VOWs Session on Location at the Clara Belle Williams Hall
New Mexico State University 12/6/2014
Thanks to the WITS program we were able to find a space this past Saturday afternoon to continue the Voices Outside the Walls (VOWs) sessions. For me it was a return back into the hallways of the Clara Belle Williams building at New Mexico State University's English Department. Room 107 is where most of our poetry classes were for the Master of Fine Arts program between 06'-08'. Hopefully we're able to host more VOWs sessions here. It's a neat and comfortable space to record and easy for our participants to get to. Below are a few more shots.
Clara Belle Williams
Clara Belle Williams. She was the first black student to graduate from NMSU back in 1928. A lot of ideas were born in this building named after her. Look forward to continuing to learn more about Ms. Williams' history at NMSU.
Room 107
It's a Saturday, finals week, so the hallway lights are off. Room 107, welcome back.
Inside
Rearranged the tables to work. Space is important and not easy to come by if you're going to make a little bit of noise. Thank you Sarah!
Chalkboard
MasterD2
MasterD2 spittin' flows. When I first started conducting workshops at the juvenile detention center in Las Cruces, I just missed MD2 who was serving time at the facility. He had been sent off to a juvenile program elsewhere in the State. MD2 was the first "incarcerated youth" I'd visit a couple years prior when he was arrested and held in the Dona Ana County Detention Center. He was scheduled to appear on a radio show I hosted at the time to discuss his participation in a creative arts program I worked for at the University. Due to his arrest he didn't make it. More than 10 years later, I ran into him at a good friend's barbecue. He's my friend's younger brother. We decided to get the program going again, except this time, outside the walls of detention. The name VOW (Voices Outside the Walls) is inspired by another VBW participant who continued making music after his release and even performed at the University bookstore he visited when he was incarcerated. The tour was arranged through VBW's Juvenile Justice Outreach & Community Education (JJOCE) course.
During Saturday's (12/06) workshop we discussed song structure, concepts, history, and redefining character to set new goals. 'Dear Self' was the first poem recorded this afternoon by MD2.
Keywords + Tag = Master D2 | Clara Belle Williams Hall | English Department | Writers in the Schools | WITS | New Mexico State University | NMSU | prison | incarceration | juvenile detention | creative expression | Hip Hop | rap | lyrics | poetry | brother | fatherhood | Voices Behind Walls | Voices Outside the Walls | VOWs
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