To say that life was hard for Francisco Jimenez would be a gross understatement. Life didn’t hand him lemons, it gave him ground crops. And they weren’t handed to him—he had to pick them himself.
But life also has a way of giving purpose to struggle, and in the case of Jimenez, he found that he went through hardship so he could touch the lives of others.
“I believe our creator has us go through different experiences for a reason,” he said. “I went through those experiences so I can document them.”
Jimenez, a former Santa Maria resident, has won acclaim and numerous awards for his books that retell his childhood experiences of immigrating to California from Mexico with his family, working the crop circuit, and dealing with prejudice and discrimination as they tried to make a life in a new country.
In his latest book, Reaching Out, Jimenez recounts his through higher education.
He sets off for college, leaving his family behind in a migrant community of dilapidated Army barracks with no indoor plumbing or drinkable water. As Jim»nez faces self-doubt about succeeding academically, he’s also burdened with finding work so he can send money home.
In a sense, Jimenez never left college, although he’s found plenty of success. Jim»nez is now the Fay Boyle Professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures and director of the Ethnic Studies Program at Santa Clara University. His other books include The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child, which chronicles his family’s life working the crop circuit, and the sequel to that, Breaking Through. His children’s stories include La Mariposa and The Christmas Gift/El Regalo de Navidad.
All of his books are based on his life experiences. At times, it was difficult for him to capture the emotions he felt as a child. At other times, the memories came flooding back with the same intensity he felt the first time.
“I would get teary-eyed,” he said, recalling his writing sessions. “One time my wife came in and said, ‘Are you crying?’ I said, ‘No, I’m writing.’ And she said, ‘No, you’re crying,’ and I said, ‘Yeah, I’m doing both.’”
It was also hard for him to relive the prejudice that was so prevalent in his life in his early years. He said he was discriminated against because of his language, his accent, his last name, and even the clothes he wore.
He remembered a time when he and his brother, Roberto, were dating Anglo girls: When the girls’ families found out he and his brother were Mexican, they forbade the girls to date them.
Through the pain of those memories, Jim»nez also realized that his experiences weren’t unique, which gave him a great respect for migrant workers who work from sun up to sun down.
“What sustains these families is the hope they can have a better life for their children,” he said. “Their struggle and hope is a source of inspiration for me.”
Though he no longer lives in Santa Maria, Jim»nez still has family in town. He said the city of Santa Maria is important to him because the experiences he had when he attended El Camino Junior High and Santa Maria High School have had a profound impact on his life.
“My formative years, both intellectually and emotionally, are rooted in Santa Maria,” he said.
He said his success in life is a culmination of the lessons of hard work and faith he learned from his family and the encouragement of his teachers. He counts three teachers specifically as influential in shaping his path.
Mr. Lema would spend lunch hours helping Jim»nez catch up on schoolwork. Because Jim»nez often started school late at the end of the agricultural season, the extra attention helped him catch up. When Mr. Lema discovered that Jim»nez enjoyed Spanish ballads called corridos, he offered to teach Jim»nez how to play trumpet. Jim»nez left school before he learned how to play the instrument, but he learned something else instead: He wanted to be a teacher.
“I wanted to be like Mr. Lema,” Jimenez said.
In high school, his counselor, Mr. Penny, introduced him to the possibility of college and helped him traverse the path of applications, financial aid, and scholarships, many of which came from Santa Maria community organizations, such as Kiwanis.
While Lema and Penny inspired Jim»nez to go to college and become a teacher, it was his high school English teacher, Mrs. Bell, who planted the literary seed, introduced him to John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, and helped him draw a parallel between the book and his own life.
Reading and education were the catalysts for change in Jim»nez’s life, so it’s no surprise that he’s a strong proponent of both. He explained that reading opens up the mind and helps free any prejudices that may exist. Education enriches life, he added, making it more enjoyable.
“Reading is fundamental to a good education,” he said. “An education is fundamental to a good life.”
INFOBOX: Reaching out
Francisco JimÈnez will be honored for his contributions to the literary world at a fundraiser for the Central Coast Literacy Council, Kiwanis’ Literature for Little Ones, and St. Mary’s School Library. The event will take place from 5 to 8 p.m. on Sept. 6 at Cypress Ridge Pavilion, 1050 Cypress Ridge Park in Arroyo Grande. Cost is $100 a person and includes an autographed copy of Reaching Out. For information, call 928-3573 or 925-8112. He’ll also be featured at the Library Shop Grand Opening from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sept. 7 at the Santa Maria Public Library. He’ll give an informal talk at 1:15 p.m. and then sign copies of his books. The event is free.
Arts Editor Shelly Cone is still living through her formative years. Contact her at scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Aug 28 – Sep 4, 2008.
