New Mexico natives, including a UNM professor, traveled to Oklahoma last week to help women at a correctional facility express themselves through poetry.
Albuquerque's Jimmy Santiago Baca and associate professor Diane Torres-Velasquez visited the Mabel Bassett Correctional Facility for women. This was their second trip to the prison.
"It wasn't until (Baca) saw the change in the women that he realized the impact of the instructor," Torres-Velasquez said. "It really surprised him, and he even wants to write a book about (his teaching style). In many, many ways, it was a very successful trip."
Baca, who has a bachelor's degree in English and a doctorate in literature from UNM, spent three hours per day for three days with inmates in the facility. He aimed to teach them how to use the art of writing, reading and poetry to cope with their daily lives in incarceration.
Torres-Velasquez - along with two interns, a film crew and a group of University students - observed and analyzed Baca's every move in hopes of finding new and creative methods of teaching.
"(Baca's) not really one who is into theory. He knows what works with the people that he's worked with," Torres-Velasquez said. "He understands the kind of people that have gone through some really hard times, and he is able to reach them, as he has gone through some really hard times."
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Baca said his belief in the power of poetry as an outlet for emotions has grown out of his life experiences. Baca's childhood included a stay in an orphanage and running away at 13.
He then spent about six years in jail, including some in solitary confinement, during which he learned to read and write.
Poetry and literacy became an emotional outlet, instead of doing drugs, drinking or fighting, Baca said.
By the time he was released, he was a published poet. Baca is now the author of a memoir and several award-winning novels. He read his poem "Obama" at an inaugural ball last month.
Baca said he never wanted to go back to prison until he realized that in helping inmates, he was also helping himself cope with his life.
"I didn't want anything to do with convicts," he said. "I went back to the places that I didn't want to go back to because I found out that they were helping me be real with myself. They were reminding me where I came from."
Since Baca started his outreach programs, he has not ceased his whirlwind of activity.
He founded Cedar Tree Inc., a nonprofit foundation that raises money for scholarships, books and the many workshops he hosts.
This includes a program for kids who go to school in poor areas of Albuquerque.
The diverse group of people who help Baca in all of his work are also impressed by his ability to command attention and teach in places so different from a University setting.
Ted Stoller, an intern at Cedar Tree Inc., was part of the group that observed Baca's first workshop with the women at Mabel Bassett.
"I remember probably the second or third day, he just went around and asked everyone what they were in for, and a large majority were in there for murder, manslaughter - in there pretty much for life," Stoller said. "And they were all just incredibly sweet, nice people."
Stoller said he and other interns frequently attend Baca's workshops to observe and learn from an experienced educator.
Baca said he works hard at what he does because he wants to make life better for his children and all youth.
"We come in inviting people to show us things," he said. "We try to draw out magic from the environments we work in. If I can stop one young kid from pulling a gun on my children.. If I can stop that from happening to you . I did it. I succeeded."
