“According to his memoir, A Place to Stand, Jimmy Santiago Baca spent most of his early life searching for a place to stand comfortably in his own skin. Tuesday night, when Baca spoke in the Student Union, he stood before a crowd of more than 250 community members, including students and faculty.”
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According to his memoir, A Place to Stand, Jimmy Santiago Baca spent most of his early life searching for a place to stand comfortably in his own skin.

Tuesday night, when Baca spoke in the Student Union, he stood before a crowd of more than 250 community members, including students and faculty.

He seemed more than comfortable.

I’m here at Akron tonight, Baca said. They may have banned my book, but they haven’t banned me.

I’m probably one of the most beautiful people I’ve ever met, he joked.

The Buchtelite and the Center of Conflict Management paid to bring the accomplished author to campus. Baca was illiterate when he began a prison sentence at the age of 21. He is now an accomplished poet and writer.

However, when the Common Reading Selection Committee recommended his book for the freshman summer reading program, administrators chose not to invite Baca because of his criminal record and the fear that bringing him to campus would draw negative attention.

In an attempt to mend the broken relationship that followed, a member of the administration, provost Beth Stroble, graciously introduced Baca Tuesday.

During his speech, Baca spoke about his journey through prison and its impact on his passion for poetry. The sentiment was echoed the following day during a writing workshop.

Poetry doesn’t pay worth a damn, but I love it, Baca said. There is a moment when we bare our souls to God – that is the act of writing.

Since the controversy at Akron, two major institutions, including Georgetown University, have created a Prison Reform week along with ordering 500,000 copies of A Place to Stand, according to Baca.

He has also made a documentary, nearing completion, about the current state of the curriculum in school systems. Baca explained that the documentary will not harshly critique the current system and will instead seek to show people what works in our schools.

Baca had much to say about the power of education. It was teaching himself to read and write in prison that turned his life around, he claimed.

Wednesday, during the writing workshop, he spoke about the state of prisons in America as well.

Sixty percent of the guys in prison are only there because they hurt themselves on drugs, Baca said. While they are in there, they get beaten, raped and murdered. No one has ever taken their side.

Baca urged the attendants of his writer’s workshop to take up the cause of those in prison for drug abuse. Baca, who was a drug addict as a teen, said he understands the lives of those who turn to drugs. His documentaries focus on the state of our prison system today and about prison reform. Baca also has spent time speaking out against the death penalty.

Baca comes from a troubled background – a life of crime and violence.

Yeah, I’ve been shot a few times, Baca said. I like to provoke people with guns. Probably not a good idea.

After getting out of prison, Baca obtained his GED and eventually a bachelor’s degree in English. He has since received an honorary doctorate from the University of New Mexico.

He created Cedar Tree Inc,, an organization that works to provide anyone the opportunity of education, also providing students with free instruction, materials and scholarships, Baca said.

This year, Baca said he hopes to release a novel, a play and three poetry manuscripts. He is also continuing work on a documentary on literature and the power it has to change people’s lives.

Baca is confident that literature is what changed his life.

I have to have my life in order before I can write, Baca said. And I write to keep my life in order.

Writers are great people … and I’m trying to be one.

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” #1.1362118:1513933549.jpg:067_070411_jimmy_baca1.jpg:Author and poet Jimmy Santiago Baca describes how he takes America’s most marginalized students and magically turns their lives around with the power of education and love during a writing workshop Wednesday.:”