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Yuan Wang
ENGL 001A
Professor Odgen

Writing has the ability to influence and alter how someone perceives the world. The idea

of change writing is that when we write, we make a connection with the reader and influence

them to see and feel what we feel. The concept of change writing is illustrated in Mary Pipher's

book, "Writing to Change the World." To assist readers, Pipher make comparisons between how

change writing happens and carefully analyzes many texts while clearly articulating her own

beliefs. In her chapter "The Psychology of Change," Mary Pipher explores the possibility that

relationship-building therapy may be described as both a science and an art. It enables strangers

from vastly dissimilar origins, worldviews, and circumstances to participate in open discussions

that frequently result in personal development. This change occurs as a result of the norms of

engagement in therapy, which have been established over many years and are founded on ideas

like the notion that how individuals enter into a discussion affects its conclusion and the idea that

real change can only take place in the context of relationships. Writing and therapy have a lot in

common. Both need intense discipline and require working long hours in cramped spaces. Both

demand the ability to think critically, dig deep for emotional truths, and work through

challenging issues. Wise therapists assist clients in thinking more clearly, feeling more

profoundly, and behaving more responsibly. The task is frequently confusing, and success is

elusive. Many wise authors want to accomplish these similar goals. Professional voices and

styles are developed by both authors and therapists. Therapists are drawn to particular

personality theories and therapeutic philosophies, and both help them develop these talents.

Writers establish a sense of what works best for them and piece together an efficient manner of

engaging based on their abilities, interests, and skills. Pipher continues to explain that in general,
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therapists and change agents need to practice remaining alert, collected, and compassionate.

With her presence and attention, she offered the suggestion that an open discussion of problems

is therapeutic and that avoiding them is harmful. And that she must attempt to prevent fear or

hostility from interfering with her job. Thus, she believes that there are 10 factors that are

necessary for a therapist if they want to succeed. These 10 criteria are respect, accurate empathy,

connection, clarity, perspective, tone, timing, resistance, and hope. And Pipher refer this as

“change writing.” Change writing, according to Mary Pipher, is writing to connect. Similar to

effective therapy, it fosters the circumstances necessary for human transformation. The idea that

one must approach writing with an open mind is one that is crucial.

When we write, it should not be taken as an argument but rather as a chance to consider

something from a new perspective. When writing, the author is not always conscious of the

potential audience. Pipher draws your attention to The Journal of Anna Frank and explains that

while Anna Frank kept her diary as a sort of therapy to help her cope with the oppression of

World War II, she had no idea that it would be utilized years later to alter people's views on both

war and fundamental human rights. The impact of an unknowing author's words on the world is

demonstrated by this example of change writing. Anna Segher’s "Post to Promised Land" is

another example of how therapeutic writing may be viewed as transformation writing. This

article discusses the practice of writing from the perspective of a first thought and how letting go

of all these thoughts that aren't greeted with criticism may enhance one's writing (Berman, 405-

22). Similar to the Diary of Anna Frank, this essay demonstrates the therapeutic benefits of

writing and how it may alter both the reader and the writer. Similarly, Jimmy Baca’s “A Place to

Stand” is also an example of change writing as it falls into multiple criteria such as hope,

perspective, connection, tone, etc. mentioned by Pipher.

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American poet Jimmy Santiago Baca, who was born in 1952, is the author of A Place to

Stand. To summarize his autobiography, A Place to Stand, it details his upbringing on a rural

farm in New Mexico, his boyhood in orphanages and juvenile detention facilities, his years as a

drug dealer in San Diego and Arizona, and his remarkable psychological change while living in

squalid conditions behind bars. Baca fled from an orphanage after being abandoned by his family

and now faces abuse and hatred. He disregarded any suggestions for escape and relied on his

skill in combat to survive the tough streets. Baca flirted with crime while unemployed before

settling on drug peddling. Baca explains the severe tactics he must use in jail to live, such as

using a lead pipe to beat another prisoner or a butcher's knife to sever an attacker's stomach.

Despite the fact that these were self-defense measures, he was frequently placed in solitary

prison. Although his time in isolation was meant to crush his spirit, it really served as the starting

point for a remarkable set of recollections and insights that gave him an unbreakable desire to

fight against the dehumanizing effects of prison life. Writing provided a potent technique of

transcending his environment, and poetry became a crucial component of this emerging feeling

of self. Thus, it is fair to say that Baca’s A Place to Stand is an example of Pipher’s Chapter 7-

“The Psychology of Change.”

