tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8576021413449671242024-03-14T03:08:40.458-07:00VBW BlogVBWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15148180186430352163noreply@blogger.comBlogger39125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-857602141344967124.post-8470755692647608652021-10-24T18:17:00.001-07:002021-10-30T16:17:07.968-07:0025 Years of The Beat Within<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuD8mEqFgqeACkiuQMWmSaBLXuDGl8coPYNl5kyyFoMfM8VYTM47dZcdu2ZeK5fUfSfGuj3sJ9QNx7p-FgGooW15kfPv11m8q44mSmVTBqvuTU1RLDCQA31FyVVJSygi0cJgyGM8GqHLM/s1941/26.35.36_wwwcover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1941" data-original-width="1500" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuD8mEqFgqeACkiuQMWmSaBLXuDGl8coPYNl5kyyFoMfM8VYTM47dZcdu2ZeK5fUfSfGuj3sJ9QNx7p-FgGooW15kfPv11m8q44mSmVTBqvuTU1RLDCQA31FyVVJSygi0cJgyGM8GqHLM/w494-h640/26.35.36_wwwcover.jpg" width="494" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>The Beat Within Since 1996</b><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">It's been an honor to have the opportunity to reconnect with a program and publication that had the kind of impact on my trajectory towards being a part of education as a teacher. In the early 2000s, as I mulled on what I would focus on after being selected for the Robert E. McNair Program at NMSU, I noticed a copy of The Beat Within amongst the scattered chaos of my undergrad studies on the living room floor. I had to meet a deadline for what I wanted to focus on when it came to continuing my education in the criminal justice field. That copy on the floor of The Beat Within magazine was the answer to what would matter most to me as a student of Hip Hop and a person that wanted to support and create platforms that allowed for more voices to be heard. At the time, I wasn't aware of how education would work it's way into what I wanted to do with my life. In my experience growing up in public education, during the formative years of my elementary and secondary life, what I wanted to be was far removed from being in a school. Looking back, it would take a bit more growing up and connected with teachers like Susie Castro Clark and reflecting back to my 2nd grade teacher Mrs. Barkley for me to realize the kind of impact educators can have of students that aren't quite sure where they're headed. Over the years I'd see how the value of education didn't start or stop with a school building, but existed in those that raised us, the peers we connected with, and the experiences we attached ourselves to. When I started volunteering in a local juvenile detention center, it was the young people there that helped me see how I could start to fulfill the responsibilities of an educator, a teacher, and a guide towards creative expression. The youth of Voices Behind Walls helped me see how in our own world out here in the Southwest, we could do our thing too and connect with our creative power to rhyme, write, and share our thoughts and stories. I'm honored to continue to have that chance to think about this experience through the pages of The Beat Within. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the 25th Anniversary issue, I got the chance to share a reflective piece titled <i>Tupac Shakur & The Beat Within Legacy</i>. The writing focuses on Tupac's mother, Afeni Shakur and a text she helped usher into our hands titled <i>Tupac Shakur Legacy</i>. Shout out to The Beat Within founder, David Inocencio, for the chance to share a space in The Beat Within publication for a monthly column I titled VBehindWColumn. I encourage everyone to please support The Beat Within. Spread the word about this publication and encourage your local juvenile justice systems to make the publication available to their youth and reach out to The Beat on ways that youth can share their stories and learn from the stories of others in this magazine. Online you'll find The Beat at: <a href="http://thebeatwithin.org" target="_blank"><b>thebeatwithin.org</b></a> and please see the Subscription info <a href="http://thebeatwithin.org/subscription" target="_blank"><b>thebeatwithin.org/subscription</b></a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Here's to the next 25 years. <br /><br />check.<br /><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Mr. Lee</span></div></div><br /><p></p>VBWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15148180186430352163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-857602141344967124.post-25454534605937551562021-02-21T09:31:00.003-08:002021-02-21T11:26:10.469-08:00VBehindW Column 'The Listening' Lifetime of Wreckage<p>On the way to a 25th year anniversary, shout out to The Beat Within! For the latest volume 26.05/06 the <b>VBehindW Column</b> introduces a segment titled 'The Listening'. For the first, the column focuses on the latest release from DJ/beat maker/eMCee from California Drasar Monumental & the <i>Lifetime of Wreckage EP</i>. A snap of the column as published in The Beat Within is included towards the end of this post. To request a full copy of The Beat Within check the subscription page <a href="https://www.thebeatwithin.org/subscription/" target="_blank"><b>thebeatwithin.org/subscription/ </b></a> This publication circulates throughout the juvenile & adult mass incarceration system of America and to institutions globally. To Drasar Monumental, thank you! Links to Drasar's locations online are included as links throughout the column shared in text below. You can purchase a <i>Lifetime of Wreckage</i> at the following link, <a href="https://vendettavinylvietnam.wordpress.com/order-products/" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Vendetta Vinyl</a>, respect! This one's for Hip Hop.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS3j_armuk5AJcAu2R6YLM_Z102nktNSYGdSb-Qlidt8B_R0vVisTTDkUmfAoOWKqQ4hWlGz7FLSu8aaIaa33nDIScDlAYdU5L3ECn5IxizqkZ8N_NT_7pGEhyphenhyphenW7DNVvpTURiZH7LkCwnR/s1313/TBW26.05.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1313" data-original-width="1000" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS3j_armuk5AJcAu2R6YLM_Z102nktNSYGdSb-Qlidt8B_R0vVisTTDkUmfAoOWKqQ4hWlGz7FLSu8aaIaa33nDIScDlAYdU5L3ECn5IxizqkZ8N_NT_7pGEhyphenhyphenW7DNVvpTURiZH7LkCwnR/w488-h640/TBW26.05.jpg" width="488" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_k2tUVMQXDaEO-BhVw9PcNUD8s7QsJsmpgTazdKMNSaGNh0Cw86J9MBrOLfqaCaKTiIY10C4ELcnoHEjTme27P2bJerFZlcMTOFuxR-CyO1fWEIr4EOrbumjchf5uArs1qV4I-Nt4R_vq/s1313/lifetimeofwreckagepost.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1313" data-original-width="1000" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_k2tUVMQXDaEO-BhVw9PcNUD8s7QsJsmpgTazdKMNSaGNh0Cw86J9MBrOLfqaCaKTiIY10C4ELcnoHEjTme27P2bJerFZlcMTOFuxR-CyO1fWEIr4EOrbumjchf5uArs1qV4I-Nt4R_vq/w488-h640/lifetimeofwreckagepost.jpg" width="488" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Lifetime of Wreckage ‘The Listening’<br /></b><span style="text-align: center;">VBehindW Column by Mr. Lee</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Peace readers, for this column I will explore the beats, rhymes & lives of the listening experience. This <b>VBehindW</b> segment is not a music review. The goal of <b>‘The Listening’</b> is not to persuade you to listen to something just because I like it and want to write about it. What I listen to is what I listen to, just like what you listen to tells a story of your connection to music. I feel it’s one of many reasons Hip Hop caught my attention when it arrived in my life during my childhood years. What I heard as a kid felt like music I would grow to call my own. It introduced our generation to stories of other neighborhoods and cities beyond our own throughout the country. As I got older I realized Hip Hop extended beyond the U.S. and all across the globe. Hip Hop resides in the dustiest of details and in the cracks of all age circumstance that brings creators together to offer something that could live on its own and represent something original and something connected to the past and created for the future.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">In this column we press play on a segment I call ‘The Listening’ to introduce you to a record by a DJ/beatmaker/eMCee out of California who goes by <b>Drasar Monumental</b>. Drasar considers himself all-state born and bred having grown up throughout Southern California and currently residing and creating in Northern Cali. In 2020, Drasar released a record titled <i><b>Lifetime of Wreckage EP</b></i>. An EP is shorter than a full album and can be a part of a consecutive release of EPs connected to a specific theme or larger album project (pt. 1, pt. 2, pt. 3, etc.).</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">On the back of the <i>Lifetime of Wreckage EP</i> it states, “Recorded in Vietnam, California”. The image that accompanies this column is of the actual vinyl record I have with artwork by <b>Cawza One</b> &<b> Sonny Wong</b>. Drasar also worked with <b>Kufu 1</b>. All three are graff artists which Drasar believes to be the highest form of artistry. Reflecting on the artwork Drasar shared, “When people pick up a record the first thing they see is the artwork, which I do not take lightly…The artwork should reflect the music and vice-versa. All of the ideas and images have been thought out tremendously. Luckily, I have artist around me that are dead serious about their craft, just like I am, or certain things would not have worked. Salute to all three of them for their energy, time, effort and talent.”</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">On the <i>Lifetime of Wreckage EP</i> Drasar created the beats, wrote and expressed the rhymes and handled the scratches. For those that don’t know, scratching is a sound effect created with a turntable by a DJ to produce specific sounds that go with the beat. Drasar’s ear is informed by his travels all around the globe digging for vinyl records and accumulating a library of music which inspires what he creates through a creative process called sampling. I couldn’t begin to guess the source of Drasar’s samples. This has been the case for everything I’ve heard from Drasar dating back to his work on a series he produced called <i><b>Good Morning Vietnam</b></i> with legendary eMCee by the name of <b>MF Grimm aka Grand Master Grimm</b>. Grimm is originally from Manhattan, New York. Drasar also collaborated with a beat maker that goes by Ayatollah from Queens, New York for a series released under the group duo name <b>Boxcutter Brothers</b>. The boxcutter is a metaphor for chopping up beats and slicing and rearranging sounds, what Drasar refers to as having a dual meaning in the world of beat production…“Staying sharp on those samplers”. Drasar adds, “In my opinion, what I am doing is composing from a wide range of media sources. It’s a collage sensibility where anything that I hear can be manipulated to get my point across. Sampling connects the old with the new in a way where it actually takes the producer on a journey of education, awareness, and history…Older musicians should be extremely proud that we are keeping their vibrations and sounds alive.” For our younger readers, sampling is regarded by many in Hip Hop as foundational to Hip Hop’s inception and its connection to the past, or what Los Angeles duo <b>People Under the Stairs</b> referred to on their <i>O.S.T.</i> album as ((The Dig)). Rest in peace to <b>Double K</b>. Vinyl records once the primary medium in which music was released and heard throughout the world going back more than fifty years continues to be a part of how music is released today. In my opinion, I don’t think any other genre is as tied to vinyl’s existence as Hip Hop, not only for the purpose of creating and releasing new music, but also for what it’s worth as a purchase in the digital age.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">In Drasar’s lived experience he has seen whole generations swept off the streets and thrown into incarceration. There are pieces of dialogue chopped throughout Drasar’s music that reflect on the generational impact of mass incarceration. The first example I recall on the track Drasar produced called ((Economics)) with MF Grimm off the <i><b>Good Morning Vietnam 3: The Phoenix Program</b></i> album. On <i>Lifetime of Wreckage</i> the track ((Black Calculus Part 3)) Drasar spits, “In 2020 your mind is your strongest weapon…” I think about a publication like The Beat Within and what youth and adults take on when they decide to pick up a pen to think and write. Drasar shared his personal connection to the the importance of reaching out stating, “I’m down to help out in any shape, form, fashion possible. My younger brother got caught up and ultimately it led to his demise (RIP). It left a profound effect on me and I feel it is my duty to try and assist the younger cats in finding a way to sidestep the pitfalls of incarceration…”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Drasar describes his music as, “a wall of sound…bass, treble, and highs. HEAVY! My music is a sonic outlet of anger and frustration.” Instead of taking out what he describes as vitriol on others, he transfers aggressive energy into music. “It’s more productive to me in that fashion, many people don’t have a creative outlet, and I believe that pent up frustration manifest itself in a myriad of shortcomings and dysfunctionality…This [music] is my tool for expressing my deepest thoughts and opinions.” What Drasar explains takes me back to a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlj26OofTn8&t=327s" target="_blank"><b>Beat Within documentary</b></a> recorded in 98’. In the video a Beat Within facilitator who was also incarcerated as a youth shared how his writings that expressed rage transferred through the pen. In the documentary available on YouTube (search <a href="https://youtu.be/OWY1QT-fuDM" target="_blank"><b>The Beat Within 1998 documentary Pt.2</b></a>) he states, “it was apropos that when I started to let the rage out, it went to the pen and it came out through my hand, and it was all going through the hand…I used to say when you read my early writings it was just violence, it was spewing, ranting, and railing at the world…in essence I’d turned that knife into a pen, and I was stabbing the page.” The facilitator added…“I believe in writing, and I believe in the therapy of writing, and I always say that what I try to do with these kids, is replicate what I did for myself, is turn the solid to the sound to a liberating writing experience.”</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The <i>Lifetime of Wreckage EP</i> vinyl on Side A features songs by Drasar with rhymes and on Side B listeners experience those same songs expressed strictly through beats. Early on in my life I remember it was beat smiths like <b>Havoc</b> of <b>Mobb Deep</b> & <b>RZA</b> of <b>Wu Tang Clan</b> that made me wish there was a way to hear the music we saw on TV or heard on cassette strictly through beats. I was too young to know this was already going down. I didn’t have the know how as a middle schooler to look behind some of my father’s records even during the 80s when I’d sit close by and watch him sift through records to play his favorite songs on this turntable that sat on this tower of buttons, levels, and cassette ports. I’d learn later that sometimes vinyl records included versions of songs without the lyrics. For years I always felt it was Hip Hop that started serving up beats to listeners until I reached back and listened to soundtracks like <i><b>Enter the Dragon</b></i> by <b>Lalo Schifrin</b> or <b>Marvin Gaye</b>’s <i><b>Trouble Man</b></i> soundtrack or certain <b>WAR</b> records and even <b>James Brown</b>. Years ago a military recruiter shared a song by James Brown with me called <b>((<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kgYPGmYtLA" target="_blank">King Heroin</a>))</b>. In the song JB recites a poem through rhyme about the struggles of addiction. On records and 45s, I discovered instrumental versions were described in different ways.