Ernesto Galarza's Barrio Boy and A Place to Stand by Jimmy Santiago Baca are inspired to write an autobiography. Both of these writers defend, claim, identify, and interpret the meanings of indigenous cultures and memory. Galarza and Baca grew up in different environments and had different motivations in putting their lives on paper so readers could learn their story. Ernesto Galarza was born in Mexico. He decides he wants to tell the story of his journey from a small village in Mexico to a barrio, a neighborhood, in Sacramento, California. It focuses on his story of when he was in Jalcocotán for a few years and what he did every day, the decisions his family had to make and the ending of his story with high school. Jimmy Santiago Baca was born in New Mexico. She wanted to tell the "story of her transformation" and chronicles the beginning of her childhood through adulthood by writing a memoir. It focuses on the period of his life before, during his time in prison, and after the years he spent in prison. Baca describes in writing to a survivor his memories, experiences and feelings and how he classified himself as a victim of the system. Galarza and Baca weave their cultures and memories into their autobiographies. Before writing this article, I interviewed several of my colleagues. Among the questions I asked were: if they could give me a definition of culture and what their culture was like. Interestingly, I got the same answer, just with different words and terms. For them, culture was what was popular in their family when they were growing up. And when they answered what their culture was like, they labeled it: Mexican culture, Chinese culture, American culture, etc. This is why I believe it is crucial to know the definition of “culture… middle of paper… a large percentage of people do not have a complete understanding of their culture, but continue to embrace it in every form possible. Works Cited Baca, Jimmy Santiago. A Place to Be: A Poet's Creation. New York: Grove, 2001. Print.Galarza, Ernesto and Ilan Stavans. Barrio Boy. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame, 2011. Print.Martí, Jose. "Our America." Comp. Jeffrey Grant. Belnap and Raúl A. Fernandez. Jose Martí's "Our America": From National to Hemispheric Cultural Studies. Durham: Duke UP, 1998. Page no. Print.Rosaldo, Renato. "The Erosion of Classical Norms". Culture and truth: remaking social analysis: with a new introduction. Boston: Beacon, 1989. Page No. Print.Valle, Victor. "Our second conference on America." Lesson.Valle, Victor. “Prosperous in the Twentieth Century: A Note-Taking Guide for Rosaldo's “Lone Ethnographer.” January 22, 2014. Conference.