Transformational Writing Essay

In "Coming Into Language," Jimmy Santiago Baca describes how he went from being illiterate to learning how to read and write and eventually becoming a poet while being in prison. From being embarrassed for not understanding and asking questions Baca become illiterate, and in ninth grade he decided to drop out. The only thing that seemed to interest him was books with pictures of people of the same nationality as him. When listening to prisoners talk in “ Chicano language” out loud it had inspired him to learn his own language. In this narrative Baca explains to us that becoming a writer helped him through tough years when he was an inmate.

When Baca learned grammar on his own and started writing, he discovered that he had a real talent for it. He finally felt like who he really was—who he was meant to be. He says that “Writing bridged my divided life of prisoner and free

When his beloved becomes lost in a world full of hardships, Baca refers to this poem as a spiritual guidance to help them find the right path to their destination. In addition, if Baca and his beloved ever crossed paths, he will provide her directions. Hence, the poem serves as a map to guide the reader a sense of comfort and

Poetry is often used as a form of writing to express emotions or tell a story. The poems “LA Nocturne: The Angels”, by Xavier Villaurrutia and “Meditations on the South Valley: Poem IX” by Jimmy Santiago Baca, are two distinctive poems. In Baca’s poem he expresses the disbelief and the sorrow of the death of a boy named Eddie. While, in Villaurrutia’s poem reveals an expression of secret desire men have. Baca and Villaurrutia’s poems, both use repetition, imagery and metaphors in their poems to convey their message.

The article, Jimmy Santiago Baca: Poetry as Lifesavor retells the challenges and hardships Baca experienced. Rob Baker, the author, informs the readers that past experiences will continually influence decisions in the future. In the beginning it is revealed that the characters parrents abandoned him at the young age of seven. His troubles only worsened as time went on for he dropped out of junior high, due to not performing well academically and socially. Therefore, he fell into the wrong crowds and was eventually sentenced to prison for five to ten years, at the age of twenty-one. Poety helped him to overcome the mental and emotional impact that prison imparts with the individual. Baca now uses his experiences to reach out to the community by becoming a teacher to encourage children to embrace their own stories.

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

Jimmy Santiago Baca’s “Coming into Language” displays a dark, yet uplifting view of the power of literacy. From his beginning in the hospital, toward the end during his imprisonment, Baca moves from the mindset of a rebellious teenager to a poetic adult. Through vivid descriptions, metaphors, the appeal to the audience’s emotions, and Baca sets up a transformational framework to show how literacy can be a way of escape. Baca’s story seeks to explain a point of view that one is more likely to become incarcerated and to struggle in life if he is uneducated. “I wrote to sublimate my rage, from a place where all hope is gone, from a madness of having been damaged too much, from a silence of killing rage” (Baca).

Writing a paper on the writing process is pretty hard. The writing process is different from one person to another. You come across questions like, 'What exactly is the writing process?'; and 'Must you follow one persons writing process if yours is different?'; This is where I came across the answer to my questions, write however you wish to write. If one person likes free write first and another person likes to write a draft first, let them do how they please.

My writing styles have changed drastically over the past four years of high school. This memo will explain how my writing has changed and how my knowledge of writing has improved.

The transition from high school to college is a dynamic time in one’s life that parallels the change from childhood to adulthood. Both of these changes are dramatic and, as a result, feelings are difficult to put down into words. A messy combination of emotions fills the heart, surfacing in strange ways. Confident high school seniors go right back to the bottom of the chain when entering college as freshmen. These students start all over, just like entering grade school or high school for the first time. The move up from high school to college signals the switch from dependence to self-sufficiency. From a personal point of view, going through the experience of graduating high school and transferring to a residential college campus at STLCOP, made me realize I was no longer a kid and capable of making my own decisions.

Organizations do not change, people do (Sullivan and Decker, 2009). A manager’s responsibility is to manage people. Change is difficult for most people and managing through the change process is not an easy task. Many theories on managing change exist, but they basically have four elements: assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation (Sullivan & Decker, 2009). A manager’s role is to examine each of these elements and apply them to the people that he or she leads.

Baca later discuses how the Mexican workers are portrayed on the news saying: “a tongue paddles through flashing waves/ of light bulbs, of cameramen, rasping/ ‘they’re taking our jobs away.’” (15-17) Here imagery and symbolism has a strong impact on the reader. This stanza symbolizes the older generations and their opinions on the misconception that Mexicans are taking away jobs. The use of the word “rasping” suggest that the person talking is older and trying to catch his breath while talking. In modern day society, media plays a huge part on peoples day-to-day life. The media is able to portray a person, or groups of people in various ways to make the audience either empathize for them, or feel apathetic towards them. Baca suggest that instead of the media portraying these Mexicans as robbers stealing “our” jobs, that they tell the brutal truth.

I totally agree with what the author is saying in the text. It takes time to get a good product out even though we think some people are deep and wonderful they still have the same struggles that we have when it comes to writing. I like this text because it is realistic it is giving an account of first drafts from common day people and shows how it is even for professional writers have problems with. This point is important because as people we sometimes feel we are not as good or capable of doing something not realizing that the people we look up to have the same problems we do. Another point that I agree with the author on is that you have to start somewhere. Many times as writers we don’t know where to start when it comes to writing. That being said we will just sit and think for ten twenty minutes when we could've just been information on the paper and then editing it later. In addition I liked that the author used examples from his professional experience when it came to writing food reviews. By him using details like how he went to the restaurant and sat down with friends and took notes of what was said. This was good to me because it helps me connect with him and the things that he does to write his reviews.

     One of the techniques I am going to use through out college is talking to

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