Summary Of A Place To Stand By Jimmy Santiago Baca

Imagine a South Central fourteen-year-old who is a multiple offender that faked a kidnapping then shot at the police officers trying to stop him. Now imagine a young boy growing up in a violent area always fearful of his life and going through traumatic experiences such as getting shot, seeing his brother killed, and being abused. This same young man, unknowingly, shot at undercover cops. In this instance, a general audience would be more likely to sympathize with the young boy that went through the many hardships. Bryan Stevenson tells this story of Antonio Nuñez with descriptive language in order to justify his argument of Nuñez by appealing strongly to the audience's emotions. Because of sympathy that humans naturally feel, the young boy

“Oppression”, a poem by Jimmy Baca, is a powerful display of the illusory power of oppression, the fundamental concept of endurance, and the attainment of liberation. In the first stanza, the poet refers to oppression as the infliction of continuous pain through the line “being trampled under”. He connects this with the imbalance of strength when he states that oppression “[i]s a question of strength”. When an imbalance or conquest of power is present, the oppressed has no strength but in his silence. Whereas, the oppressor uses violence to inflict illusory fear in that silent individual. Similarly, the line, “[a]lways, always, remembering that you are human”, demonstrates the poet’s recognition of the fact that even though one may abuse his

After reading the book I have gained a new understanding of what inmates think about in prison. Working in an institution, I have a certain cynical attitude at times with inmates and their requests.

The distressing experience of operating as a prison guard in such a notorious penal facility as New York State’s Sing Sing Penitentiary is one that is unlikely to be desired by one not professionally committed to the execution of prison uniformity. However, the outstanding novel written by Tom Conover illustrates the encounters of a journalist who voluntarily plunged himself into the obscure universe of the men and women paid to spend the better portion of their lives behind prison barriers. In Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing, Conover creates a noteworthy document resonating personal emotional occurrences that nonetheless suggest the cultural sensitivity of a true prison guard. From the standpoint of our studies

In A Place to Stand, Jimmy Santiago Baca introduces the readers to his life, providing many details from his past that allow the readers to understand his present. Throughout the novel, Baca finds himself in the midst of violence where ultimately, these instances lead to a common theme of abuse. The physical and mental abuse that Baca endures throughout his childhood plays an important part in shaping Baca’s entire life. Furthermore, the abuse that Baca suffers inflicted by his father, his mother, and his ex-girlfriend, negatively affects his future life and point him towards crime and distrust in people around him.

The quote vividly illustrates the emotional journey of liberation by employing the metaphor of flying, conveying both the thrill of freedom and the burden of responsibility that accompanies liberation from self-inflicted confinement. This metaphor supports the exploration of freedom, encouraging readers to contemplate the transformative impact of liberation and the obstacles one must navigate along the way. The motif of prisons and cages is set up by hyperboles, cultivating the theme of home and belonging. During her time in prison, Franny describes the desperation she felt as she sat in her cell, rotting away in prison. “Until it is too late, and you are watching the eyes of the other inmates to see if there is death in them, watching every face you pass, listening to the angry hum for a hint you are its next target, clawing at the walls of your cell to get free, to get out, for air and sky and please, not this shrinking tomb” (37).

In addition to adaptive roles, the film also portrays many instances and forms of prison violence. Prisons provide all of the necessary conditions to host violence (288). The film depicts instances of prisoner-prisoner violence in the form of sexual victimization, prison gangs, and illicit violence by officers against

When arriving at Florence State Prison Jimmy Santiago Baca’s life changed. Upon resaving a letter from a man named Harry he became interested on learning to read and write. Harry’s letter gave Jimmy some sense of belonging. He stated his feelings on the letter, “I was eager to communicate with someone to alleviate the boredom of the dungeon.” All it took was a paper with words to take someone away from that place they despised. Harry had sent Baca a dictionary so he could learn new words. To Jimmy this opened a new world to him. This gave him an opportunity on having control over something the prison couldn’t take from him.

Viktor E. Frankl found a thought-provoking way to explore how crucial it is for a prisoner to adapt to his new life. This is the utmost compelling life insight to myself at this point in my own life. Frankl wrote, “When one examines the vast amount of material which has been amassed as the result of many prisoners’ observations and experiences, three phases of the inmate’s mental reactions to camp life become apparent: the period following his admission; the period when he is well entrenched in camp routine; and the period following his release and liberation” (Frankl 8). As I read on through the book, I found that his ‘adaption to new routine’ life insight has several supporting and crucial aspects like accepting desire, finding beauty in

The first time I entered Circleville Juvenile Correctional Facility as a mentor, I was quickly ushered into a room of 40 young incarcerated men aged 14 to 21. I learned our activity for the day was to craft poetry and songs to introduce ourselves. As a songwriter in my free time, I was eager to collaborate with the young men. Yet based off my previous experience leading writing sessions outside of prison, I was concerned that the young men would not be willing to fully express themselves. As the day and weeks went on, I became ashamed in the fact that I ever doubted the young men. With simple guidance, encouragement, and collaboration, they created poetry and song lyrics more emotional, relatable, and impactful than anything I have heard on the radio or in the most hipster of slam-poetry nights at local cafés and they were more than eager to share with anyone willing to listen.

The author starts by explaining Baca’s background he tells the audience the difficult circumstances that were Baca’s life. All circumstances considered into his young adulthood Baca could hardly read nor write and truly had no desire to learn; Which makes it even more spectacular that he found poetry. His interest began at twenty-one when Baca was in prison, sentenced to possibly five to ten years. A couple years passed and a church program had extended a relationship via a letter they sent, they targeted prisoners without families. Unbeknownst Baca learned through steady communication with the church how to read and write. The writing gave him something to do and in a sense a purpose. Shortly into their connection, the man from the church introduced to a friend who was a poet. After this moment Baca’s life would never be the same. “I believe something in my brain or

Solitude is a topic found in several diverse aspects of life: religion, adolescence, and imprisonment. This last facet involves one of the most restricting types of solitude - solitary confinement. Prisoners are punished, for a number of years, to never leave their cells and have relationships with other beings. This drastic change in environment begets drastic changes in people. The three texts, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, “The Bet” by Alexander Chekhov, and “What 28 Years of Solitary Confinement Does to the Mind” by Alexandra Sifferlin explore how the various effects of solitary confinement on the mind and body are immense and irreparable.

"Even though conditions such as lack of sleep, insufficient food and various mental stresses may suggest that the inmates were bound to react in certain ways, in the final analysis it becomes clear that the sort of person the prisoner became was the result of an inner decision, and not the result of camp influences alone.”(Frankl).The way people react during hard times shows a lot about that person. When a person

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.

Inside 19th Century Goal, prisoners were expected to learn the values of tough work to earn a living and often found them subjected to insufferable amounts of hard labour with very little rewards. Separated in their prison cells and made to exercise in silence, these convicted men served their sentences in almost constant confinement, alone only with their own thoughts and feelings. The voices of these voiceless men have often been overlooked and there are very few accounts of life within 19th century prison walls from which we can detail the true feelings of those serving in the British penal system.