Student Waxes Poetic
St. Paul Woman Wins Metro State
Award
by Harvey Meyer
A childhood photo of Mary
Bailey Bustos shows a happy-go-lucky kid with a sunny smile. But
she garners no warm fuzzies when examining the picture. Fact is,
as far as she is concerned, she might as well be gazing at a stranger.
That’s because, for all intents and purposes,
she is. Memory loss has effectively erased her childhood. Indeed, she has difficulty
recollecting anything that happened to her even two weeks ago.
Bailey Bustos, 44, who now
lives in Saint Paul’s Highland
Park neighborhood, was thrown head-first through a car windshield
in a 1983 accident in Yakima, Washington. When she awoke in a hospital
room 18 hours later, her memory had vanished. And her ability to
remember anything from then on virtually disappeared. “I’m
lucky if I remember last week,” she said. “I would not
remember anything that happened last year unless I read about it
right beforehand.”
Despite that obstacle, Bailey Bustos
has survived and even thrived. She has won two national poetry
awards. And she was recently selected Fall 2006 Outstanding Student
in the Metropolitan State University College of Professional Studies. “It is a humongous honor,” said
Bailey Bustos, a human services major with a dual focus in chemical
dependency counseling and corrections. “My daughter was in
tears telling me how proud she was of me.”
Pauline Danforth, a Metropolitan State academic advisor, commends
Bailey Bustos for confronting challenges and serving as a role model
for other disabled, low-income and first-generation college students.
Specifically, Danforth praised her thirst for knowledge and organizational
and leadership skills.
As evidence of that, Bailey
Bustos recently spearheaded the launch of a new Metropolitan State
student group. That organization aims to help students with resource
referrals and through peer mentoring and tutoring.
She has had to
make several accommodations for her disability. She regularly jots
down notes to help in navigating her day and keeps her schedule in
four separate daily planners, one that she carries with, another
at home and two in work settings. The Metropolitan State Disabilities
Services Office has also assisted, allowing her extended time to
take tests; her recollection often improves with more time. Moreover,
internships and independent studies have proven valuable, enabling
her to work more at her own pace.
Bailey Bustos is working as a full-time
resident assistant at the Salvation Army Booth Brown House Foyer
Program, Saint Paul, which assists 16–22 year-olds transition out of homelessness. She
offers group workshops and one-on-one sessions, counseling clients
on life and study skills, resume writing, and identifying college
scholarships (she’s won several herself). She essentially provides
the same services as a part-time peer mentor in Metropolitan State’s
TRIO/Student Support Services Office.
Previously, Bailey Bustos was a shift
supervisor and case manager for a Saint Paul correctional halfway
house. Earlier, she was a client at that same facility, after having
served three years (1994–1997)
at the state’s women’s correctional facility in Shakopee
for a conspiracy conviction.
While the 1983 car accident
upended her life, it has not defined her. Her poetry has assisted
through rough patches, helping her access emotions and frame ongoing
challenges. She’s won two major
national awards from Poetry.com for
poems that were included in published anthologies. She crafted one
of those poems, “Good Night My
Children,” during a particularly low period, while being detained
in jail. Her goal is to eventually publish her own book of poems.
Her disability, she said, has actually
benefited her in some ways. “It’s
given me the ability to empathize with others who have disadvantages.”
The Long Beach, Calif. native credits
her pursuit of a college degree with inspiring two of her three
children to finish high school. One is now attending college and
another is planning to enroll next year. Bailey Bustos, who hopes
to land a job in corrections, plans to pursue another bachelor’s degree and, eventually, a master’s
degree.
“I am the first in my family to attend college,” she
said, “so it’s really a big deal to graduate. A huge
deal. I’m really looking forward to it.” ![]()
Harvey Meyer is a writer for Metro State University.
