Mi Padre, Eduardo, El Indio, un Hombre de Honor. My Father, Eduardo, El Indio, an Old-school Man of Honor. I do not really remember him. I just know that I automatically respected him. Once he died when I was nine, … Continue reading Books and Burdens: Irrational Man, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Always Running: La Vida Loca

First of all I give it up to all of you who put in work in your own way. This that follows is my story, my work: To be active is to action, not to be simply theoretical, but to actually action out Praxis, testing out your theories into the world. You action out your true beliefs and know there is no control to what you will find. No one has ever done it before, yet you do it anyway. Basically, you say, “Fuck it, Homes. I am going to live while I am alive. I’m gonna put in work, … Continue reading Putting in Work: a Timeline

Unprecedented Amor: Pura Neta author Ben Bac Sierra in conversation with Luis Rodriguez, pre-eminent Chicano author of the classic, Always Running: La Vida Loca, at the San Francisco Public Library (virtual) on Wednesday, September 30 from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m.! Sign up now: reservation required at this link: https://bit.ly/PuraNeta9-30-20 Full description of event here: https://sfpl.org/events/2020/09/30/author-benjamin-bac-sierra-conversation-luis-rodriguez Yes, this is unprecedented amor: a San Fran Northern Califas Homey  author professor discussing literature, poetry, vida loca, and Pura Neta with a respected award-winning So Cal Xicanx writer, activist, and loved one, Luis Rodriguez. Imagination and wisdom are beyond borders, make-believe walls that keep … Continue reading Unprecedented Amor: Pura Neta Ben Bac Sierra con Always Running: La Vida Loca Luis Rodriguez, W 9/30 from 7-8 p.m.

Pura Neta means you will mostly be misunderstood and maligned, for what you are advocating for is pure truth, which is a fiction—both truth and imagination combined. Most people cannot understand or accept this absurdity, which is at the root of everything. Those who actually know Pura Neta say it with a smile or a face of death, laughing and crying at the same time. It is beyond good and evil. What to do with this knowledge? You can caress it and lay it gently into a treasure box, or you can shoot it out to stars. Praxis is a … Continue reading “Part Four of Producing Pura Neta (A Four Part Series): Pura Neta Praxis”

In the span of ten years, from 2010 to 2019, I wrote three books but had no biters to publish them. It didn’t matter, as everything I wrote sharpened my style, forced me to invent a new style. A grunt style. I constantly kept writing, but I had to sacrifice fiction for the Amor for Alex movement. For the gente, I had to write lots of non-fiction, legal-based text, lots of social media connections, emails, etc. For two years, from 2014 to 2016, I wrote intensely on all aspects of the case and movement, but, more importantly, I learned to … Continue reading “Part Three of Producing Pura Neta (A Four Part Series): Jambalaya”

  Pura Neta, my new novel, stands on its own. It stands on its roots. In order to understand the totality of those roots, a reader can gain lots from reading my first novel, Barrio Bushido (published by El Leon … Continue reading “Part Two of Producing Pura Neta (A Four Part Series): Roots: Barrio Bushido”

The root of writing is language, spoken word. My roots, therefore, are in the immigrant Spanish and Black English of the Army Street Highrise Housing Projects in San Francisco’s Mission district. As Chapin immigrants, my parents spoke only Spanish with … Continue reading “Part One of Producing Pura Neta (A Four Part Series): Benjamin Bac Sierra, The Writer”

Profé Ben Bac Sierra and SF Supervisor Shamann Walton Answer “What Does Police Accountability Mean for Black and Brown Communities in 2020?” It is my humble honor to serve you. If you want to hear a frank critical evaluation of policing, watch this video. Please share with all, as this is one of the most pressing issues of our time. This panel consisted of myself and San Francisco Supervisor Shamann Walton discussing “What Does Police Accountability Mean for Black and Brown Communities?” Recorded on July 15, 2020 from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. Please feel free to use this video and … Continue reading “Defund Police: Profé Ben Bac Sierra and SF Supervisor Shamann Walton Evaluate Defunding Police 2020”

I wanted to learn, but I did not know how, yet life still kept happening, regardless of whether I wanted to learn or not. Therefore, there was no time to waste! In my excitement and impatience to figure things out, I used to question whether there were such a thing as an essential education—maybe mathematics or law or suffering or wisdom was the answer. I wanted some kind of short-cut to enlightenment, as if knowledge or education could get me there faster. Then, with my bright ideas, I would be delivered to the land of milk and honey. There is … Continue reading “The Existential Issue and the Propaganda Trap”

I say Happy Fourth of July because this is our country, and it is a tragedy that we could feel ashamed to feel happy for our existence in this place, when we built this, continue on the Frontlines to build this place that does not love us like we love it. The “it” being the earth dirt itself. The “it” being an imagination of something called country, ours actually named after the first European person to tell us we are confused and lost—Amerigo Vespucci. America, we are still confused and lost. But this is what we have where we are, … Continue reading “He Aint Heavy”