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">A part of Drasar Monumental’s inspiration to create comes from his father who put him on early to music. He was also inspired by local DJs and radio stations like <b><a href="https://www.kcsb.org/" target="_blank">KCSB</a></b> and the legendary <b>KDAY</b> which exposed Drasar to “certain spectrum of sounds that shaped/shapes my musical worldview somewhat.” Drasar expresses a lifetime of wreckage on four tracks. With each listen another story is told, inspiring new conversations about Hip Hop music and its purpose. <a href="https://www.vendettavinylvietnam.com/" target="_blank"><b>Vendetta Vinyl</b></a> is the name of Drasar’s independent record label. Based in California with retailers all around the world the mission of Vendetta Vinyl is to “provide thought-provoking Hip Hop with an edge…no crybaby rap, no tinkerbell beats, no bozo bars, no extras…” In the mission Drasar and company add, “if you’re fed up with the current state of affairs – walk with us as we venture into the depths of hardcore Hip Hop chaos with reckless abandon. We don’t wait to get checked in, we check ourselves in.”</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">If you do your history, this is the foundation of Hip Hop. Drasar explains this in an interview with The Lost Tapes…“What we do, its’ foundation, you know, foundation Hip Hop where you got your breaks and stuff and fly rhymes and all that good stuff, but we build on the foundation into the 21<sup>st</sup> century; one foot in the past, and one in the future…We’re concerned with leaving a legacy and adding on to the greatness of Hip Hop.”</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Til’ the next listening readers…Shout out to everyone in The Beat world and special thanks to Drasar Monumental for his time. Music is for everybody including the generation of youth that are going to continue to create and express themselves regardless of the challenges ahead. As <b>Bruce Lee </b>said it’s about having no limitation as limitation, using no way as way. In Hip Hop, creators often reflect on their success and the notion that it comes from making something out of nothing. I feel some of you will find out that even in spaces of nothingness and invisibility, your story, your voice, who you are and what you have to say can become your greatest asset, most valuable resource. Like a guiding light, what you have to say can become the light for someone else. Keep representin’ through this outlet we love, <a href="https://www.thebeatwithin.org/" target="_blank"><b>The Beat Within</b></a>. Express yourself because you never know who is listening and who needs to hear what you got to say. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Check.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: center;">Mr. Lee</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlpgJ4QZKdm3pa-g7HVS9rDGZq7fTh9Qbjx240tsiDv3S8vuVbdELqIpCqW1tArMcS2XsDijZGvlwOK65Ig2ixwGwEd7GEfkkZ5pcDPWS0wvZIX02rad9EvfhRxInmZbJmPQAo-SOx8Xr2/s2048/VBehindW_tbw26-0506_1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1560" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlpgJ4QZKdm3pa-g7HVS9rDGZq7fTh9Qbjx240tsiDv3S8vuVbdELqIpCqW1tArMcS2XsDijZGvlwOK65Ig2ixwGwEd7GEfkkZ5pcDPWS0wvZIX02rad9EvfhRxInmZbJmPQAo-SOx8Xr2/w488-h640/VBehindW_tbw26-0506_1.jpg" width="488" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGlW0IRWspUyT_wIbJWCuSntbCd8PQgM7ieIRihEB3Ny0eVBnBLBpeDdAX6NIFy5DxCvZAgQ7yLBqgMzfYhA1Z46XLpidkMmdV4XD-P9yTEMtnInSQvQc8Zlph2dfnsN-i4Ng21yqZKdxZ/s2048/VBehindW_tbw26-0506_2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1560" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGlW0IRWspUyT_wIbJWCuSntbCd8PQgM7ieIRihEB3Ny0eVBnBLBpeDdAX6NIFy5DxCvZAgQ7yLBqgMzfYhA1Z46XLpidkMmdV4XD-P9yTEMtnInSQvQc8Zlph2dfnsN-i4Ng21yqZKdxZ/w488-h640/VBehindW_tbw26-0506_2.jpg" width="488" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>VBWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15148180186430352163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-857602141344967124.post-50000675227722479392020-12-16T00:17:00.004-08:002020-12-16T00:17:51.877-08:00The Beat Within VBehindW Column<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjomN-f8eT8edQ-XvlIJ0Br5Cuc-rbezb4Y8G7AElfGn7FTngACgAyCANsMCVCSJsx8XI4qwi8vdrfWuyhRKIl_XCXi1H49XTOKxncu5l5R7pnWQ_A43enLAiMbKk_46kVYabyzxi5knid/s904/tbwdec2020.JPG" style="display: inline !important; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="904" data-original-width="684" height="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjomN-f8eT8edQ-XvlIJ0Br5Cuc-rbezb4Y8G7AElfGn7FTngACgAyCANsMCVCSJsx8XI4qwi8vdrfWuyhRKIl_XCXi1H49XTOKxncu5l5R7pnWQ_A43enLAiMbKk_46kVYabyzxi5knid/s600/tbwdec2020.JPG" /></a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Introducing the VBehindW Column</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This past year joined The Beat Within family for a few sessions on Sundays to share out thoughts on weekly topics that facilitators were presenting to incarcerated youth and adults in workshop for the publication. The Beat hosted a Zoom Poetry Reading as well, dedicated to Beat colleague Pauline Craig. While The Beat family sessions on Zoom had to be discontinued to keep up with publication prep of the magazine, I'm thankful for the opportunity to connect with the founder of The Beat, Dave Inocencio to contribute a monthly column I title the VBehindW Column. VBehindW stands for Voices Behind Walls. In 2020, submitted several columns that included poems and writings titled, 'For the G'z from YGC (San Francisco)', 'For the Children Going Through It', 'When We ((listen)) to The Beat Within', 'Miracles', 'B.A.B.Y.', and the most recent for the 2020 wrap up issue, titled 'Dedicated to The Beat Within 2020'. I look forward to the year ahead and the opportunity to contribute to The Beat Within. It's an honor to be able to contribute to a publication that did so much for me in my development as a student and educator. </div><div><br /></div><div>Stay tuned!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghWLWmkYQurtlW5eunHeY6SpEfk9a1-ZbgQ0oLnlk6GRda7KtTF_D00FwB-rFGNse85JmA2E0TEkrrXUNupGO5d1QEvsnOQAxBZM1sPrtg3mQbtLqY6aoWUF3OKVu0lWgYcYRbqy8Mmne4/s911/whenwelistentoTheBeat.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="884" data-original-width="911" height="389" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghWLWmkYQurtlW5eunHeY6SpEfk9a1-ZbgQ0oLnlk6GRda7KtTF_D00FwB-rFGNse85JmA2E0TEkrrXUNupGO5d1QEvsnOQAxBZM1sPrtg3mQbtLqY6aoWUF3OKVu0lWgYcYRbqy8Mmne4/w400-h389/whenwelistentoTheBeat.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">(Click on the image to enlarge and see text to read!)</div>VBWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15148180186430352163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-857602141344967124.post-70668955827705301212020-05-29T14:30:00.001-07:002020-05-29T14:30:49.978-07:002019 Distinguished Resident: J. Paul Taylor<b>2019 Distinguished Resident: J. Paul Taylor</b><br />
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<b>For his wide-ranging contributions locally and statewide, J. Paul Taylor has been named the Sun-News 2019 Distinguished Resident by Diana Alba Soular <a href="https://www.lcsun-news.com/story/news/local/2019/12/28/distinguished-resident-2019-j-paul-taylor-living-legend/2759549001/" target="_blank">click here</a></b></div>
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<i>"From working in the registrar’s office, Taylor shifted his career sights back to his childhood goal of education, becoming a sixth-grade teacher at Mesilla Park Elementary. It was the only job opening available to him at the time. He may have been the teacher, but, as he recalls, he was a student, as well. He spent his first year overcoming a big learning curve.</i></div>
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<i>“Boy did I learn a whole lot,” he said with a chuckle. “I’d gone from college students who were just back from the war and who were very serious about their education to these little sixth-graders, who seemed very little then.”</i></div>
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A deep write up about the life of J. Paul Taylor. This note is to congratulate Mr. Taylor. I first met Mr. Taylor at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church on South Espina for a meeting with him, my CJ professor/mentor, and staff from the J. Paul Taylor prison. My goal was to propose an idea for a creative expression Hip Hop workshop at the J. Paul Taylor prison. He was a kind man, very open to ideas. He was very encouraging and overall the meeting went real well. For the next 10 years I'd have the chance to volunteer teach at the facility through our Voices Behind Walls program which had started a couple of years before at the Delta Youth Facility in El Paso.</div>
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I've always been interested in learning more about Mr. Taylor's involvement with juvenile justice issues in New Mexico. I've heard and from time to time saw him speak on the importance of addressing the juvenile injustice issues that seemed to be deeply rooted in New Mexico. I hope to learn more this in the future. There may be a few photographs I have somewhere of J. Paul Taylor's work with some of the programs I was involved in. There's not much mention of his connection to juvenile facilities one of which is named after him, the J. Paul Taylor Center. It's something worth exploring though, especially if there are any papers or reflections documented in J. Paul Taylor's historical records. </div>
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Much thanks Mr. Taylor! I still remember that day at the Justice for Children symposium, when in a rare occurrence the facility had allowed a bunch of our participants that were incarcerated at the time to attend. You got up and asked one of our poets, "what can we do to help you? What can we do to help change things for the better?" And they answered your question. It was one of the most honest moments I'd seen in thinking about juvenile justice reform and just finally having a platform where an incarcerated youth could engage in a conversation with the public with a mic in his hand after having read his poetry. It was definitely a day to remember. Thank you for being kind to me and for encouraging me. It led to nearly a decade of connections with youth inside who were able to express themselves and document their voices. Some of them have passed on young, some of them are incarcerated for longer stretches of adult time, and some are finally expressing themselves outside the walls.What we refer to as our VOWs (Voices Outside the Walls). </div>
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Thank you.</div>
VBWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15148180186430352163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-857602141344967124.post-67733597159802935882020-03-26T09:35:00.003-07:002020-03-26T09:35:29.591-07:00The Beat Within 2020<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>The Beat Within 2020</b></div>
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Taking a moment to honor The Beat Within, a publication of art and writing from the inside...Here's to another year & all its challenges. Check them out at <a href="http://thebeatwithin.org/" target="_blank"><b>thebeatwithin.org</b></a>.</div>
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<br />VBWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15148180186430352163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-857602141344967124.post-61333225865059914322019-11-29T19:15:00.003-08:002019-11-29T19:30:56.824-08:00Ear Hustle HQ<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://www.earhustlesq.com/" target="_blank"><b>Ear Hustle HQ</b></a> <b>podcasts</b></div>
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It's been a while! While frequent updates are posted on the Twitter handle <a href="https://twitter.com/vbehindw" target="_blank"><b>@vbehindw</b></a> more often than not, I did want to slide into the VBW blog to put up a permanent note about this podcast right here. In a podcast landscape that continues to grow daily, this is one of the few that I often return to to make sure I don't miss a beat! Broadcasting out of San Quentin Prison, there is absolutely nothing like Ear Hustle. One of the most unique and interesting forms of storytelling about the American Legal System that I feel I've ever heard. It makes me wonder what other prisons sound like. It makes me wonder the role it plays in the lives of all those involved and how exciting it must be to embark on an opportunity as groundbreaking as the podcast universe. I'm a big fan of earhustle and encourage everyone to check in with this podcast at the following link: <b><a href="http://earhustlesq.com/" target="_blank">earhustlesq.com</a></b></div>
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Respect to the Ear Hustle family...can't even express how crazy it is to have followed Earlonne's journey from the inside out. That's a story I'll never forget, especially to hear it all develop through the podcast itself. Tune in world!<br />
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If you have a podcast that explores aspects of the American Legal System please reach out and let us know! We'd love to be your audience! <a href="mailto:voicesbehindwalls@gmail.com" target="_blank"><b>voicesbehindwalls@gmail.com</b></a></div>
VBWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15148180186430352163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-857602141344967124.post-3071485671282354582018-12-24T10:27:00.000-08:002018-12-24T10:27:29.830-08:00Tornillo Detention Camp (2,349)<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>An important article to reflect on as we move forward into the new year. Especially as we stop and think about incarceration, The New Jim Crow, immigration and the twilight zone that is our administration in the United States. </i></div>
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<b>Tornillo detention camp for migrant kids still growing</b></div>
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EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) - TORNILLO, Texas (AP) - The Trump administration announced in June it would open a temporary shelter for up to 360 migrant children in this isolated corner of the Texas desert. <b><span style="font-size: large;">Less than six months later, the facility has expanded into a detention camp holding thousands of teenagers</span></b> - and it shows every sign of becoming more permanent.</div>
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By Monday,<b><span style="font-size: large;"> 2,349 </span></b>largely Central American boys and girls between the ages of 13 and 17 were sleeping inside the highly guarded facility in rows of bunk beds in canvas tents, some of which once housed first responders to Hurricane Harvey. More than 1,300 teens have arrived since the end of October alone.</div>
