Jimmy Baca 's Life And Destiny

Prior to being assigned the reading of the memoir “Always Running”, by Luis Rodriguez, I had never given much thought on juveniles involved in gang life. Rodriguez achieved success as an award-winning poet; sure the streets would no longer haunt him - until his own son joined a gang. Rodriguez fought for his child by telling his own story in the vivid memoir, “Always Running.” “Always Running” is the compilation of events Luis experienced during his youth in San Gabriel. The theme of the book is to always strive for the best things in life and to always take a stand for what you believe. Lured by the seemingly invincible gang culture of East L.A., he witnessed countless shootings and beatings, as well as senseless acts of street crime against his friends and family members. As a Latino in a poor neighborhood, Luis struggled through criticism, stereotypes, and mistreatment. With the help of his mentor, Chente, Luis saw a way out through education and the power of word to successfully break free from years of violence and desperation.

Jimmy Santiago Baca, What is Broken Is What God Blesses, is in a piece sort of passages ballad. The sonnet happens in the sand, in the mud on a homestead, in jail, in human, dispossessed homes, destroyed relational unions, the ghettos, barrio sand, and trailer parks. In addition, the word picture he uses is mates' impressions, ten-year-old child's uncovered feet in the mud, picking peppers, and, ruined soil streets loaded with challenging people. One of the structures utilized by Baca is the line break. A key idea, in a mental state, I see the lyric smashed divider that declares opportunity, to the

He writes his story not to scoff, scold or scorch, but to spark discussion and help people see the simple truth that "Human interaction is a blessing." lives with prejudicial barriers.

You should comment upon and compare at least two of his poems and describe the tone he writes in the imagery he uses and the poetical techniques he includes to convey his opinions.

Jimmy Santiago Baca is a prime example of the impact that can be extracted from a strong and caring passion towards an education. Baca was passionate in learning how to read when he was in prison, and he eventually achieved that goal. With his passion fueling his career, Baca would go on to become a poet, writer, and education activists for diverse classrooms. Baca is fueled by improving the conditions of those who feel like they have hit rock bottom like he once was. Several books were written from Baca’s backstory in hopes that people would learn from his mistakes and lessons learned within his lifetime. One of the subject areas that Baca has spent a good amount of his life promoting and discussing is the importance of education. Baca wrote a collection of stories that showed his experiences where people attempted to keep him down, but Baca’s drive to continue to expand and learn prevented him from staying down. This collection of stories is called “Stories from the Edge,” and Baca decided to add something extra with this book. He decided to go into a classroom with diverse students and he shared his stories from the book in greater detail. There were open discussions with the students about how his stories related to the students lives. After the student group left, Baca met with the teachers that aided with the student interaction, and they discussed the teaching methods that fuel the students motivation to learn. Jimmy Baca clearly is passionate in aiding individuals

Since the beginning of the book, it was very obvious that Jimmy lacked of a family. Readers can also state that although Jimmy did have a family, it lacked structure. The family structure and the love of a family was never something that Jimmy ever experienced. The book also mentions how in Jimmy's family there was three of them, himself, his sister Martina, his older brother Mieyo, his mom and his dad. Right since the start, readers see that his family is not what American's consider the perfect family. Jimmy's family was not a nuclear family. It is also very evident that Jimmy's parents were not always the best parents and did not know where to put boundaries on what Jimmy and his brothers should experience. "I was fie years old the first time I ever set a foot in prison." (Baca 1) This could have been the result of his parents

Stories,” mainly because I personally live in the Los Angeles area and my parents grew up in parts of South Central and East Los Angeles as children. I found this this book would be most relatable to myself, since I am a Latina and my parents who have experiences a tremendous amount of discrimination, poverty, and violence in the past. They have over came these obstacles and were determined to provide my siblings and I with a brighter future. While researching a little more into the subject matter, I found that my initial perceptions on this book were true. Luis Rodriguez wrote this book to give his neighborhood of East Los Angeles a voice, in order to bring awareness to the unfortunate experiences that many, like my parents, have had to go through. My parents have shared many of their personal experiences while growing up in such a tough neighborhood and I was extremely interested in listening to the stories of

