Interview with author of Circuit

Francisco Jiménez

Authors Up-close Movie Transcript

Francisco Jiménez, interviewed in his studio in Santa Clara, California on May 25, 2002.

This is a transcript of the movie available on TeachingBooks.net. It is offered here to give

you a quick assessment of the program topics, as well as to enable people with auditory

disabilities access to the words. 

Because this is a transcript of an edited movie, it should not be used as an assessment of

Mr. Jiménez’s writing. Many of the sentences found here were edited, and all editing

decisions are the sole responsibility of TeachingBooks.net.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I come from a Mexican background. I grew up in a family of migrant workers. I’m writing these

stories because I think it’s important for me to document the lives of many families from the past

and present. My hope is that my writing then gives voice to a large sector of our society that for

many, many years has been largely ignored.

Breaking Through and The Circuit are autobiographical. Everything that I write is based on the

things I experienced as a child and as a young adult. I feel that it’s important to document this

experience because it is part of the American experience of coming to this country, looking for a

better way of life, seeking sometimes what we call the American dream.

Writing the Story

I wrote the books in English. I would think in Spanish, and the emotions, the dialogues, the voices

that I would hear from my parents were all in Spanish. So I had to translate all of that into

English.

I interviewed my parents, and my brother, and some family members. I also visited the little towns

and places where we had lived in migrant labor camps in the San Joaquin Valley in California.

The other thing that I did was that I listened to music. When we drove our little carcachita, our

little old jalopy looking for work, we had a radio. And so my dad used to play the radio and listen

to Mexican music. I love Mexican corridos, Mexican ballads. So one thing I did was listen to that

music that I listened to when I was a child, and all the emotions came. And I could see my father

getting teary-eyed with some of those songs.

My older brother said, “You know, there’s a lot of personal stuff in there, are you sure you want to

publish it?” And I said, “Well, you know, I don’t think about that these stories as only our family’s

stories. They’re the stories of many families.” And he saw that was the right thing to do.

Stability

There’s no doubt in my mind that if I hadn’t had certain teachers, I am absolutely sure that I

wouldn’t have made it. I wouldn’t have been able to break through the circuit, basically. So for

that reason I wrote the book Breaking Through as a tribute to my teachers.

From very early on, I was motivated and wanted to go to school. Whatever I learned in school, it

was mine to have and to hold. And it didn’t matter how many times we moved — that knowledge,

that learning — would go with me. Learning, education became the stability I was looking for.

Seeing Our Reflections

It’s important for us to appreciate and to value all the different cultures that make up our society. I

think of what we study in school or the curriculum is like a mirror. If we look in the mirror and we

don’t see ourselves, then we become invisible. What does that do for our own self-concept and

our sense of time and place?

My hope is that my books, in some way, contribute to the curriculum so that children and young

adults, who traditionally have not been able to see themselves reflected in that mirror, can see

themselves now reflected.