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Rising from the cotton fields and dusty roads not far from the dark fence marking the border between the U.S. and Mexico, the camp has rows of beige tents and golf carts that ferry staffers carrying walkie-talkies. Teens with identical haircuts and government-issued shirts and pants can be seen walking single file from tent to tent, flanked by staff at the front and back.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">More people are detained than Tornillo's tent city than in all but one of the nation's 204 federal prisons, yet construction here continues.</span></b></div>
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The camp's population may grow even more if members of the migrant caravans castigated by President Trump enter the U.S. Federal officials have said they may fly teens from the caravans who arrive in San Diego directly to El Paso, then bus them to Tornillo, according to a nonprofit social service provider who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to publicly discuss the matter.</div>
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An Associated Press investigation has found that the camp's rapid growth has created problems, including:</div>
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- <b><span style="font-size: large;">Costs appear to be soaring more than 50 percent higher than the government has disclosed</span></b>: What began as an emergency, 30-day shelter has transformed into a vast tent city that could cost taxpayers more than $430 million.</div>
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- The government is allowing the nonprofit running the tent city to sidestep mental health care requirements: Under federal policy, migrant youth shelters generally must have one mental health clinician for every 12 kids, but shelter officials told AP the facility has just <b><span style="font-size: large;">one mental health clinician for every 50 kids.</span></b></div>
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- Federal plans to close Tornillo by New Years' Eve will be nearly impossible to meet: There aren't 2,300 extra beds in other facilities. A contract obtained by AP shows the project could continue into 2020 and planned closures have already been extended three times since this summer.</div>
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Tornillo's teens were not separated from their families at the border this summer, but they're held there because federal immigration policies have resulted in the detention of a record <b><span style="font-size: large;">14,000 migrant children</span></b>, filling shelter beds around the country to capacity. Almost all came on their own from Central America hoping to join family members in the United States.</div>
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Some children have been detained at Tornillo since the tent camp opened in June. As the population inside the tall wire fences swells, and as some children stay there longer, <b><span style="font-size: large;">the young detainees' anguish has deepened</span></b>.</div>
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"The few times they let me call my mom I would tell her that one day I would be free, but really I felt like I would be there for the rest of my life," a 17-year-old from Honduras who was held at Tornillo earlier this year told AP. "I feel so bad for the kids who are still there. What if they have to spend Christmas there? <b>They need a hug, and nobody is allowed to hug there.</b>"</div>
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After his family passed extensive background checks, the teen was recently released to them, but said he still has nightmares he's back inside. He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal from immigration authorities.</div>
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Confining and caring for so many children is a challenge. By day, minders walk the teen detainees to their meals, showers and recreation on the arid plot of land guarded by multiple levels of security. At night the area around the camp, that's grown from a few dozen to more than 150 tents, is secured and lit up by flood lights.</div>
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The nonprofit social service agency contracted to run Tornillo says it is proud of its work. It says it is operating the facility with the same precision and care used for shelters put up after natural disasters.</div>
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"We don't have anything to hide. This is an exceptionally run operation," said Krista Piferrer, a spokeswoman for BCFS Health and Human Services, a faith-based organization that runs Tornillo. "This isn't our first rodeo."</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">She said they have no guidance from the Trump administration regarding what will happen after Dec. 31.</span></b></div>
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A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Mark Weber, said no decisions have been made about whether Tornillo will close by year's end as scheduled.</div>
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"Whatever it is we decide to do, in the very near future, we'll do a public notice about that," he said.</div>
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<u>'NOBODY KNOWS'</u></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">More than 50 years of research show institutionalizing young people is traumatizing</span></b>, with harmful impacts on their psyche and life trajectories, prompting policymakers to seek alternatives to locking up children, said Naomi Smoot, executive director of the nonprofit Coalition for Juvenile Justice.</div>
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"Hearing that more than 2,000 kids are in any kind of detention facility is alarming to me," she said. <b><span style="font-size: large;">"That's not where kids should be around the holidays, particular when they haven't broken the law."</span></b></div>
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Most of the children locked inside Tornillo are never charged with a crime; crossing illegally into the U.S. is a civil offense. By law, migrant children traveling alone into the U.S. must be sent to a government shelter where they stay until they can be united with relatives or other sponsors while awaiting immigration court hearings. Migrant children's time in government custody has grown longer this year, in part due to the Trump administration's new requirements for deep background checks on sponsors who agree to take in young immigrants.</div>
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Tornillo currently has 3,800 beds for the teens, with 1,400 of those on reserve.</div>
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Annunciation House director Ruben Garcia, whose El Paso nonprofit works with recent immigrants, said Tornillo is far more secretive than other government shelters, where he and his staff are routinely allowed inside. At Tornillo workers must sign non-disclosure agreements and visitors are rarely allowed.</div>
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"<b><span style="font-size: large;">What's happening inside? Nobody knows.</span></b> They cannot speak about what they see," he said. "We've been doing this work for 20 years and we've never seen anything like this."</div>
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BCFS says the shelter at Tornillo has actually had more media, elected officials, advocacy organizations, child welfare experts and attorneys tour the site than any other operation for migrant children run by HHS. The nonprofit said confidentiality agreements are standard, to protect the privacy and rights of clients and those served.</div>
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<u>'COUNTING THE DAYS'</u></div>
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In June, as migrant child detention centers overflowed, HHS announced it was opening a rapidly built tent city at Tornillo, with the idea that most kids would only stay a few days. But within the week there was talk of making a detention camp 10 times as big.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Because the detention camp is on federal property - part of a large U.S. Customs and Border facility - it is not subject to state licensing requirements.</span></b></div>
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BCFS, a San Antonio nonprofit, runs Tornillo as it operates evacuation centers for hurricanes: there's food, first aid, activities and rows of bunk beds, but no normal-life activities for stressed-out teens, like formal school or unsupervised stretches.</div>
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Federal officials have said repeatedly that only children without special needs were being sent to Tornillo. But facility administrators recently acknowledged to care providers that the Tornillo detainees included children with serious mental health issues who needed to be transferred out to facilities in El Paso in the coming days, according to a person with knowledge of the discussion. The person spoke on a condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk publicly about discussions.</div>
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BCFS confirmed that the current ratio of mental-health clinicians to children is 1 to 50, and said that each child sees a mental health specialist every day.</div>
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"When a child is found to have a mental health need that cannot be best provided for at Tornillo, a request is made to HHS to transfer the child to a more appropriate facility," said Piferrer.</div>
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Dr. Ryan Matlow, a Stanford clinical psychologist whose work addresses the impact of early life stress, recently interviewed teens at Tornillo. He questions the facility's capacity to identify kids with special mental health needs given the large number of children and their tendency to suppress emotional distress in order to cope.</div>
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"The kids are able to get by in there, but the more time they spend in these sorts of facilities, the greater the consequences, especially when it comes to their emotional and psychological well-being," said Matlow. <span style="font-size: large;"><b>"It's a dangerous and harmful system for kids to be caught in."</b></span></div>
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Camilo Perez-Bustillo, who served as a Spanish-language interpreter at the camp earlier this month, <b><span style="font-size: large;">said most of the two dozen children he met showed signs of depression and anxiety over when, or whether, they would be released</span></b>. About two thirds are boys, and half of the teens are Guatemalan. <span style="font-size: large;"><b>There are no on-site interpreters for teens of indigenous origin who speak Spanish as a second language.</b></span></div>
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"They are all counting the days they are inside the way prisoners do," said Perez-Bustillo, who is advocacy director at the nonprofit Hope Border Institute. <b><span style="font-size: large;">"Many of the kids have the sense of being suspended, and anxiousness about how much longer they will be held there."</span></b></div>
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Dr. Elizabeth Carll, a teen and trauma specialist who heads the American Psychological Association's Refugee Mental Health resource network, said institutionalizing so many teens in a geographically remote place makes it harder to recruit qualified clinicians.</div>
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"You have to find people who are licensed, who are experts in trauma, who speak Spanish and have worked with teens," she said. "Where would you find all these qualified professionals?"</div>
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Making things worse, Carll said migrant youth are likely to have higher emotional needs after going through hardship, enduring the journey north and being held in detention. They would do better if placed with trained, bilingual foster families, she said.</div>
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One shy 16-year-old from Honduras held at Tornillo told an AP reporter as she awaited her immigration court hearing that she was worried that it was taking so long to reunite her with family in Pennsylvania.</div>
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"I'm getting tired of waiting because I've been there three months," said the girl, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution by staffers who were monitoring her and other Tornillo detainees. <span style="font-size: large;"><b>"I'm trying to keep the faith that I will be liberated soon."</b></span></div>
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<u>$1,200 PER NIGHT</u></div>
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For each night each child spends at Tornillo, taxpayers spend up to $1,200 to pay the direct care workers, cooks, cleaners, teachers and emergency services workers, according to information staff at two congressional offices said they were provided on a recent visit. That's well above the $775 officials have publicly disclosed, and close to five times more than a typical youth migrant shelter costs.</div>
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BCFS did not dispute the cost, but said on average, actual costs are closer to $750 a day, which would bring current operations to more than $12 million a week.</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">The costs at Tornillo are so high because everything - water, sewage, food, staff and detainees - must be trucked in and out of the remote site.</span></b> Every few hours, two teams fill up 2,000-gallon tanks of water from a hydrant outside the facility, then drive them back through the fences. Each day, 35,000 gallons of diesel are trucked in as well, to run massive generators that power air conditioners in blazing hot summers and heaters on frigid winter nights.</div>
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The teens can play soccer during closely watched recreation periods. They are given yarn to pass the time making brightly colored bracelets and scarves. <b><span style="font-size: large;">There aren't regular classes, but teens have textbooks and workbooks.</span></b></div>
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Piferrer said BCFS was not charging the government for the tents, fire trucks and ambulance on site.</div>
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"We are not going to charge for resources that we already own," she said. "Everything that is being provided has been directed by the federal government to be provided."</div>
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Scant details about how those funds are spent motivated New York-based software developer Josh Rubin to set up residence in an RV just outside the gates, where he keeps a vigil on the vehicles going in and out. In recent weeks, he said, he has spotted new trends: construction trucks moving equipment in to build another tent, a vehicle carrying heaters, more buses with tinted windows taking children to immigration court.</div>
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Staffers are transported to the camp from motels near the El Paso airport, where the tour buses take pains to park on side roads, far from view. On a recent evening outside the Hawthorn Suites hotel, <b><span style="font-size: large;">Tornillo workers filed off to bed in the darkness, many talking of feeling sick or exhausted</span></b>.</div>