This memior starts with Baca's early years growing up with his unhappy mother and his

violent, inebriated father. Baca's mother leaves her three children in order to wed a man who will

provide her a more secure existence, despite the fact that Baca adores his father, who is

frequently in and out of jail. Following their mother's abandonment, Baca, his brother, and sister

live with his grandparents; however, once their grandfather passes away, the two boys are placed

in an orphanage. The time Baca spent with his grandparents is one of his most memorable and

enjoyable memories; it will also be the final time he spends time with them before getting
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married and starting a family of his own. When he is thirteen years old, Baca flees the

orphanage. Baca makes an effort to find new friends and partners to make up for the family he

has lost after leaving the orphanage. As he moves about in the early 1970s, he finds it simple to

meet ladies. The decision to join the lucrative drug trade is made soon by Baca, his buddy

Marcos, and Lonnie, Baca's lover. They are taken into custody on drug possession charges, and

Baca, who is 21 years old, is lodged in the Arizona State Prison. According to Pipher’s

perspective criteria, writers aim to give readers the strength of both their convictions and their

uncertainties. Writers might examine their own unresolved problems and unanswered concerns

on paper. The reader does not have to be given the impression that everything is clear-cut. There

are just so many uncertainties when Baca first entered prison. He was young and temperamental.

The future for him seemed cloudy.

After being imprisoned, Baca learns how to get by. Baca is compelled to respond

violently to every slight, which causes him to become involved in altercations with other

prisoners. He would rather avoid the most of things, but he discovers that he must not come out

as being frail. When Baca enters the jail, he is almost illiterate. When prison officials turn down

his desire for education, he quits working because he wants to acquire a GED while he is inside.

He is kept among some of the most dangerous inmates as a result of his protest. Baca is able to

educate himself because to his correspondence with Harry, a pen buddy. As time goes on, Baca

develops an intense desire to become a better writer and reader. As Baca has said "writing for

[him] was [his] connection to the streets, to someone out there" (13). He may explore his

memories at his convenience, making the time he spends in his cage useful. These daydreams

provide him material for writing, and before long, he starts producing poetry that are based on

his recollections. Ina sense, this is categorized under Pipher’s criteria of connection where she
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mentioned that although writers have lessons to communicate to readers, we must exercise

caution. If we make them feel used or foolish, they will become angry with us. Thus, it is

important for Baca to stay genuine to truly influence his readers positively. Additionally, he

composes messages and poetry for fellow prisoners to celebrate important occasions. In addition

to starting to interact with various authors and editors, Baca began submitting his poems to

periodicals. For Baca, “Language placed [his] life experiences in a new context, freeing [him] for

the moment to become with air as air, with clouds as clouds, from which new associations arose

to engage [him] in present life in a more purposeful way.” The excitement that Baca is feeling is

the tone that he is trying to convey to his readers. According to Pipher, tone is the foundation of

change writing. In the memoir, tone shifts throughout the ups and down of Baca’s life

experience.

Then, bad news came when the warden notifies Baca of the passing of his father. The

warden also informs Baca that his family does not want him to attend the burial even though the

jail would offer him a furlough to do so. Later, Baca discovers that his uncle had appeared to

speak on the family's behalf but was really only trying to keep Baca away from the burial in

order to steal money that Baca had inherited from his father. Baca gets released from prison after

more than six years. He has undergone alteration. For Baca, prison has served as a testing ground

where he has been able to find his literary talent. Baca gets in touch with his mother while still

yearning for a family. She makes the decision to be open with her husband and her kids, telling

them that she no longer loves Richard. Richard shoots and murders her when she tells him she's

leaving him. Mieyo, Baca's brother, continues down a bad road after losing his mother. After

starting to drink excessively, Mieyo is attacked in an alley and killed by unidentified attackers. In

the final moments of the memoir, Baca has a wife and kids the family he has always desired.
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More significantly, he has developed a sense of self that gives him "a place to stand" in the

world. Thus, hope is very important throughout Baca’s life journey. Pipher illustrates the criteria

of hope as “chinks of light [that] are always breaking through the gloom.”

In the final analysis, writing is so potent because it is a particularly potent way to think,

since the thoughts you express may be read again and again by millions of people. Writing alters

thoughts, which alters thoughts, which alters behavior, which alters lives. Everything will change

if the right people hear the right words at the right moment.
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Work Cited

Baca, Jimmy Santiago. A Place to Stand. Grove/Atlantic, Incorporated, 2002.

Berman, Jeffrey. “Letters from the Dead: The Healing Power of Writing in Anna Seghers’s ‘Post
to the Promised Land.’” American Imago, vol. 74, no. 3, 2017, pp. 405–22,
https://doi.org/10.1353/aim.2017.0026.

Pipher, Mary Bray. Writing to Change the World. First Riverhead trade paperback edition.,
Riverhead Books, 2007.