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Firestarter

Chicano poet lights cultural pathways for Tucson teachers.

Augustin Romero recalls the day a few years back when Chicano poet Jimmy Santiago Baca addressed a group of Tucson high school juniors.

"He spoke to them for an hour and 15 minutes," Romero, director of the Mexican American/Raza Studies Institute says. "As he was speaking, you could hear a pin drop. He had them so engaged, so engulfed, so connected. I’ve got chills, because I remember that day, it was such a powerful day."

"I think I shift space around in people’s hearts," Baca says via phone from his Southwestern home. Baca has won the Pushcart Prize and the National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Award, among many literary accolades. He describes his potent effect on others as being "like feng shui or landscaping. It’s a really rare gift and I try to respect it."

Romero has invited the New Mexico native back to speak at the 8th Annual Mexican American/Raza Studies K-12 Teacher Summer Institute July 28 -28. Educators will attend four days of workshops and presentations that emphasize culturally relevant curriculum, multicultural education, and teacher/student/parent interaction.

The aim is for teachers to take Baca’s inspirational sparks into Tucson classrooms, a method of motivation the poet has practiced for more than three decades.

Baca is a former federal prisoner (he served time from 1973-‘78 in Arizona) whose painful youth, filled with violence and tragedy, was documented in the remarkable A Place to Stand. He learned to read and write poetry while incarcerated. After his release, he began holding writing workshops for inmates. In 2005, Baca founded Cedar Tree, Inc., a prison literacy program. His most recent work, The Importance of a Piece of Paper, is a collection of short fiction. In all his works, Baca speaks eloquently, with a culturally infused language.

"This is going to sound stupid, it’ll sound like I’ve been drinking tequila," Baca says. "But I have so much joy in serving people: I serve them a book, serve them grammar, serve them insight into their own lives."

Baca’s motivational methods now are practiced throughout seven Western states. His interns work with inmates and illiterate kids and adults in poor neighborhoods.

Despite his reputation as a catalyst for change, Baca comes across as humble and self-deprecating.

"We spent  few hours together and never did he act as though he was something big," Romero says. "He's very humble, straightforward (and) very honest."

"I don't get it, that;s the weird thing," Baca demurs. "I don't get what I do, but I do it."

For more workshop info: www.tusd.k12.az.us; or visit Baca’s Web site, www.jimmysantiagobaca.com.