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Twice a day, the desolate stretch of highway outside Tornillo comes alive as more than a dozen tour buses pull up. Bells sound, lights flash. Workers walk in two by two, wearing khaki pants, neon jackets and backpacks, some wrapped in scarves to guard against the cool desert air.</div>
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Many days, Rubin is there alone, holding up a sign saying <b>"Free Them"</b> at the tent city's entrance. Sometimes the train rumbles by, or cotton drifts in the wind.</div>
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Protests began at Tornillo almost as soon as it opened. State and federal elected officials joined local activists and Hollywood stars deriding the Trump administration's immigration policies. <b><span style="font-size: large;">But public attention turned elsewhere, and now demonstrations are rare.</span></b></div>
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On a recent afternoon, a group of about 60 activists including rabbis from Ann Arbor, Michigan and students from a local Catholic girls' school assembled to pray for the teens' release and sang a throaty version of "Let My People Go."</div>
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After a Department of Homeland Security official blocked them, the group ventured through a fence onto a private dirt road behind the facility. A group of teen boys could be seen across marshland, and a hole in the wire fence had been visibly patched.</div>
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"You are not alone!" the activists cried out in Spanish to the youth being led between tents. Some of the teens waved back. One protester wiped away a tear as another banged on a plastic drum, calling out "We love you! We miss you!"</div>
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Dalila Reynoso-Gonzalez, a program director for the Methodist immigration advocacy group Justice for our Neighbors of East Texas, said she was moved to demonstrate at Tornillo after helping an immigrant father reunite with his son held there. The boy told her stories of a stark and lonely place and spoke of isolation, fear, disorientation.</div>
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He still has a foil blanket issued to him when he first was taken into custody, she said.</div>
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"It's really heavy on my heart," said Reynoso-Gonzalez. <b><span style="font-size: large;">"How did we get to this place, why do we have so many children out there?"</span></b></div>
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<b>"Tornillo detention camp for migrant kids still growing."</b> KTSM, 27 Nov. 2018 [El Paso, Texas] <a href="http://www.ktsm.com/immigration/tornillo-detention-camp-for-migrant-kids-still-growing/1622020682" target="_blank">www.ktsm.com/immigration/tornillo-detention-camp-for-migrant-kids-still-growing/1622020682</a>.</div>
VBWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15148180186430352163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-857602141344967124.post-85355180057061605782017-01-06T18:19:00.001-08:002017-01-06T20:56:50.538-08:00#TBWMixtape<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://tbwcj.blogspot.com/2017/01/tbwmixtape-in-memory-of-kalief-browder.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju5S0b0uN3ECIBoDJIRk4IMdnXnVQ9a1LZWtQ1NsfwAMXgvlv82cM6ESINTH1L_8boHR5qkAH2fI-o4-_pvCzl1Uvs3O9lK6AG8b-SfZaTyJo8ip8i8jxtM9svJaYCl93Ns3evWuGdOM8/s400/TBWMixtape.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>#TBWMixtape</b></div>
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About the #TBWMixtape <b><a href="http://tbwcj.blogspot.com/2017/01/tbwmixtape-in-memory-of-kalief-browder.html" target="_blank">click here</a></b><br />
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"...My responsibility if I'm your teacher is to teach you to think...if I want you to think, I must teach you to think about everything. I must teach you that there is a reason for everything you do and you must find that reason..." <b>#JamesBaldwin</b> </div>
VBWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15148180186430352163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-857602141344967124.post-41916472240530994942016-11-07T11:02:00.004-08:002016-12-02T08:24:20.507-08:00Technology | Art of Voices #ZHill<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Technology</b></div>
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This Art of Voices illustration is dedicated to Cody Brown. </div>
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There are specific youth who inspired significant and creative change for how the Voices Behind Walls program was structured. Especially when it came to technology. Cody was a mastermind. However, I didn't get that impression when he first visited the workshop. He brought a lot of energy (sometimes too much) especially when it was his turn to get on the mic. He referred to himself as "Moose". I remember on one occasion an argument suddenly erupted with another youth about something Cody said in his rhymes. The other youth was upset enough that I worried the disagreement would quickly turn into a fight. At the conclusion of the workshop I had a talk with them to cool out as they made their way back to the unit. <br />
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Over the next few months there were gaps in time when Cody wasn't allowed to participate in the workshop. In my early and scattered encounters with Cody I didn't get enough time to gauge just how talented he was. I did know there was a lot he wanted to say. He had composition books filled with rhymes and poems. During his first visits to our workshop he provided glimpses of his creative expression, reading and shuffling through pages and pages of some of the most chaotic handwriting I'd ever seen. His composition books were riddled with disorganized sheets of rhymes and poems that I imagined only he could decipher.</div>
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Ultimately, there would be an extended time lapse before Cody would visit our workshop again. Then one day months later...he was back. I was definitely surprised since it seemed so much time had passed and I figured he'd either been released or incarcerated elsewhere in New Mexico's steel maze. There was something different about Cody this time around. He was more patient, calm, and coherently thoughtful about his plans with VBW. It was at this point that he shared with us his knowledge of how to make music with the technology we had access to.</div>
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During Cody's absence, there was a day when I arrived to the juvenile prison and found someone else setting up equipment where we set up. I had no idea who he was. After we introduced ourselves he told me he drove out from Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo and wanted to help. Holloman is a long drive away from the facility. His name was Frederick Tarantino and he mentioned to me his interest in teaching incarcerated youth digital art technology. He had a couple laptops, a printer, and other gadgets. At first I was concerned that it would spread our time too thin to try and collaborate. The juvenile prison's schedule required that our program work within a very strict and specific time slot. My focus was to use as much of that time as possible helping youth write and record their poetry or songs. I remember asking myself why the facility didn't grant Frederick his own time to engage with the participants. Frederick's approach was super humble and respectful though so I decided then and there that we could set up learning stations. Our goal together would be to promote the opportunity for incarcerated youth to engage not only in creative writing and music, but digital art as well. Participation on Saturday afternoons was on a voluntary basis. One of the challenges we faced was due to visitation with family that was scheduled at the same time. So we often worked around those times to see one group while another visited with family that we'd schedule later in the afternoon. Depending on how the visit went though, sometimes a participant simply wouldn't be in the mood to show up. Nevertheless, Frederick and I decided to work together to figure out how we wanted to structure programming so that it was convenient and respectful of the youth's time and circumstance. </div>
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Over the course of my time at the juvenile prison, our workshop space often changed. This especially depended on whether or not there was a key to open a specific door. Security staff had what seemed like a hoolahoop of keys that gave access to specific classrooms, the library, and other spaces throughout the facility. Sometimes I received an excuse that a supervisor's shift ended and they forgot to leave the right set of keys. Since I had to travel more than 100 miles round trip to get to the facility, before deciding to cancel a workshop because of space I exhausted all options to improvise. This often involved setting up our workshop in a lobby space or a hallway. Anywhere that was allowable security wise and where there was at least one electrical outlet. We also borrowed chairs from the gym nearby where visitations took place and helped each other drag table tops or desks closer to the outlets to set up and plug in equipment. </div>
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As Frederick became familiar with the Voices Behind Walls workshop, he mentioned that one of the laptops he had contained music producing software. Little did I know that things were about to change because of this. Especially for participants like Cody who we learned grew up in a family of musicians and knew how to play all sorts of instruments. Because of this Cody also seemed to know just about everything there was to know about music software programs. We presented the laptop that included Fruity Loops music software to Cody and he quickly maxed out what it was capable of. He recommended that we install another kind of software instead that had more functions. Watching Cody work on the laptop was really something. The new music software we installed that he recommended often made the laptop crash. But Cody always figured out a way to work around it by saving, restarting, rendering, etc. He was like a mad scientist with a solution for everything we thought the laptop couldn't do. Often the laptop would let out all this air as if it was suffocating to keep up with Cody's imagination. </div>
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Without Frederick, we would never have discovered what youth like Cody were capable of. There were other incarcerated youth who thanks to the equipment Frederick gave access to were granted permission to check out the equipment for use in their units outside of workshop time. Progress like this inspired all kinds of dreams so we requested support from New Mexico State University departments to purchase more studio equipment. We even came up with a proposal for the juvenile facility to let us build a recording studio in a small classroom space that was no longer being used. The proposal involved collaboration with outside music educators, musicians and youth like Cody to build it piece by piece. I was also able to secure a donation of a piano from a tuner in El Paso who was willing to help transport and set up the piano at the facility. I didn't foresee the problems ahead as leadership turnover and changes at the facility started to happen. Before I knew it a different administrator would arrive and reject our studio proposal and the piano donation. Thanks to Cody though there were donations we were able to secure for portable recording equipment, headphones, microphones, blank CDs, composition books, and other items. This wouldn't have been possible without Cody who we regarded as a prodigy of creative expression.</div>
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In the illustration shown above, Zachary Hill depicts Cody's reflection from the laptop he used to make beats. One day he was attempting to teach me how it worked. Watching him compose a beat was a site to see as he went from one function to the next playing us clips to listen to along the way. "Just gotta read the manuals..." he'd say. As I tried to follow his instructions from the angle where I was sitting, I noticed his reflection inside the laptop monitor and asked if I could take a shot with my camera. I wanted to capture Cody's reflection along with the music software that he was teaching us from the screen. The illustration exaggerates his expression from the original photograph and is inspired by Peter Gabriel's "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJWJE0x7T4Q" target="_blank">Sledgehammer</a>" video from 1986. I got the opportunity to meet Cody's father who taught me a lot about the juvenile prison system's impact on families in New Mexico. He has quite a story in so far as what he did to advocate for the closure of one of New Mexico's worst juvenile facilities and one of the oldest in the country. Cody's father is also a multimedia genius and musician. I remember Cody mentioning to me that his father was in a band during the 80s. I also had the chance to talk with Cody's mother who I learned is also a musician and teaches piano in the community. </div>
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In our workshop, Cody created original music thanks to the support of individuals like Frederick Tarantino. Frederick literally came out of nowhere at just the right time with just the right equipment! I hope the future grants me with time to share Cody's audio recordings, including his poems and entertaining freestyle sessions.</div>
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Til' this day, whenever I'm conducting a recording session with someone I eventually tell them Cody's story...legend of the Moose.</div>
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#Lee</div>
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<b>Art of Voices</b> is a Voices Behind Walls (VBW) project supported by Community Solutions of El Paso to recruit illustrators through Volunteer Match to help recreate VBW workshop photographs into art. The photographs were taken during workshop activities in juvenile detention between the years of 2006-2014. Artistic remakes of the photographs protect the identity of workshop participants by changing details of face and other identifiers. The purpose of this project is to document the VBW program's history and the creative expression activities incarcerated youth were engaged in. This project also offers the VBW photographer and illustrators an opportunity to reflect on what the images say about the juvenile justice system and the importance of creative expression activity for youth as a means of education, therapy, self-improvement, community engagement, rehabilitation, positive Hip Hop activity, and mentorship.</div>
VBWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15148180186430352163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-857602141344967124.post-49352143393711693642016-11-06T18:34:00.001-08:002016-12-02T08:24:33.920-08:00Headphones | Art of Voices #Brianna<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj3DC_3D2hZ2MKjAn_gEHeVKxQLVIGu68fy3mCz10W63cj4-LXCqUxIQcwdtZyytzDnCqxKa47nFTaFwksuMAixTVIXgaewGK-PSHqCkmbf9Gnm8HRuH53qLVprCrhr6c64iHvmszLWdA/s1600/Headphones.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj3DC_3D2hZ2MKjAn_gEHeVKxQLVIGu68fy3mCz10W63cj4-LXCqUxIQcwdtZyytzDnCqxKa47nFTaFwksuMAixTVIXgaewGK-PSHqCkmbf9Gnm8HRuH53qLVprCrhr6c64iHvmszLWdA/s400/Headphones.jpg" width="392" /></a></div>