Jimmy had been troubled throughout his life especially during his childhood. His parents didn’t love him; his teachers didn’t think much of him, and the girl of his dreams was involved in child porn. At one part of the novel Jimmy asked his mother if he could get a cat and she replied, “No, Jimmy, you cannot have a cat. We’ve been over this before. Cats might carry diseases that would be bad for the pigoons.” Jimmy did not seem to get the love that he should from his parents but seemed to get through it. Atwood never really explained what the importance was to Oryx being in child pornography and wonder why that was even put in the novel. Problems continue for Jimmy even until the end of the story where he fights to survive when he believes that he is the only one left. It seemed that Jimmy wasn’t as good as Crake and couldn’t live up to Crake’s expectations as he went to a mediocre school and Crake went to a prestigious school.

the most important literary elements in the story. He takes a young black boy and puts

Pat Mora is an award-winning writer that bases most her poems on tough cultural challenges and life as a Mexican American. She was born in a Spanish speaking home in El Paso, Texas. Mora is proud to be a Hispanic writer and demonstrates how being culturally different in America is not easy. She explains this through her experiences and the experience other’s. In her poems “Elena”, “Sonrisas”, and “Fences”, Mora gives you a glimpse of what life as a Mexican American is; their hardships, trials, strength that make them who they are.

Trying to make ends meet, he turns to selling drugs. By the time Jimmy finds love ones more and decides to settle down tragedy occurs. Trying to escaping from a drug bust at a friend’s house his attempts end up with a conviction for murder. Due to his illiteracy, Jimmy couldn’t read the false accusations he never committed.

Jimmy Santiago Baca, writer of “I am offering this poem”, was born in New Mexico in the year 1952.When Baca was only a child, he was abandoned by his parents. He lived with his grandmother for a few years after that and was later placed in an orphanage. However, he ended up living in the streets and was arrested for drug possession when he was twenty-one years old. He then spent six and a half years in prison. This is where he taught himself to read and write. He composed many poems during his time in jail. His style of writing is also heavily influenced by his life experiences. Baca’s poem “ I am offering this poem” has four stanzas and seven lines in each stanza. Each stanza ends in the same verse “I love you”. The entire poem exudes the feeling of yearning and infatuation. Baca is said to have composed this poem during his time in prison, which meant he was unable to reach his loved one. Therefore he was “offering” this poem to his loved one. This

he joined the armed forces and wrote several of his lesser known poems. They all included a romantic theme which could be a result of being isolated from the opposite sex. The general subject or goal of the Romantic era was to compare the beauty of nature to an everyday object or person and to create a snapshot of the scene being described. “[Romanticism] Shuns the artificiality of civilization and seeks unspoiled nature, prefers youthful innocence to educated sophistication, and contemplates nature’s beauty as a path to spiritual and moral development,” (Langley 2-5) The importance of the comparison between the river is huge in this poem because the way the river is described as a “bright, clear flow”. It shows that this river in particular is special. The majority of rivers are muddy and murky which suggests that the maiden has a sense of purity about her.

The book tells the story of the death of much of the author's family. It shows how he overcame much adversity and survived his training.

Do readers believe that any one person can turn their life into something beautiful, even when all they have seen in their life is ugly? Based on this non-fiction poem the narrator finally realized his life wasn’t as bad as it could be. In Baca’s “Cloudy day,” readers find a speaker very attuned to the outer world while being incarcerated. Born in New Mexico of Indio-Mexican descent, Jimmy Santiago Baca was raised first by his grandmother and later sent to an orphanage. A runaway at age 13, it was after Baca was sentenced to five years in a maximum security prison that he began to turn his life around: Jimmy learned to read and write and unearthed a voracious passion for poetry.