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Natalie Torres

Dr. Ogden

English 001A

2 August 2022

The Power of Writing

The art of writing is powerful. Not only can thoughts be transcribed onto paper, but they

can be shared, eventually establishing a community. Songwriting, poetry, scripts, and books all

share the ability to impact people's lives through shared experiences. These works of art meet the

right people, like fate. Being able to draw connections between one's life experiences with

someone else's creation is a special feeling. It's the feeling of being understood without having to

share the details of trauma. In Mary Pipher’s, “The Psychology of Change,” the similarities of

therapy and writing are drawn. To sum it up, both cause a great deal of change. Piphers ideas

directly parallel Jimmy Santiago Baca’s book, A Place To Stand, as Baca’s detailed experiences

of childhood trauma, leading to drug abuse and early criminalization, exposes the unjust criminal

system and leaves his readers questioning what it really means to be a criminal.

Trauma is a setback. To live a life without having to witness rape, having both parents

together, and being around emotionally mature people are just some out of the many privileges

one could have. Unfortunately, Jimmy Baca did not have a bright life ahead of him since the very

beginning, but none of that was his fault. In Baca’s book, A Place To Stand, the audience learns

about the various adverse experiences that he lived through. Whether it be watching his mom get

raped, seeing his dad beat his mom, being abandoned by his mom, or getting sent to an

orphanage at a young age, Baca went through it all. There is no doubt that Baca’s childhood

trauma of being abandoned by his mom and having a dad with bad drinking habits caused his
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criminal tendencies. No matter where Baca traveled to, he always had feelings of anxiety

lingering over him. Soon enough, Baca’s survival instincts kicked in because there was no place

in America for children like him. He was illiterate up until his mid twenties, and dropped out of

school pretty quickly. He was a threat to the American Dream because “there weren’t supposed

to be children going hungry or sleeping under bridges” (Baca 28). Since the beginning, he was

not welcomed, so he turned to measures that would allow him to survive. With his partners,

Marcos and Lonnie, Baca would have a felony warrant out against him for selling heroin,

solidifying his next 6 years in high security jail. Even though he mostly only sold weed, and the

heroine was not his, the system took Baca in for the crime. In jail, Baca would discover the art of

writing, which would change his life for the better, and influence many lives that his work

reached.

Therapy and writing both share the ability of being able to enact change. In Mary

Piphers, “The Psychology of Change,” Pipher recounts the many ways writing can be created in

a way to create change, whether it be globally or individually. In her work, Pipher gives light to

the idea known as “Change Writing,” which is the idea that writers offer new transformative

thought, leading to action by readers. Oftentimes, writing is done in the form of a story. Stories

can be simple, but most of the time there is a deeper meaning that serves purpose. Writing is

impactful, at times, even leading to cultural change. That is change writing: being able to change

someone's life by connecting to readers emotions and willingness to take charge. Change writing

can take the form of healing, just like therapy. Sharing traumatic experiences, through writing,

can be someone’s support system, allowing people to thrive and remedy their feelings. Change

writing is done through tone, respect, empathy, perspective, clarity, and timing.
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Written experiences of Baca’s life in crime serves as a model for Pipher’s “Change

Writing Texts'' as his stories prompt understanding feelings towards those who are practically

forced to live in crime. To be a criminal, in a social context, means fear, danger, and to be

subhuman. Even Pipher discussed how she labeled and stereotyped criminals to be gang

members, but after reading Mark Saltzman's work on the experiences of "Los Angeles's most

violent teenage offenders," she changed her perspective of them as she began to view things

through their point of view (Pipher 92). Mark Saltzman’s work serves as an example of change

writing because he was able to draw feelings of sympathy from an individual, changing their

feelings towards a community of people. Pipher, after reading Saltzman’s work, was left in a

deep thought about whether or not all offenders are truly that disgraceful compared to people

who aren't incarcerated. Similarly, Baca had this same effect on his audience. As he shared his

experiences in incarceration, his readers began to sympathize with him as he explained his

reasoning behind his crime. The audience thinks things like: why weren't his parents punished

for abandoning a child, or he was just trying to find a way to survive in a world that didn't make

room for people like him.

Opening up to people about devastating experiences is nothing easy, but being able to

share those experiences can help someone with their own healing process. Jimmy Baca, while

writing A Place to Stand, had to be extremely vulnerable. His vulnerability about his upbringing

and lifestyle choices were all tough things to do. This connects to Pipher’s assertion that "no

topic is so overwhelming or horrid that it cannot be discussed honestly" (Pipher 91). Being able

to be honest about lived experiences can foster change in someone’s life, which is what change

writing is all about. Nancy Apiyo’s work, “Storytelling as a documentation method, healing

process and means of mobilizing survivors,” discusses methods of healing victims' trauma, one
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of those being storytelling. Apiyo states that “Story telling as a documentation method provides a

platform where victims can speak informally about what they went through…enabling survivors

to open up.” Connecting to stories, movies, music, or any other forms of work, all have the

capability of meaning something to someone. This meaning gives someone the feeling of being

understood, like they aren’t the only ones going through rough times, allowing the audience to

move on and accept their trauma just like writing helped Baca turn his life around. His work,

which is a form of change writing, changed many opinions and gave life to new healing

journeys.

The ability for writers to portray experiences that many people can relate to sparks great

feelings. I remember watching Everything Everywhere All at Once, a film about the multiverse

that also touches on queer acceptance and family trauma. I sat there in the audience balling my

eyes out because the writers were able to encapsulate all my feelings into one movie. The

relationship I have with my mother was portrayed through Joy and Evelyns relationship, and for

the whole duration of that movie I felt seen. Watching as Evelyn and Joy fixed their

mother-daughter relationship, I gained hope that maybe one day I could have a better relationship

with my own mom. While I could not relate to many of the experiences that Jimmy Santiago

Baca faced, there are many who can. My experience with that movie is someone else’s

experience with Baca’s book. Someone out there sees themselves in Baca’s lived experiences,

and is able to cope with their trauma because of his selfless act of sharing his most vulnerable

moments.

Art brings beauty into the world. The true beauty of art comes from the numerous ways

one could interpret something. Something someone could find so horrid could just be brushed off

as the circle of life to someone else. The free will of taking art and making anything of it is part
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of its beauty. In Baca’s book, many people felt the same sympathy and respect towards the

author, understanding that his position in life was hard to escape. On the other hand, there were

most likely equally as many people who believed that Baca had no excuse to sell drugs: if it’s

illegal, then it’s a crime, and he should've been punished by law. Whatever it may be, the point of

art is to nurture further thought and action. Jimmy Baca’s book does both. One might find

themselves feeling deep sympathy for criminals as they have just as many dreams as law abiding

citizens. Others might have read A Place to Stand and chose to pursue a career in law to fight for

the people. Art does not just stop at interpretation, it extends to relatability. Being able to feel

known, without having to say anything is one of great things about shared experiences. Feelings

of being understood and reassured that one is not alone is sometimes all it takes to make an

impact on someone's life.

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Works Cited

Apiyo, N. (2015). Storytelling as a documentation method, healing process and means of

mobilizing survivors.

https://www.law.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Uganda_JRP_Story-Telling-D

ocumentation-Healing.pdf

Baca. (2002). A Place to Stand. Grove/Atlantic, Incorporated.

Pipher, Mary Bray. Writing to Change the World. First Riverhead trade paperback edition.,

Riverhead Books, 2007.