A Place To Stand is a classic memoir, and film in the making, about a Brown poet who went to prison illiterate, taught himself how to read, and has written several amazing and important books over the years: Jimmy Santiago Baca.

The great poet Simon Ortiz, one of my writing mentors, got me onto Baca years ago.  I don’t know who to thank more: Ortiz for telling me about Baca, or Baca for writing the poems, short stories, novels, and memoirs he has written.

Jimmy Santiago Baca is on of the many Brown and Indigenous writers who has helped pave the way for young writers like me.

I relate to Jimmy Santiago Baca in many ways:

1. We are both Brown

2. We are both mixed race Indigenous men

3. We are both survivors of colonialism and the prison industrial complex

4. We are both poets

Please take the time to watch the trailer of the film in progress A Place To Stand and donate to the Kickstarter campaign to ensure that this important documentary film gets  completed.