At age 21, Jimmy Santiago Baca was illiterate and incarcerated in a maximum-security facility for selling drugs. Five years later, he emerged from prison with a passion for reading and writing poetry.
Now a winner of the Pushcart Prize and the Before Columbus Foundation American Book Award, Baca has been called an heir to Pablo Neruda and one of the best poets in America today.
On Nov. 5-6, Baca will give two free public talks in Boulder and Denver.
On Monday, Nov. 5, Baca will give a talk titled "An 'Immigrant in His Own Land: Who Belongs in the 'American' West" at 7 p.m. at the University of Colorado at Boulder in the Duane Physics building, room G1B30. The talk is sponsored by the CU-Boulder Center of the American West and is free and open to the public.
Baca also will be attending some CU-Boulder classes during his visit.
On Tuesday, Nov. 6, Baca will talk at 7 p.m. at the Denver Public Library, 10 W. 14th Ave. Parkway, in the Level B2 Conference Room. The Denver event is co-sponsored by the CU-Boulder Center of the American West, the CU-Denver history department and the Denver Public Library's Western History Department.
Baca also will visit the Jefferson County Detention Center in Golden with Chaplain Robert Toll to speak to the men and women there on Nov. 4, and will speak to a group of students at Denver's North High School on Nov. 6.
In his talks, Baca will address the question of "legitimacy" raised by the title of one of his collections of poems, "Immigrants in Our Own Land."
Drawing on his own experiences, Baca will explore the ways in which Westerners and Americans decide who "belongs" and who does not. He will consider the ties that connect Mexican Americans to the land of their origin, despite prejudices, stereotypes and official acts of exclusion that would restrict their full citizenship.
Baca is the author of "A Place to Stand," a memoir, and numerous books of poetry, including "Healing Earthquakes," "Black Mesa Poetry," "Martin and Meditations on the South Valley" and "Immigrants in Our Own Land." Films, scripts and productions include "Bound by Honor" ("Blood In, Blood Out") for Disney Productions, and "The Lone Wolf - The Story of Pancho Gonzalez" for HBO and Shoelace Productions.
"I am a witness, not a victim . . . . My role as a witness is to give voice to the voiceless, hope to the hopeless, of which I am one," Baca wrote in "A Place to Stand," published this year.
Baca's vision of himself as a "poet of the people" is carried out in his writing workshops with children and adults at elementary, junior high and high schools, colleges, universities, reservations, barrio community centers, white ghettos, housing projects, correctional facilities and prisons from coast to coast.
He currently is working on an interpretive, two-part, 60-minute film written and directed by Baca, which focuses on Chicano poetry as a means of accessing deeper understanding of the universal truths and powers of all poetry.
The mission of the CU-Boulder Center of the American West is to explore the distinctive character and issues of the region and to help Westerners become well-informed, participating citizens in their communities.
For information call the Center of the American West at (303) 492-4879 or visit .