Rachel Embry<\/strong>, instructor for the writing class, said, \u201cThe purpose of poetry is to help us voice things. It enables us [the writers] to be heard.\u201d The testament to that is in the words of her students (shared with their permission).<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI am most proud of the blessings of memories that dance in my mind.\u201d (Jhermie McCamey<\/strong><\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Richard<\/strong> (last name withheld by request) wrote, \u201cThe world I live in is one of mirrors. I act as if I\u2019m invisible. We are lost souls, trapped in a forest of minutes where the wind says, \u2018Woe is me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Andrico Pegues<\/strong> wrote of unexpected loss and declared himself to be an \u201cunfinished masterpiece.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Corey Tate<\/strong> wrote, \u201cAm I living life or is life living me? What do you do when your past keeps calling you back?\u201d He wants the world to know that \u201cI\u2019m a success story, brick by brick, piece by piece.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI am,\u201d said Corderrell Black<\/strong>, \u201cand I thank God for my blessings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Milton Butler<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong> wrote of his regrets, swallowing his pride, heartbreak, and of his desire to improve his life and be a better man, stepping into \u201cbigger sized shoes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIs there happiness left for me?\u201d asked Jake Moore<\/strong>. In answer to the writing prompt \u201cWhat the world should know about me?\u201d he wrote enthusiastically, \u201cI\u2019m coming!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thomas Hamer<\/strong>, who wrote in high school, said that poetry helps him express his positive self. \u201cIt\u2019s changed my life,\u201d he said. \u201cI got my voice back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I got my voice back.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Is not one of the most crucial needs of humanity to be heard? Those who are imprisoned lose more than the freedom to walk around without restraint. They most often also lose their ability to be heard. Despite the many prison staff who do their best to help, what we call a \u201ccorrections system\u201d falls woefully short of correcting anything, both externally and especially internally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Incarceration by its very nature sets the stage for the murder of the soul. That is not to say that those convicted of crimes have no price to pay. The loss of physical freedom is one thing, but the lack of nurturance of the spirit is costlier still and contributes significantly to recidivism. It rips hope from the heart and the mind and habitually invokes in a destructive manner the most basic function of the human brain: physical survival. The introduction of hope can change that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Statistics show than most who are in prison will eventually be released. They will come back into the workplace and our living spaces. Common sense tells us that it is better for all that imprisoned persons set free have not had their spirits crushed. A person with hope and a belief that they matter is a person who can still be a force for good in this world. Sometimes a flower or a tree will push its way through a stone into the fresh light of day. I submit that the reason for that is that the plant has hope. It knows there is an end to darkness and it does everything in its power to escape that night. We must cultivate that hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prison bars can suck the life out of people, but they do not have to. I believe we are morally obligated to see to it that those behind bars retain their personhood. We fail to do so at our own peril.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Randy Weeks is a Licensed Professional Counselor, a Certified Shamanic Life Coach, an ordained minister, a singer-songwriter, and an actor. He believes in compassion for all. Randy may be reached at randallsweeks@gmail.com.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n What difference does it make for someone in prison to have the chance to learn how to write<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":262,"featured_media":39753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11902],"tags":[20395,18843,20397,20396,1730,6946,20399,20394,3252,20398,4809,20391,10878,20400,3251],"class_list":["post-117055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-randy-weeks","tag-andrico-pegues","tag-billy-joe-russell","tag-cordarrell-black","tag-corey-tate","tag-corinth","tag-gaetano-catelli","tag-jacob-moore","tag-jhermie-mccamey","tag-louis-bourgeois","tag-milton-butler","tag-prison-writes-initiative","tag-simone-bourgeois","tag-the-view-from-the-balcony","tag-thomas-hamer","tag-vox-press"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/2017-5-11-View-from-the-Balcony.jpg?fit=600%2C400&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Programs such as PWI feed the heart. They feed the mind. They feed the soul. They foster hope. They affirm the humanity of those who are often thought of as sub-human.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Jhermie-McCamey53.jpg\")
<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"