Book Club for Incarcerated Youth and Adults

Dear Free Minds Friends,

Happy New Year! We are looking forward to continuing our mission of educating and inspiring incarcerated youth in 2013, and we couldn’t do it without your support!

As many of you know, our members begin their involvement with Free Minds through our weekly Book Club sessions at the DC jail, where teenage inmates learn to appreciate literature and to use writing as a means to express their own stories. But the Free Minds journey does not end there! When they turn 18, our members are often sent off to federal prisons across the country to serve the remainder of their sentences. Far from their homes and families, members can feel isolated and alone in their struggles. Free Minds helps ease the distance and foster a true sense of community by sticking with our members every step of the way—we send books, a monthly newsletter, birthday cards, poetry feedback, and more.

Through our “virtual” book club program, Books Across the Miles (BAM!), incarcerated members get the opportunity to continue their emotional and intellectual growth. This winter, members read The Autobiography of Malcolm X as Told to Alex Haley. Free Minds member Trevon wrote to share the impact the book had on him:

“Thank you x 3 for the amazing books you all sent. ‘The Autobiography of Malcolm X’ just might be my all-time favorite book now. His overall struggle through life at a time when things were much worse than now should be proof to any young or old black male and female that all things are possible if you put your mind to it, despite your economic background or mistakes made in your life...”

Our next BAM! pick is The Wealth Cure: Putting Money in Its Place by New York Times bestselling author Hill Harper. The book challenges readers to reconsider how we define wealth in our lives and to place more value on relationships.

Many BAM! participants have been so inspired by the books they read that they have begun writing their own! Our monthly Write Night, where community members gather to provide feedback on poetry by incarcerated members, continues to thrive. This past fall we had record-high Write Night attendance, with over 40 people showing up at events. We also continue to publish member poetry on our Writing Blog. We print and mail all comments to the poets in federal prison. Your feedback lets our writers know they their voices are being heard and that their stories matter.

Free Minds member Decario recently described the powerful experience of receiving mail in prison:

“Wow, I’m honestly just overwhelmed and afraid that my words aren’t going to do my feelings justice.  Y’all were there when nobody else was.  You kept writing to me when literally everyone else had forgotten me.  I mean everyone!  Just hearing your name called by the CO [Corrections Officer] during mail call when nobody else had bothered.  You feel so alone in that situation, and then to hear your name called by that CO?  Well, that’s an awesome feeling!  You feel alive again.  It means so much.”

Another member, Curtis, wrote to us about the comments he received on his writing:

“I want to thank you for sending me the feedback on my poetry. It caught me at the right time. It turned my whole day around. About those responses to my writing, it touched me that people felt the way they did about something I wrote.”

Meanwhile, the Book Club was visited by two accomplished authors this fall. Walter Dean Myers, author of young adult bestsellers such as Fallen Angels and Monster, demonstrated to Book Club members at the DC Jail that writing and creativity can be a gateway to success. We were also visited by Erin Gruwell, the teacher who inspired the movie Freedom Writers. Gruwell shared her inspirational story with the Book Club and challenged our members to think critically about their choices and values. She later expressed to us why she believes reaching out to incarcerated youth is so important:

“As an English teacher, I believe in allowing everyone the opportunity to share their story and possibly rewrite their own ending. So I think Free Minds is just that opportunity for young people who may have made some bad decisions. They’re not bad people. And we want to honor their story, we want to celebrate their voices, and watch them as they rewrite their ending.”

Books Across the Miles provides our incarcerated members with an invaluable connection to the community. Thank you for believing in the power of words, and for helping our members as they write new chapters in their lives!

P.S. To stay current with Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop, don’t forget to like us on facebook!

Links:

• Find out more about us on our website
• Like us on Facebook!
• Comment on our blog!

Dear Free Minds Friends,

Happy Fall!  In the months since our last update, we’ve had a lot going on here at Free Minds.  As you know, our work begins with the Book Club at the DC Jail, but it does not end there.  In our weekly Book Club sessions, teenage inmates learn to read and appreciate literature—and to write some of their own!  These sessions are the foundation of the broader Free Minds community, and it is crucial that our young members retain that sense of community after they turn 18 and are transferred to adult jails or prisons.  That’s where Books Across the Miles—and all of you!—comes in.

In August, Free Minds members read Game Over: The Rise and Transformation of a Harlem Hustler by Azie Faison, a true story chronicling Faison’s incredible story of change and escape from a life of violence.  We’re excited to announce that our next Books Across the Miles selection will be The Autobiography of Malcolm X As Told To Alex Haley; this title was selected by a Free Minds member himself!

The impact of the Book Club can be summed up in a recent letter from Hernan, a young man who immigrated to the US as a child: “I didn’t want to remember my past because it made me feel bad, but now as the years go by I have begun to understand the world by reading.  By reading you can find experiences that compare to things you have been through and find similarities… Little by little, your mind begins to change.  Now I look, listen, and read.  There is a lot to learn, and with the book club I’ve learned to value life.”

Book Club members have also taken up journal writing and spoken word poetry!  Though we can’t share it all with you, you can read some of their poetry on our writing blog.  These young writers love to hear from you, so please leave a comment (or three)!

In the meantime, our monthly Volunteer Write Night events are still going strong, with new faces showing up every time!  At Write Night, volunteers from all over the DC community read poems by the incarcerated poets of Free Minds, and they decorate the poems with their own thoughts, feelings, or even artwork.  We mail the responses back to the poets, many of whom look forward to reading their Write Night comments every month.  One volunteer, Wenna, said this:

“I have been attending Write Night for almost a year and I love it!  I heard about it on Facebook and after the first one I was hooked.  There is a really positive atmosphere and it is so exciting to be part of a diverse group of volunteers who are all joined by one common aim.  I love the variety of themes that the Free Minds Members tackle and the broad range of styles from street to religious.  The opportunity to communicate with and learn from someone you have never met is rare and has really broadened my perspective on the world.  The experience also gave me the confidence to start writing myself thanks to the encouragement of the Members who attend Write Night.  I really value Free Minds Write Night as it is such a great opportunity for learning, reflection, and self-improvement, and I always recommend it to my friends.  I would be lost without it.  Thank you Free Minds!”

We also recently hosted three professional basketball players at the Book Club: Etan Thomas, Laron Profit, and Travis Garrison.  They joined us to discuss Thomas’s newest book, Fatherhood, which we read in the Book Club earlier in the summer.  They discussed struggles with their own fathers, and how to be good fathers to their own children.  The session was moving for all involved; thank you Etan, Laron, and Travis!

“A lot of people don’t know how to get over not having a father.  We never talk about it.  But a lot of people I know have been through it.  I know what it’s like, but there’s always a way to break through that wall.”  - Laron Profit

“It’s a great thing that Free Minds is doing because Free Minds gives these kids hope, gives them a chance to express themselves and to learn from their mistakes.” – Travis Garrison

“Writing is just to be able to get your emotions and your frustrations out.  Reading opens up your whole world to everything.  I’ll be a supporter of Free Minds forever.” – Etan Thomas

Links:

• Learn more about us on our website
• Like us on Facebook
• Check out our writing blog