Way back in 1993, Chicano poet Jimmy Santiago Baca who wrote the screenplay for the Latino cult classic Blood In, Blood Out (aka Bound by Honor), based on his own life experiences. The award-winning film, directed by Taylor Hackford, featured a range of Latino actors who remain active and influential today, including Benjamin Bratt, Enrique Castillo, Geoffrey Rivas, and Raymond Cruz. And like many works of art, it had unexpected consequences as well. For one thing…it inspired actress Diane Lane.
More than a decade after the film’s release, Lane was inspired by Blood In, Blood Out and created Get Lit, a non-profit corporation that promotes literary performance, education, and teen poetry programs at inner city schools that are often deprived of the arts, and Get Lit is hosting a benefit poetry reading on November 20, to promote its work.
Se Fija! doesn’t do a whole lot of non-profit promoting, but this one is important.
Major stars will be reading at the benefit, including Helen Mirren, reading a poem written especially for the occasion by playwright David Mamet. Tim Robbins, Carol Muske-Dukes (California’s Poet Laureate), and the organization’s own Get Lit Players/Literate members, all of whom are local teens, will be reading as well.
And Jimmy Santiago Baca will be reading, too. Almost twenty years after Blood In, Blood Out planted the seed, the life-changing idea of art and literature’s power to change the world comes full circle… and here’s your chance to support it. The beneficiaries of this event will be over 10,000 teens in inner city Los Angeles schools, and you can learn more on how to support it here. As for Baca…
Santiago Baca has overcome some real challenges in his life. Here’s a biographical sketch we found in the Latina Book Club blog.
“Jimmy was born in New Mexico of Indio-Mexican descent. He was a teen runaway and served five years in prison, where he learned to read and write, and ‘unearthed a voracious passion for poetry.’ His poems and short stories have earned him many honors including, the Pushcart Prize, the American Book Award, the International Hispanic Heritage Award and for his memoir A PLACE TO STAND the prestigious International Award.”
It’s not hard to see why Ms Lane was truly inspired—or why the cause is well worth your support. To learn more about Get Lit, just click here. And to learn more about Jimmy Santiago Baca, check out his site here.
See you Sunday.
