TTT#307 Jimmy Santiago Baca, Medical Humanities, and Narrative Medicine with Rex Veeder, Sara Wedeman, Michael MacBride 7.25.12

More about Jimmy Santiago Baca, his poetry and his inspiration on this episode of TTT (recorded earlier this summer). We are joined by +Rex Veeder, +Sara Wedeman, and +Michael MacBride.

Rex writes: I am gathering some folks to talk about Medical Humanities and Narrative Medicine and it's relationship to education K through Higher Ed.

Also:

The survive and thrive conference and festival as an example of a different kind of conference for writing, art, education, science, and medicine (integrated), and the the Baca/Gleik kickistarter as an example of the principles in action -- how does an event reveal the relationships inherent in putting what we learn into practice?

This was the second of two shows http://edtechtalk.com/node/5118 this summer to help our some of our colleagues reach their Kickstarter goal of raising $50,000 to complete a documentary about Jimmy Santiabo Baca. They went beyoud their goal, and (according to a recent email) are busy at work.

On the earlier show, we met teachers +Denise VanBriggle and +Kym Sheehan as well as filmmaker +Daniel Glick. They told us more about a film project called "A Place to Stand,” which Daniel is making. The three of them used Kickstarter to raise money to finish a feature-length documentary about the life and poetry of Jimmy Santiago Baca http://www.jimmysantiagobaca.com

On a recent post on the National Writing Project's Connect http://connect.nwp.org/national/blog/16429/join-us-support-place-stand-documentary Denise and Kym write:

A Place to Stand is a documentary film (http://kck.st/NsBX8g) about New Mexico poet Jimmy Santiago Baca and his transformation in the 1970s from an illiterate convict to a celebrated poet. Since his release, Jimmy has become one of the foremost Mexican American poets in America.

We're not viewing this as just a film. For us, this is about service. Jimmy’s memoir and poetry have inspired prisoners to leave gangs, drug addicts to stay clean, and countless others to dramatically shift the course of their lives. A Place to Stand will make his inspiring story and poetry available to many who would never find it otherwise. Free copies will be given to detention centers, prisons and schools for at-risk youth, coupled with programming designed to help people find in themselves what Jimmy found through his poetry: a place to stand in life, a sense of self-worth, and a reason to live.