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<b>Headphones</b></div>
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Back with another digital piece by Brianna for our Art of Voices collection! This 'Headphones' piece recreates a moment I captured on camera from a Voices Behind Walls workshop in juvenile prison. On that day to encourage donations, I decided to take photos of participants with equipment we needed; this included headphones. The individual captured in the photograph was one of our most dedicated participants. I remember him recording only once but he always showed up to listen to music his peers created giving them constant support and encouragement. In many ways, I viewed him as the life of the workshop. He had a contagious sense of humor and was always respectful when it came time for his peers to get down to business and do their recordings... his character was a cure for tension. He was also one of the smallest kids in the prison, one of the youngest. As you can see in the picture he sits atop a desk in front of the round table we used for recording that I referred to as the cypher.</div>
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Years later when I study this photograph one of the details that stands out to me most is the headphone jack isn't connected to anything. I remember us doing this intentionally for the photograph. Today it means a lot to me especially when I think of the disconnected feeling youth experience from the rest of the community and their families while they're incarcerated. Also I think about the sensory deprivation that prisons were built off of historically. </div>
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In Hip Hop, headphones are one of those things that connect us all around the world. Many of us were raised between a set of headphones. In a report published by the Weill Music Institute and Carnegie Hall titled 'May the Songs I Have Written Speak for Me, An Exploration of the Potential of Music in Juvenile Justice', it states the following...<i>"At no time is the power of music more pronounced than during adolescence. Only sleep trumps music in those years. Teenagers listen to, create, or watch music between four and five hours a day - more than they spend watching television or hanging out with friends outside of school. Young people think and dream in lyrics, find transport in melody, and improvise on riffs, solos, and beats accumulated through hours of listening."</i></div>
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The foundation of Voices Behind Walls is its connection to sound, its priority of placing youth voices first, and inspiring participants through music.</div>
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The book depicted in the digital art by Brianna is <i>Vatos</i> by Luis Alberto Urrea with photographs by Jose Galvez. This was one of the most popular books in our workshop, mostly photography based with words by Urrea that is described as a "hymm to vatos who will never be in a poem...".</div>
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The youth depicted in the artwork had since been released when I overheard another participant years later talking about the trouble he got into after the juvenile prison let him out. Often times, the stories of incarcerated youth are discontinued upon their release and on some occasions picked up in newspapers... the vicious cycle of what some consider an abysmal recidivism rate in urban and mostly rural communities where resources are few and far between.<br />
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#Lee</div>
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<b>Art of Voices</b> is a Voices Behind Walls (VBW) project supported by Community Solutions of El Paso to recruit illustrators through Volunteer Match to help recreate VBW workshop photographs into art. The photographs were taken during workshop activities in juvenile detention between the years of 2006-2014. Artistic remakes of the photographs protect the identity of workshop participants by changing details of face and other identifiers. The purpose of this project is to document the VBW program's history and the creative expression activities incarcerated youth were engaged in. This project also offers the VBW photographer and illustrators an opportunity to reflect on what the images say about the juvenile justice system and the importance of creative expression activity for youth as a means of education, therapy, self-improvement, community engagement, rehabilitation, positive Hip Hop activity, and mentorship.</div>
VBWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15148180186430352163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-857602141344967124.post-88238384241840005492016-11-06T17:34:00.005-08:002016-12-02T08:24:46.556-08:00Rhyme Writing | Art of Voices #ZHill<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Rhyme Writing</b></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">"Writin' in my book of rhymes...all the words pass the margin..."</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">#Nas ((The World is Yours)) #Illmatic</span></div>
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This illustration really captures the essence of what the Voices Behind Walls program was all about. On this particular evening we had one of the most talented rhyme writers in the prison visit the workshop. Prior to his visit I had a difficult time encouraging him to be consistent with his participation. Most of the time I remember our workshop schedule conflicting with other activities that were going on at the prison that he chose to participate with instead. On another occasion participants that showed up noted that he simply didn't feel like participating. They mentioned, "hey man, we tried... he just didn't feel like coming." All the other youth knew he had rhyme skills. We got the chance to hear him spit a few rhymes once before and right away I knew we had an eMCee in front of us. In previous workshops, youth that did show up would talk about this guy like he was a myth and how they were going to try to get him to visit so that I could see how good he was at rapping. </div>
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In this illustration, Zachary Hill does an incredible job capturing the experience of attending a VBW workshop and the pensive listening that takes place when youth get lost in the music and take time to write. The youth standing in the background listening and observing is how some participants start off in our workshop. For many youth it was a matter of working through the fear, trust, or lack of confidence because of what others would think about what they had to say. For anyone else not familiar with what was going on, they might look at a youth standing against a wall and think they were not engaged. But often times those were the ones that would surprise us a few sessions later and arrive with their own book of rhymes or songs that they wanted to share with the other participants. I recall one of our participants who ended up recording the programs first double disc CD...it took him several months to find his voice. I remember months later mentioning to him that I didn't realize how long he'd been visiting the workshop because he was so quiet, often in the background, observing, listening, and nodding to the beat. Eventually he'd grow to become one of our most accomplished participants and song writers in the program. He was sentenced to the juvenile prison for the remaining teenage years of his life so we got to work with him for a while. In that time he developed leadership qualities promoting the program's purpose and encouraging other youth to get involved. It was incredible to see others improve because of his guidance through rhyme. I saw him as a literacy peer.<br />
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Both of the figures in the 'Rhyme Writing' illustration reflect the same person. The youth standing is a reflection of how the process starts when youth take the time to visit the workshop and see what our environment is all about. For them to see the equipment, the books, the collaboration, the pencils/pens, composition books, the musical equipment, and other technology. Through their observation and experience they'd eventually arrive to that moment where they were the ones composing songs about their own lives. While some have reason to believe that popular rap music has a tendency to beget negativity to a point where every "rapper" is a carbon copy of the other, this does not reflect what it means to be an eMCee. Especially when a platform (in our case the workshop) is able to provide space for everyone's truth and/or stories. I thought of their voices and rhymes as their own <i>bar</i> codes. Even among the hundreds of incarcerated youth I recorded for the VBW program, I never mistook one voice from another ..especially one connected to its own story, its own song.</div>
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Special thanks to Zachary Hill for the exceptional artwork and the vibrant and colorful pallets that capture the truth of the original photograph. It's a scene of many and tells a story you'd have to listen to to believe.<br />
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#Lee</div>
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<b>Art of Voices</b> is a Voices Behind Walls (VBW) project supported by Community Solutions of El Paso to recruit illustrators through Volunteer Match to help recreate VBW workshop photographs into art. The photographs were taken during workshop activities in juvenile detention between the years of 2006-2014. Artistic remakes of the photographs protect the identity of workshop participants by changing details of face and other identifiers. The purpose of this project is to document the VBW program's history and the creative expression activities incarcerated youth were engaged in. This project also offers the VBW photographer and illustrators an opportunity to reflect on what the images say about the juvenile justice system and the importance of creative expression activity for youth as a means of education, therapy, self-improvement, community engagement, rehabilitation, positive Hip Hop activity, and mentorship. </div>
VBWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15148180186430352163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-857602141344967124.post-74309778255972539512016-11-06T00:54:00.001-07:002016-12-02T08:25:00.402-08:00Voices Behind Walls...writing | Art of Voices #JBRuby<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Voices Behind Walls...writing</b><br />
<i>"See the light..."</i></div>
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Introducing Art of Voices participant Judi Ruby and her painting of a youth from the Voices Behind Walls program caught in the act of writing. This painting is based on a photograph I took with my first digital camera I used to document workshop activities...a Logitech Pocket cam. This was during VBW's earliest years. At the time I only knew how to record the spoken word and acapella expressions of incarcerated youth with a microphone and laptop software. It simply involved a participant sitting in front of our microphone and recording what he wrote on paper. No beats. </div>
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The youth captured in the painting by Ruby was one of the sharpest pens in VBW history. On his own time he actually found a way to record himself using a stereo boombox that his unit used in their pod. The boombox had a tape deck he used to record himself rapping to a beat. Before he was released I got the chance to hear some of his recordings when he brought one of his cassettes to workshop (we called it a demo). In a lot of ways, his efforts inspired our next phase in how we conducted recordings which involved playing beats in the background from my portable CD stereo player while a participant got on the mic. Over the years other youth who brought recording experience to our workshop from the time they spent rapping with older siblings or friends on the outside would redefine our recording process. </div>
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It would've been nice to have had the recording capability we learned later during the time we spent with the participant who recorded himself on cassette. Those moments reflected our Hip Hop story of figuring out ways to make something out of the little bit of equipment and technical knowledge we had. In the future I hope to release the recordings of the participant depicted in the paining.<br />
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Here are Ruby's thoughts on how she approached the painting above for the Art of Voices project: <b>"The original photo for this painting had very subtle contrast because the subject matter was mostly shades of grey and white with dispersed lighting. My usual style employs rainbow colors and a focused light source producing strong shadows. I wanted to introduce color in a way that would retain the subtle contrast of the original photograph and not look artificial, yet add interest to the work. I used the brightest colors on the page being authored by the young subject." </b></div>
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<b>Art of Voices</b> is a Voices Behind Walls (VBW) project supported by Community Solutions of El Paso to recruit illustrators through Volunteer Match to help recreate VBW workshop photographs into art. The photographs were taken during workshop activities in juvenile detention between the years of 2006-2014. Artistic remakes of the photographs protect the identity of workshop participants by changing details of face and other identifiers. The purpose of this project is to document the VBW program's history and the creative expression activities incarcerated youth were engaged in. This project also offers the VBW photographer and illustrators an opportunity to reflect on what the images say about the juvenile justice system and the importance of creative expression activity for youth as a means of education, therapy, self-improvement, community engagement, rehabilitation, positive Hip Hop activity, and mentorship. </div>
VBWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15148180186430352163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-857602141344967124.post-67642276817809975462016-11-05T23:24:00.001-07:002016-12-02T08:25:26.061-08:00Master Control | Art of Voices #ZHill<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Master Control</b></div>
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It was one of those days and I must've waited at least an hour before I could enter the juvenile facility to conduct a creative expression workshop. With no where to sit, I stood and scanned the front entrance at one point attempting to focus my vision through the one way window that housed the master control room on the other side. Though barely visible, I could see the outline of the monitors and guards as they entered and exited the control room. There was one way in for visitors and one way out. Above the entrance of the heavy large steel door were the words "Master Control".</div>
