jail about his experiences in prison, his ethnicity, his personal problems and his family problems. He later got out of prison and kept on working on his poetry where he later began working on a screenplay movie called “ Blood In, Blood Out”. He kept on being really successful that he would receive many awards such as the American Book Award, National Endowment for Arts Award, the Vogelstein Foundation Award and many more. But that wasn’t the only thing he did he later became a high school teacher to help kids that were involved in gangs try to let them get out of that to become better people in the real world. He showed them how to let all their stress lifes get written down into something unique and simple called poetry. Lastly, Jimmy Santiago Baca created for himself an image that inspired many people through his rough background.

All in all even though Baca didn't really have the best life in the beginning which caused him harm. He found a way to make the best out of what had happened to him. He never gave up he always kept trying which got him where he is right now a strong hardworking man. So now that I have informed you about his childhood, how a decision changed his life, and how his future turned out what do you think about this fine poet? Has his life inspired you in any way? Well, like Baca always said”...Each with a dream in their heart,thinking they’ll get a chance to change..” just like he did that one day.