WritersCorps Youth. Believe me, I know; poetry and photography by WritersCorps Youth.WritersCorps, San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden Arts Commission (25 Van Ness Van Ness may refer to: People
In his introduction to this collection of photographs and poems created by eight-to 22-year-olds from San Francisco, Jimmy Santiago Baca Jimmy Santiago Baca (born 2 January 1952, Santa Fe, New Mexico) is an American poet and writer. Life and Career Baca's parents abandoned him at the age of seven, leaving him, and his siblings, Mieyo and Martina, at their grandparent's house. says, "These poems awaken a spirit of compassion and kindness in me. Some of them move me to tears, others to laughter--all move me to look at life in a different way." The works in this book fall into the realm of populist art. Their strength lies in the honesty with which they confront their own very real, though limited, worlds. "I want to have a good boyfriend who will be my husband, / but I'm scared, scared if he is just a liar. / Because I'm not beautiful." How close to the surface these emotions run. How universal the fears and dreams that are exposed without the subtleties and sophistication so·phis·ti·cate v. so·phis·ti·cat·ed, so·phis·ti·cat·ing, so·phis·ti·cates v.tr. 1. To cause to become less natural, especially to make less naive and more worldly. 2. , maybe even the hypocrisy, of adulthood. And how clearly they illustrate the power of simplicity. Their harsh reality Harsh Reality are a little-known, proto-prog band born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire out of the remnants of the Freightliner Blues Band (formerly the Revolution) in the early sixties. and insight is the more powerful when juxtaposed jux·ta·pose tr.v. jux·ta·posed, jux·ta·pos·ing, jux·ta·pos·es To place side by side, especially for comparison or contrast. to the idealism that runs concurrently through the collection and through youth. "With my healing hands I will erase / racism, prejudice, and sexism, / turn them into three more stars / in the sky." This volume is not a foundation piece for a collection of poetry, but it is ideal for classrooms, school libraries, and anywhere adolescents and adults are anxious, as Baca says, "to become vulnerable--open to hurt, to love, open to experiencing the world in ways that permit us to grow." In many ways it puts us in touch with the emotional cornerstones from which art grows. James Beschta, retired English Teacher, Barre, MA |
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