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In this artwork, I asked Art of Voices participant, Zachary Hill to try and emphasize security and surveillance. The piece also depicts me, the educator, going into the facility with a crate under my arm. I wanted to focus on the crate which contained books and publications that I'd bring with me and make available to the participants. It includes a collection of books for what I called our "VBW Library", including copies of the Beat Within publication, a weekly publication of writing and art from incarcerated youth all around the United States and a couple other countries. I recall during one of those long waits staring at the etched words above the main entrance..."Master Control". It meant a lot of things to me in the context of the lives held inside, the security staff, and the facility's visitors. I thought about the kind of writing topic that we could pull from the entrance. Thinking about spaces we've entered in our lives that we remember most. What do these entrances into prison mean for incarcerated youth? What do entrances mean to the incarcerated adult population? If you've seen <i>A Place to Stand</i>, Jimmy Santiago Baca's documentary based on his life and experience incarcerated in Arizona's state prison it depicts a scene going in. How are these entrances identified in other facilities? How does the process of entering these spaces for a volunteer or educator compare or what makes them different?</div>
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Below is a Q&A with the illustrator about his approach to the piece and art:</div>
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<b>Lee:</b> <i>How would you describe your approach to this illustration in regards to its color and other features?</i></div>
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ZH: <b>First I designated a color pallet to work with. Like you said, the area has a lot of reds and browns in the surrounding color, so I felt a cooler tone would compliment that well... Hence the blue in the clothing, trim and door. The use of blue also helped group some of the more important elements. I also used textures to create a contrast between layers.</b></div>
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<b>Lee: </b><i>What's your earliest memory that speaks for how you're involved in art today. What inspires you to create?</i></div>
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ZH: <b>I've always been very involved in art. It's been a huge part of my life for as far back as I can remember. My dad is a high school art teacher, and he's always been a huge inspiration to me. I also just have a very wild and vivid imagination, and creating art is one of the best ways I can share that with people. </b></div>
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<b>Lee:</b> <i>Generally, what kind of themes do you approach in your work? Are there any other themes related to the criminal justice field that you've explored through your art?</i></div>
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ZH: <b>I really prefer to render out a lot of the details of a piece. I like to keep things as direct and easy to understand as I can. I definitely favor creating new and interesting creatures and landscapes in my work. The conception stage is my favorite. I haven't done much work before in the criminal justice system before, so a lot of this is very new and interesting to me. I have definitely had to rework my thought process with these pieces, which has been challenging but entertaining nevertheless.</b></div>
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**The "Master Control" illustration by Zachary Hill was featured in this summer's syllabus for a course instructed by VBW Founder Lecroy Rhyanes, called <i>Creative Expressions of Masculinity In & Out of Juvenile Detention</i> at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP).<br />
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<b>Art of Voices</b> is a Voices Behind Walls (VBW) project supported by Community Solutions of El Paso to recruit illustrators through Volunteer Match to help recreate VBW workshop photographs into art. The photographs were taken during workshop activities in juvenile detention between the years of 2006-2014. Artistic remakes of the photographs protect the identity of workshop participants by changing details of face and other identifiers. The purpose of this project is to document the VBW program's history and the creative expression activities incarcerated youth were engaged in. This project also offers the VBW photographer and illustrators an opportunity to reflect on what the images say about the juvenile justice system and the importance of creative expression activity for youth as a means of education, therapy, self-improvement, community engagement, rehabilitation, positive Hip Hop activity, and mentorship.</div>
VBWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15148180186430352163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-857602141344967124.post-48975967448912783472016-10-17T14:34:00.000-07:002016-10-17T14:40:09.756-07:00The Beat Within Since 1996 #TBW20Years<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Celebrating 20 Years of The Beat Within</b></div>
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The message below was originally posted on The Beat Within's Facebook which you can view by clicking on the following link: <a href="http://21.0.0.37/38" style="font-weight: bold;">21.37/38</a>. The impact this publication has had on my life as an educator is beyond measure. I'm forever grateful for what this publication has inspired me to do in my own life as a creative arts educator. I consider the work of the Voices Behind Walls program a branch of The Beat Within tree; I respect The Beat as a foundation for how I've come to understand and involve myself in creative justice. I'm thankful for having had the chance to be inspired by The Beat and I'm excited about what this publication means for future programming and research. Also, this has everything to do with Hip Hop and the legacy of Tupac Amaru Shakur. </div>
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Since 1996. </div>
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<i>20 years ago, the first issue of The Beat Within was produced for the young people inside the San Francisco Juvenile Justice Center aka YGC (Youth Guidance Center). This initial issue was on the death of rapper and actor, Tupac Shakur. Little did any of us know that The Beat Within would touch so many lives - beyond San Francisco and the Bay Area - through our weekly writing workshops inside various juvenile halls and our amazing publication. </i></div>
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<i>This week's celebratory double issue, 21.37/38, which is ready for workshops and our subscribers this week, we celebrate The Beat Within and giving voice to the voiceless. In this special issue, we actually reprint and feature the first writings from those initial workshops inside YGC too! Happy Birthday Beat! </i></div>
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<i>Here's a sneak peak of this week's cover. The cover art, featuring 2Pac, was the first piece of art ever contributed to The Beat Within, way back in 1996, by our dear friend Noel Danseco.</i></div>
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<i>If you are interested in making a donation (of any size) to The Beat this week, we will make sure and send you this fabulous issue.</i></div>
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<i>Thank you FB friends for all the support.</i></div>
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To donate please visit <a href="http://thebeatwithin.org/"><b>thebeatwithin.org</b></a></div>
VBWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15148180186430352163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-857602141344967124.post-52172848965231857142016-06-20T14:16:00.002-07:002016-06-20T14:16:23.293-07:00Youth Stories, The Art of Zine<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://juvenileinjustice.wordpress.com/youthstories/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheeZdrLh0y1ivwaQy4MtwLcQl6GLz5fWBU8DrwHdp6DAXxkbXmKS1B1T5t3u_8FZe9NPjyHGplLd3ZiM56ZNKGWurMNc_QiUEt9jJPBVGlHXAOSm1QTsHAYFvD-g-bQ37XK_HdLdg4Esk/s640/YouthStories_Page_01.jpg" width="420" /></a></div>
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<b>Download PDF: <a href="https://juvenileinjustice.wordpress.com/youthstories/" target="_blank">click here</a></b></div>
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This is a zine I discovered about juvenile justice from Project NIA, a community collaborative that aims to think about restorative or transformative justice in unique and creative ways. Recently, I started collaborating online with several volunteer artists through Volunteer Match for our Art of Voices project. I'm interested in taking some time to read and think about how groups are using art to build dialogue around issues related to juvenile justice. Project NIA collaborated with the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum and the Chicago Freedom School to put together three digital zines about juvenile justice. Reading further into the project I learned a lot about other collaborations with the justice system and educators that made this zine publication possible.</div>
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<b>'Youth Stories'</b> by Elgin Smith is the first of those zines I've downloaded to read this week. The site where you can download the PDF is linked above. I first heard about "zines" from a colleague who talked about how she use to put them together back in the 80s and mail them at the post office. A lot of the content in her zines had to do with music and the punk scene. The way she made it sound it reminded me of how someone would put together a scrapbook. During my years volunteering in juvenile prison, I long thought about creative and time effective ways that I could help incarcerated youth present their writing and art to people outside of the prison. I was heavily inspired by how The Beat Within published the poetry and stories of incarcerated youth and adults. Zines on the other hand remind me of how a person would approach a scrap book, which I've always wanted to explore since it seems to offer a bit more creative control with the participants, especially in its design. In the workshops I facilitated we mainly focused on the process of recording voice and music to put together mixtapes, so I ended up collecting a ton of audio and video. There was still a lot that was documented in writing though and I've always wanted to put together in a creative way that could be accessed as download.</div>
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I look forward to reading the zine <b>'Youth Stories</b>' to learn how the groups involved got together to collaborate with the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (JTDC) for the zine publication. Its an important model for thinking about how community and juvenile justice systems can work together in a way that is creative and that engages the voices of justice involved youth. </div>
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Here is a quote from the Project NIA Director, Mariame Kaba... "I am committed to using art as a tool for social transformation and justice. I believe that art has the capacity to speak across difference and to help educate and incite people to action."</div>
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reading... "Tell Me a Story"<br />
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Project NIA<br />
Jane Addams Hull-House Museum<br />
Chicago Freedom School<br />
Rachel Marie Crane-Williams<br />
Elgin-Bokari T. Smith<br />
Teresa Smith<br />
Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (JTDC)<br />
Billy Dee<br />
Chicago PIC Teaching Collective<br />
Mariame Kaba</div>
VBWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15148180186430352163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-857602141344967124.post-1634479118755330222016-05-23T00:58:00.000-07:002016-12-02T08:25:40.542-08:00United Duos | Art of Voices #ZHill<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b>United Duos</b></div>
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The Voices Behind Walls (VBW) program aims to create opportunities for participants to connect with each other. Apart from creative writing, music recording, and other literacy activities that incarcerated youth were involved in, photography gave participants a chance to reflect on what their collaboration looked like. In this <i>photo turned illustration</i> we have two participants locking hands...<i>united</i>. Their place in the picture is important. Where we hosted the workshop there weren't a lot of spots, if any, that I'd consider good backdrop to take a photo. We found ways to use the background with how they wanted to pose, whether standing or crouched. For this photo the hallway was central to their pose. Examining the image today, the way they decided to pose for the camera says a lot about their style and story. It took a while for them to collaborate, but eventually they'd learn more about each other's unique skills to create music or write lyrics. They were one of several duos in the facility that collaborated on ideas for Hip Hop songs and spoken word concepts. </div>
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In Hip Hop, an eMCee (rapper) or beat maker's entire career can be defined by who they collaborate with. In the 90s, an eMCee like CL Smooth was immediately associated with a beat maker named Pete Rock because of their history making music together. When we think of the late Guru, we think of DJ Premier. The RZA, we think of a number of other eMCees from the group they formed (the Wu Tang Clan), such as the Genius/GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface, and others. An example most of the VBW participants were familiar with would be the connection between Snoop Dogg or Eminem with the production of Dr. Dre. While collaboration being central to identity and how groups marketed themselves in the 90s may not be as prominent in how Rap music is marketed today, it did become a part of how participants in our workshop viewed their identity and involvement in making music. </div>
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VBW workshops gave youth the space to share what they were good at and learn about each other's skills. While some participants may have decided to work alone, others sought collaboration to improve their skills. This included making music, writing or learning how their styles could come together to create new ideas around a duo or a group of more than three.</div>
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This illustration represents this idea of creating connections through Hip Hop programming in a juvenile prison and is titled "United Duos". </div>
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The "United Duos" is illustrated by Zachary, a volunteer with the Art of Voices project. He's an incredible illustrator from the University of Kansas. We look forward to sharing more of his work through Art of Voices. You can learn more about Art of Voices by scrolling down below the illustration. Here are Zachary's thoughts on the development of "United Duos" </div>
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<i>"...the pose I was given to work with already did so much of the work for me. It was really more of a matter of just figuring out what elements to enhance and what could stand to be pushed back. I exaggerated the scale of the arms and hands to draw more attention to them. I also simplified the background so it didn't distract from the figures, since they are a little more important to the message of the image. I also gave them smiling faces to further add that positive vibe to it. To get the idea of unity and keep a warm positive mood, I gave the piece a more harmonious color pallet of yellows and greens." - Zachary</i><br />
