A former Los Angeles gang member, now a nationally renowned social activist, will make a special appearance at Ball State Wednesday night.
Award-winning poet Luis Rodriguez will be reading from his work at 7:30 p.m. in Art and Journalism Building room 175. The event is free and open to the public.
English professor Tom Koontz said he chose Rodriguez to be the visiting writer for the grant project because of the poet's effectiveness in communicating his powerful life story.
"Many of the details of his life are those of poor people everywhere, and it is important that all Americans know those details," Koontz said.
According to the poet's Web site, Rodriguez became an active street gang member in an East Lost Angeles barrio at age 11. Between the ages of 13 and 18, he was arrested several times for stealing, rioting and attempted murder, among other crimes, the site said.
Rodriguez, however, eventually broke free from his violent lifestyle and eventually became a Chicano poet, producing a memoir, short stories and three collections of poetry: "Poems Across the Pavement," "The Concrete River" and "Trochemoche."
His novel, "Music of the Mill," will be published this fall, Koontz said.
When Rodriguez's son later joined a gang, the poet also wrote about his fight to help his son in his bestseller "Always Running: La Vida Loca," according to the site.
"Rodriguez's immigrant background gives him the point of view of a large minority of Americans," Koontz said. "At the same time, he participates in the great American history and mythic tale of migration, struggle and, for some, success."
Koontz said Rodriguez is an important American writer because of how well he expresses his life observations and insights through his writing.
The opportunity for students to hear him is an excellent opportunity for learning, he said.
"He communicates an American life that is different in many details and points of view from many Ball State students, while at the same time communicating much that is universal to humanity and Americans," Koontz said.
Koontz said the English department hopes students will learn the importance of compassion and citizenship through Rodriguez's personal experiences.
"I think we can all be entirely confident that his experiences and the lives that he has observed around him in Los Angeles and Chicago are being lived today in Muncie and other places in Indiana," Koontz said. "We should all know about that."
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