This week, TheLatinoAuthor.com is featuring Francisco Jimenez. Mr. Jimenez is a writer of both fiction and non-fiction. Currently he resides in Santa Clara, California, and is a Professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Santa Clara University. Read our interview and see what compelled him to go from working in the fields to becoming a writer along with having a successful academia career.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself; where you grew up, where you currently reside, what you would like our readers to know about you?
I spent the first four years of my life living with my family in El Rancho Blanco, a small rural community located in the northern part of Jalisco, Mexico. We lived in an adobe hut with a dirt floor. It had no electricity or indoor plumbing. We had to go to a nearby river to fetch drinking water and use candles for light. In the evenings, we would sit around a fire built of dry cow ships and listened to stories. It was a hard and simple life.
When I was four years old, the family left Mexico and illegally crossed the U.S. Mexican border. We immigrated to the United States to escape our poverty and to seek a new and better life. My family moved from place to place following seasonal crops to make a living. My older brother and I worked alongside our parents from the time I was six year old.
As a child, you worked alongside your parents in the fields. How did this impact your life and/or writing career?
During nine years that we were moving from place to place following seasonal crops, I yearned for stability and for a place I could call my own. My want for a permanent home, in large part, came out of a desire to attend school without interruption. I hated missing two and a half months of school every year and finding myself way behind in my studies. I enjoyed learning even though school was difficult for me, especially English class. I found a sense of stability and permanence in education, in learning – whatever I learned in school and on my own, that knowledge went with me no matter how many times we moved. It was mine to have and to hold.
When I was in the eighth grade, we were deported back to Mexico and months later returned to the United States legally. We settled permanently in Bonetti Ranch, a migrant labor camp in Santa Maria, California. My father could no longer work in the fields as he suffered severe back problems resulting from doing stoop labor. This was a curse and a blessing. It was a curse because my father went into a deep depression. He felt useless and a burden to our family. It was a blessing because we ceased to move, which allowed my siblings and me to attend school year round. My older brother and I supported our family by working as janitors thirty to thirty-five hours each week while we were in high school and occasionally we worked in the fields on weekends. Our mother took care of our younger siblings, our father, and a few children of other migrant families. She charged one dollar a day per child. Under the guidance of my high school counselor and with the encouragement of my sophomore English teacher, I graduated from high school and received several local scholarships that covered expenses for my first year at the University of Santa Clara. My younger brother, who was a freshman in high school at the time, took over my janitorial job so I could attend college.
Was there a specific event that moved you to begin writing or was this just something you always wanted to do?
The idea for writing came to me when I read John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” for my English class in high school. For the first time, I realized that my own story, as well as the story of other Mexican migrant workers, was part of the American story. I understood the power of words to move hearts and minds – the power of literature to change lives.
At that time, unfortunately, the school curriculum did not include any Latino writers. Later, as I thought of writing my own books, I reflected on the importance of children seeing themselves in literature. When students see themselves reflected in the curriculum they feel valued in school, and consequently gain more interest in their studies and develop greater self-esteem.
I began writing when I was in graduate school at Columbia University. The inspiration for my writing comes from my teachers and the community of my childhood – migrant farm workers. I wrote “The Circuit,” “Breaking Through,” “Reaching Out,” “La Mariposa and The Christmas Gift/El Regalo de Navidad” to chronicle part of my family’s history, but more importantly, to document the experiences of a larger sector of our society that has been frequently ignored. Through my writing I hope to give readers an insight into the lives of migrant farm workers and their children whose noble (all work is noble) and back-breaking labor of picking fruits and vegetables puts food on our tables. Their courage, struggles, hopes and dreams for a better life for their children and their children’s children give meaning to the term “American dream.” Their story is an important and integral part of the American story.
Currently you are a Professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at Santa Clara University. Has being in this profession helped your writing career? If so, can you elaborate on this?
It has and has not. Besides teaching, I have held various administrative positions at Santa Clara University, including Director of the Division of Arts and Humanities in the College of Arts and Sciences, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, Chair Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, and Director of Ethnic Studies. I have also served on several boards and commissions including the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, California Council for the Humanities, Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities (WASC), Santa Clara Board of Trustees, the Far West Lab for Educations Research and Development and ALearn.
These responsibilities have not given me much time to write. However, they are related to my writing to the extent that the subject matter of my writing informs everything I do professionally; teaching, administrative work, and public service. I have done most of my creative writing during sabbaticals.
Of all the autobiographical books you’ve written, which was the most difficult and which was the most rewarding? Why?
“The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child” was the most difficult one to write because I had to “relive” painful experiences and relate them from the child’s point of view. My hope was to make this book accessible to children as well as adults. Fortunately, this book is being read by both children and adults.
In spite of all the odds, it appears that you have achieved great success in your academic and writing career. What do you mostly attribute this to?
I attribute these successes to many people who have been a blessing in my life – my family, especially my mother and older brother, and my teachers.
Who are some mentors or key people that have inspired you in your life and why?
Many people have supported and guided me on my life’s journey. In my own family, my mother and father and older brother have been the most inspirational. My mother taught me the value of faith and hope, my father instilled in me the value of hard work and respect – respect for myself and others. My older brother has been like a second father to me and a role model. He is generous, compassionate, ethical, and profoundly spiritual.
Outside of my family, my teachers and high school counselor have been the most helpful and influential. Cesar Chavez also inspired me. I joined him on the march to Sacramento in 1966. Years later I invited him to be our Keynote Speaker in a university-wide institute project with a theme of poverty and conscience I organized at Santa Clara University.
Of the two, publishing and marketing, which do you find more challenging or frustrating?
I have not had any difficulties with publishers. Marketing has been a challenge at times simply because they have not been as helpful in terms of publicizing my work as much as I have liked.
What has been one of the toughest criticisms you’ve received as an author? How did this impact you?
Fortunately, as far as I know, my work has not received any negative criticism.
What has been one of the greatest compliments you’ve received as an author?
Aside from the positive reviews, my books have won several national literary awards, including the Américas Book Award, the Pura Belpré Honor Book Award, the Tomás Rivera Book Award, and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award. They have been published in several languages, including Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, Italian, and Korean. I consider these compliments. However, the greatest compliment I received came from readers who tell me that “Your story is my story.”
Do you have any technical writing advice to give to our readers and aspiring writers?
My best advice for aspiring writers is to write from the heart and to read and write as often as you can.
Can you tell us about any upcoming projects in the near future?
Currently, I am under contract with Houghton Mifflin to write a memoir on the experiences I had in graduate school at Columbia University. I am focusing on my struggles to continue my education; the intellectual, emotional and psychological impact that graduate studies had on me; and my efforts to find stability and a sense of place and purpose in my life during an era that was marked by social and political instability, unrest and turmoil (the Columbia Riots, the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, the war in Vietnam, the counterculture and the civil rights movements).
Contact: www.scu.edu/fjimenez