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#Lee</div>
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<b>Art of Voices</b> is a Voices Behind Walls (VBW) project supported by Community Solutions of El Paso to recruit illustrators through Volunteer Match to help recreate VBW workshop photographs into art. The photographs were taken during workshop activities in juvenile detention between the years of 2006-2014. Artistic remakes of the photographs protect the identity of workshop participants by changing details of face and other identifiers. The purpose of this project is to document the VBW program's history and the creative expression activities incarcerated youth were engaged in. This project also offers the VBW photographer and illustrators an opportunity to reflect on what the images say about the juvenile justice system and the importance of creative expression activity for youth as a means of education, therapy, self-improvement, community engagement, rehabilitation, positive Hip Hop activity, and mentorship.</div>
VBWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15148180186430352163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-857602141344967124.post-24236681682246839002016-05-11T15:37:00.002-07:002016-12-02T08:25:58.392-08:00Introducing the Art of Voices #Brianna<div style="text-align: center;">
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<b>Introducing the Art of Voices</b></div>
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<b>Art of Voices</b> is a Voices Behind Walls (VBW) project supported by Community Solutions of El Paso to recruit illustrators through Volunteer Match to help <i>recreate</i> VBW workshop photographs into art. The photographs were taken during workshop activities in juvenile detention between the years of 2006-2014. Artistic remakes of the photographs protect the identity of workshop participants by changing details of face and other identifiers. The purpose of this project is to document the VBW program's history and the creative expression activities incarcerated youth were engaged in. This project also offers the VBW photographer and illustrators an opportunity to reflect on what the images say about the juvenile justice system and the importance of creative expression activity for youth as a means of education, therapy, self-improvement, community engagement, rehabilitation, positive Hip Hop activity, and mentorship. It's also important to understand how the VBW program connected with participants through Hip Hop activity. Hip Hop opened the opportunity for participants to explore their talents as lyricists/eMCees, singers, writers, storytellers, poets, musicians, beat makers, sketch artist, and other collaborative involvements within and outside of the detention facility. In addition, the VBW workshop engaged youth in literacy development by promoting reading activity, chess, and encouraging juvenile detention units to work together to support individual and group accomplishments. Through Hip Hop we also discussed the importance of listening to each other and the world around us. </div>
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The <b>Art of Voices</b> will document these activities and encourage the juvenile justice system to support and promote creative expression programming for incarcerated youth and youth released from confinement.</div>
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Below is our first <b>Art of Voices</b> submission by sketch artist Briaanna. The sketch is titled "Mousey". It captures two VBW participants learning how to program an old keyboard to make beats. The facility often kept the keyboard locked in a closet since it was missing a power adapter. The other option to power the keyboard involved batteries which were considered contraband in the facility. The VBW program acquired approval to purchase a power adapter for the incarcerated youth to turn on the keyboard and use it during workshop time. Although the keyboard didn't have very many functions to support actual beat production, incarcerated youth still managed to create several sounds they were proud of and that are now part of the VBW instrumental archive. One of VBW's participants who went by Mousey became known as one of our first "in house producers". His natural talents on the keys maximized what we thought could be done on the old beat up keyboard. </div>
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Eventually, the keyboard would be used as an incentive by certain staff for good behavior. This became a problem since any infraction, depending on the staff member, could result in the keyboard being locked back into a closet or "lost". There were long stretches of time where we'd often find ourselves trying to figure out what happened to the keyboard. </div>
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The expressions of the youth in Briaanna's sketch capture several feelings including sadness, and the depression of living in a juvenile detention unit. There is also something to be said about their concentration and focus on the sounds being created with the keyboard. </div>
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The poster in the back includes a message I saw on a dry erase board of an education room in the juvenile detention center. On this particular day I waited at least an hour for the staff to transport participants to the education room to begin VBW programming. Between reading and listening for any indication that staff didn't forget I was there, I scanned the room and took pictures of what the teacher wrote with my camera. Reflecting on the original image, I asked Briaanna to include the message in the sketch, except in the form of a poster taped to the wall. Outdated motivational posters were common place as decoration in the education rooms. </div>
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Until the next sketch, we present the <b>Art of Voices</b>. A link below will direct you to a VBW audio produced by Mousey titled ((Mysterious Minds)). The beat was created on the very same keyboard you see represented in the sketch. </div>
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Thank you Briaanna.</div>
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((<a href="https://soundcloud.com/vbehindw/mysteriousminds" target="_blank"><b>Mysterious Minds</b></a>))</div>
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Instrumental: <a href="https://soundcloud.com/vbehindw/mysteriousminds" target="_blank"><b>click here</b></a></div>
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VBWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15148180186430352163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-857602141344967124.post-26892088266448061232015-09-20T19:32:00.000-07:002016-02-22T23:50:54.175-08:00#VOWorkshop 9/19/2015 'Time Machine'<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Deasy aka MD2</i></span></div>
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<b>#VOWorkshop 9/19/2015 'Time Machine'</b></div>
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Thought I'd share a reflection on September 19th's <b>#VOWorkshop</b> with <b>Deasy</b> aka <b>MD2</b>. I've been doing <b>"workshops"</b> for a while now. They're more like<b> "sessions"</b> since we meet to record <b>poems</b>, <b>freestyles</b>, <b>songs</b>, etc. Aside from that we communicate a lot of ideas & share <b>literature</b> and <b>music</b>. It's a time for the participants to provide an update on what they got going on. I've been participating in "workshops" ever since I graduated from high school and entered college. Going back to my undergrad years with the a violence prevention program I was involved with through the <b>NMSU Criminal Justice Department </b>to the workshops I participated in with the English Department both for undergrad and graduate studies. I've also participated in other community workshops, mainly as a participant and have facilitated workshops either through grant funded projects or as a <b>volunteer</b>. I've hosted recording sessions at NMSU, at libraries, at a treatment center, in public schools, in a group home, and spent a majority of my time hosting recording sessions in<b> juvenile prisons</b>. The sessions are focused on the recording process to create songs we can listen to, share with family, peers, staff, and to simply document experiences, perspectives, and for those that consider themselves eMCee's, <b>Hip Hop</b>. </div>
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The September 19th workshop was focused on<b> audio memoir</b>. I first started working with MD2 when he was a teenager. By then, he'd already been in contact with the law, had served a few commitments and was getting ready to serve another one. Back then, my involvement didn't have a title or identity. I was simply volunteering my time as an extension of what I was doing at the college radio station with Hip Hop music. I was also beginning to explore my own interest with poetry and teaching poetry after being inspired by <b>Luis Rodriguez's</b> story which I read in a juvenile justice course at NMSU. Along with discovering <b>The Beat Within</b>, I felt life was trying to tell me something, so I stayed committed to volunteering and using equipment I started to assemble to record people. For youth, this gave them a chance to hear what they sound like on the mic to some music. Occasionally, this also involved broadcasting their audios on the radio. </div>
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Today, MD2 is no longer a "youth". He's a <b>family</b> man who's experienced his fair share of problems with the juvenile and adult justice system. Our time in the recording session is a space for MD2 to build on what we've both learned going back to when we first started working together in 2003. At the time, Deasy got caught up the day before he was scheduled to host a Youth Radio program at the college station I worked at. It would be the first time I'd make a visit to a "detention" facility to speak with Deasy about his plans and to reflect on his time with our program. That conversation inspired a project I was working on titled <i>The Violence of Youth, the Presence of a Pe</i>n, which would later be published in a journal with the help of my mentors. Deasy is one of the main reasons I would go on to volunteer in juvenile prisons which resulted in the development of Voices Behind Walls. </div>
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A few years passed until I saw Deasy again, once at a Rap battle event, and on other occasions. It wasn't until this past year in 2014 that I ran into him while visiting his older brother. We were happy to see each other, he introduced me to his wife and brought up the idea of working together again to record. Over the past year, we've met once a month for a program concept we call Voices Outside the Walls Workshop #VOWorkshop.</div>
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This is the first time I've done a reflection post on a recording session. By now I've facilitated hundreds of them, and can remember each one when I go back and listen to the recordings. From this point forward I plan on posting reflections for each session. Sort of like meeting minutes, except more of a story about our program. It's a chance also to spend some time writing about what we do. I love to write, but hardly get the chance to write about these sessions which I consider my life's work. These writings will include photographs and audio from time to time too. The purpose is to document our sessions and some of the ideas born from these meetings. </div>
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While we waited for librarians to open the door where we set up we met a group of kids ages 6 to 12, some with their parents who were participating in an event next door. Some were curious about what we were getting ready to set up. I asked them about music and one at a time each said something about a father or older brother who liked to rap. One of the older youth mentioned she did choir and another mentioned a sibling who loved to rap but had since passed away. It gave me an idea of promoting an hour or two for families that are interested in recording.</div>
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On this day, MD2, which stands for <b>Master Deasy 2</b> (he considers himself the 2nd after his older brother James Deasy aka Dune, a Hip Hop beatmaker) had written two tracks to record. One titled ((Say Goodbye to the Bad Guy)) and another tentatively titled ((Time Machine)). For the background music he spit his versus to instrumentals from producers <b>Ayatollah</b> and <b>Drasar Monumental</b>. Both of the pieces were reflective. We've already completed dozens of recordings with Deasy including poetry, rhyme song writings, and freestyles. We're at a point now where the goal is to develop a collection of recordings that speak to a specific theme, or moment in his life for a mixtape project. Deasy talked about being inspired by <b>Kendrick Lamar</b>'s record <i>To Pimp a Butterfly</i> and also taps into <b>MF Grimm</b>'s catalog including <i>Scars & Memories</i>, <i>American Hunger</i>, and his latest listens with the <i>Good Morning Vietnam</i> volumes. Deasy's word play was much more specific this time around...organized and focused. He discussed some challenges he's been dealing with lately and the urgency he felt to document something of substance for his children and family. </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Writing, reading, listening</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Good Morning Vietnam</i></span></div>
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In addition, we talked about a concept for a children's book that he'd like to write for his baby boy. He also played some recordings from his phone of his daughter who recently started sharing a few rhymes of her own, inspired by her Dad's interest in writing lyrics. </div>
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Today, we were joined by Deasy's mother, a poet in her own right and a voice that continues to encourage and support her son. It's her second visit to the session, her first accompanied by Deasy's grandmother who blessed us with some poetry as well. </div>
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Deasy also brought some treasurers that he found searching through local thrift shops...including a vintage magazine album of Ali & Frazier and a promo of the Whitaker vs. Chavez magazine from 93'. We've been talking about boxing a lot lately, inspired by the #FreeBoxing4All campaign through Premier Boxing, and also the statue that's getting ready to rise in Philly of the legendary Smokin' <b>Joe Frazier</b>. On my way to the workshop I also got the chance to hear out Chapter 8 of <b>Stuart Scott</b>'s audio book <i>Every Day I Fight</i>, titled 'Never Die Easy'... he talks about Ali & Frazier.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i> Smokin' Joe Frazier</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Treasures</i></span></div>
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Nineteen years after <b>Tupac Amaru Shakur</b>'s death, we also talked about <i>The 7 Day Theory</i> <b>Makaveli</b> album and had a conversation about the <b>Outlawz</b> recent loss of member <b>Hussein Fatal</b> who passed in a car wreck this summer. We also discussed the abandonment of the Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts and the importance of planning when it comes to sustaining things worth saving. We used these examples to think about the planning process in our own lives and the thought of making every moment a creative moment. </div>
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As far as the bibliography for today's workshop, we briefly discussed the<i> Have Gun Will Travel</i> text by Ronin Ro, Richard Ross' <i>Juvenile In Justice</i> photography book, Stuart Scott's <i>Every Day I Fight</i> audio book, and Nell Bernstein's <i>Burning Down the House, The End of Juvenile Prison</i>.</div>
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We cap'd off the session with an incredible Freestyle by MD2 to an instrumental by one of his favorite eMCees, Eazy E. </div>
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Goals til' the next workshop is to complete writing for the second bar of ((Time Machine)), planning the children's text for Deasy's son, develop a flier to promote recording sessions for local families, exchange some info on maintaining a healthy lifestyle, look into local GED support, prepare the next volume of instrumentals and writing topics for the Fall, and reach out to C-Nice to schedule a session. Like Deasy, I've known C-Nice going back many years, a lot of talent, a gifted writer, incredible eMCee... a survivor.</div>
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Til' the next session, peace!</div>
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VBWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15148180186430352163noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-857602141344967124.post-47218295547423418842015-09-07T12:24:00.003-07:002015-09-07T12:30:09.650-07:00Performing Life Bolivia Hip Hop Kayma<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Performing Life Bolivia</b></div>
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Hip Hop Kayma</div>
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An incredible program I heard about through Suzanne Jamison of New Mexico a few years ago. From what I understand the president/facilitator of this organization has roots in New Mexico, and if I'm not mistaken is an NMSU alum - John Connell. Just searching through my email correspondence for Suzanne Jamison, John Connell and the Performing Life Bolivia program pops up all kinds of resources. One of my favorite components of this program is the music workshop through Hip Hop Kayma and the bracelet exchange. At one of the juvenile facilities I volunteered, we'd have the mixtapes on deck to #listen and got the chance to do a photo shoot with bracelets from Performing Life Bolivia. There's a great story in Hip Hop Kayma, a few mixtapes out there and several videos on YouTube with thoughts from the youth of Bolivia about Hip Hop. At one point, I heard they were also broadcasting on radio. The program is involved in many other activities too. I encourage folks to check out the website, follow them on social media, and reach out to the group to learn more. </div>
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<b><a href="http://performinglifebolivia.org/">performinglifebolivia.org</a></b></div>
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<b>Facebook: <a href="http://facebook.com/PerformingLifeBolivia">facebook.com/PerformingLifeBolivia</a> </b></div>
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<b>Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/Performing_Life">twitter.com/Performing_Life</a> </b></div>
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...listening to ((Companeros)) music by Daniel Beatz featuring Alejandra on the mic #HipHopKaymaVBWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15148180186430352163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-857602141344967124.post-18496224544061452052015-08-09T19:57:00.000-07:002016-02-22T23:49:48.846-08:00VBW Justice Archive: ((Keep Your Head Held High))<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/218542551&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%"></iframe><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: small;">VBW Justice Archive Update</span></b></div>
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((Keep Your Head Held High))</div>
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To ((listen)) visit the VBW Research Network: <a href="http://vbwresearch.blogspot.com/2015/08/vbw-justice-archive-keep-your-head-held.html" target="_blank"><b>click here</b></a></div>
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<br />
<u>About the VBW Justice Archive</u></div>
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</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
The Voices Behind Walls (VBW) Justice Archive is a collection of audios,
artworks, photographs, and writings archived on the following:<br />
<br />
VBW Research
Network Blog: <b><a href="http://vbwresearch.blogspot.com/">vbwresearch.blogspot.com</a></b><br />
VBW YouTube: <b><a href="http://youtube.com/voicesbehindwalls">youtube.com/voicesbehindwalls</a></b> <br />
VBW Soundcloud: <b><a href="http://soundcloud.com/vbehindw">soundcloud.com/vbehindw</a></b><br />
<br />
The purpose of the archive is to document VBW program history,
specifically the creative expression of its participants and program
partners. Files of the VBW Justice Archive are resources for educators,
youth, and the public to share. We hope these files inspire new ideas
and other creative expressions in all learning spaces. The archive is
especially to acknowledge the existence of its participants, a majority
incarcerated youth, who recorded into the VBW microphone between the
decade of 2004 to 2014. Hopefully you all find your way back to our
page to reflect on your contribution to the VBW program.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
The VBW Justice Archive began documenting its program history in 2014.
Audios will be posted periodically. Updated will be posted at the links
above including <b><a href="http://twitter.com/vbehindw">twitter.com/vbehindw</a></b>.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Keywords + Tag = Keep Your Head Held High | Blues | juvenile prison | </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">beats
| keyboard | piano | Zoom R12 Controller Interface | New Mexico | Las Cruces | music | outreach | Hip
Hop | creative expression | Dona Ana County | life | Soundcloud
| Voices Behind Walls | VBW | adolescent | original |
thought | experience | struggle | poetry |New Mexico State University | Social Justice Award 2014</span></div>
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</div>
</div>
VBWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15148180186430352163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-857602141344967124.post-64791928122049486742015-07-21T00:10:00.000-07:002015-07-21T06:37:20.672-07:00Young Jefe & $Gone$, The El Paso Sessions (VOWs)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnvOdJruoeCHO7RSfCct1arRpIYD6tZRERGNwvlGjPHaq2_uL3_t7u8sfnwIpR1OVeyDoZf2fhGHWOlCS_UQwRBgRj9UzxaKG4M5jHzhS7tCr3S7JjUmfQulLBIpYnWS74zVb6HJ1ABzo/s1600/rhyming.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnvOdJruoeCHO7RSfCct1arRpIYD6tZRERGNwvlGjPHaq2_uL3_t7u8sfnwIpR1OVeyDoZf2fhGHWOlCS_UQwRBgRj9UzxaKG4M5jHzhS7tCr3S7JjUmfQulLBIpYnWS74zVb6HJ1ABzo/s400/rhyming.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>Young Jefe & $Gone$</b></div>
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Just an afternoon at the library documenting a freestyle to some beats. This year, thanks to Mr. Groove we've been able to set up in El Paso again. Young Jefe was the first to participate. He has a lot of positive energy and is committed to showing up and encouraging others to participate. He also most recently graduated from high school, class of 2015. Hopeful he learns to channel his talent and ideas through the power of the pen more often. His partner in rhyme, alias $Gone$, was introduced to the VOWorkshop for the first time this week. </div>
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VOW or Voices Outside the Walls (a component of Voices Behind Walls/VBW) is is focused on recording creativexpressions with equipment that's been donated to us outside of detention (VBW started inside of juvenile halls). We also exchange resources such as the Beat Within magazine, free composition books, and pass out instrumental music CDs to motivate the writing process of participants. Aside from that we check in on the latest music videos, discuss our latest listens, and exchange notes on plans for education, employment, etc. A project site location like the library or university also gives us the chance to promote reading. We also have our own books that we lend out. Short term, the goal is to help each participant develop their own mixtape project for them to share with their peers, family, and community. Long term, the idea is to create a space to learn, document voices, and for mentorship. The creativexpression we record and document includes all musical genres, stories, and voices. </div>
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Check us out on <b><a href="http://www.twitter.com/vbehindw" target="_blank">twitter.com/vbehindw</a></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; line-height: 12.6000003814697px; text-align: justify;">Keywords + Tag = Voices Behind Walls | VBW | Voices Outside the Walls | VOWs | poetry | creative expression | creativexpression | Rap | Hip Hop | music | recording | Young Jefe | El Paso | $Gone$ | beats | instrumentals | literature | creativity | books | The Beat Within | education | employment </span></div>
VBWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15148180186430352163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-857602141344967124.post-11401606428493206272015-05-21T23:42:00.000-07:002016-11-05T23:52:57.564-07:00#VOWLibrary<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxO9-prvsBO3fWR5yR3e42Mp3wJJhHK3pKfNxtsoaAfdK0jBfwzNBIFtfZfy2yujixgzA4MlDp0MLlihKL0y7pEV9Gkzw9W7USeBeW6N6tuSJitGnuFTNQqM5A9xEOcxFDVeHjwq55p7A/s1600/VBWLibrary.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxO9-prvsBO3fWR5yR3e42Mp3wJJhHK3pKfNxtsoaAfdK0jBfwzNBIFtfZfy2yujixgzA4MlDp0MLlihKL0y7pEV9Gkzw9W7USeBeW6N6tuSJitGnuFTNQqM5A9xEOcxFDVeHjwq55p7A/s400/VBWLibrary.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>VBW/VOW Library</b></div>
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#VOWLibrary #VOWcheckout #VOWcheckin</div>
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In each workshop back when, we'd set aside at least one table for books, CDs, supplies, etc. The purpose was to try and transform the uninspiring space we had to use for workshop into a learning environment. When we recorded the poetry or rhymes of an incarcerated youth, having learning stations kept others engaged either in reading, writing, listening, learning about creative technology, building with a visitor, or playing chess until it was their turn on the mic. The photograph featured above is a shot of what we called the <b>VBW Library</b>. Participants were able to look through the resources, and if they found something they liked, check them out by signing the book pockets slips the facility library donated to us. It was cool, cause it kind of made me feel like we were operating a mini-mobile library with a check out process.<br />
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Today, our collection of resources pretty much goes wherever I go. Though we do most recording sessions in public libraries now, the participants I've worked with so far don't have a library card. One expressed he has no desire to get a library card and another can't get one. While my main goal is to promote the library as a place to be with resources to check out, I'm still planning to build on our own collection of literature and multimedia to loan to participants. Especially if the resources we have are not available at the library, which is most often the case especially with multimedia including music CDs and films, and some resources we've created ourselves. <br />
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While I was using the book pockets as a way to keep track of who had checked out what during our workshops in detention centers... on the outside, I've decided to use our program's <a href="http://twitter.com/vbehindw">Twitter.com/vbehindw</a> hashtag <b>#VOWLibrary</b> (Voices Outside the Walls), <b>#VOWcheckout</b>, and <b>#VOWcheckin</b> to keep track. Peace to Deasy who also started bringing in stuff to lend to me. The purpose of posting on Twitter is also to promote the authors, text, artist, filmmakers, actors, etc. and to even document some thoughts on what we're using to inform our activities. I'm also intending for this process to motivate us to keep adding on to the collection and exchange.</div>
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From time to time, we'll highlight one of those resources here at the blog.</div>
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Peace.</div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Keywords + Tag = library | literature | books | </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">films
| magazines | periodicals | check out | El Paso Public Library | Branigan Library | Zuhl Library | Branson Library | creative expression | Dona Ana County | Voices Outside the Walls | Voices Behind the Walls
| Tupac Shakur Legacy | recording | Juvenile Justice Services | literacy | thought | reading | writing | thinking | development | youth literacy </span></div>
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VBWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15148180186430352163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-857602141344967124.post-6786317807907676942014-12-21T00:11:00.000-08:002016-11-05T23:51:51.406-07:00((Mysterious Minds)) by Mousey <iframe frameborder="no" height="450" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/182493100&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: medium;">VBW Justice Archive Update</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Sam aka Mousey ((Mysterious Minds)) Instrumental</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
To ((listen)) visit the VBW Research Network: <a href="http://vbwresearch.blogspot.com/2014/12/vbw-justice-archive-mysterious-minds-by.html" target="_blank"><b>click here</b></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<u>About the VBW Justice Archive</u></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
The Voices Behind Walls (VBW) Justice Archive is a collection of audios,
artworks, photographs, and writings archived on the following:<br />
<br />
VBW Research
Network Blog: <b><a href="http://vbwresearch.blogspot.com/">vbwresearch.blogspot.com</a></b><br />
VBW YouTube: <b><a href="http://youtube.com/voicesbehindwalls">youtube.com/voicesbehindwalls</a></b> <br />
VBW Soundcloud: <b><a href="http://soundcloud.com/vbehindw">soundcloud.com/vbehindw</a></b><br />
<br />
The purpose of the archive is to document VBW program history,
specifically the creative expression of its participants and program
partners. Files of the VBW Justice Archive are resources for educators,
youth, and the public to share. We hope these files inspire new ideas
and other creative expressions in all learning spaces. The archive is
especially to acknowledge the existence of its participants, a majority
incarcerated youth, who recorded into the VBW microphone between the
decade of 2004 to 2014. Hopefully you all find your way back to our
page to reflect on your contribution to the VBW program.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
The VBW Justice Archive began documenting its program history in 2014.
Audios will be posted periodically. Updated will be posted at the links
above including <b><a href="http://twitter.com/vbehindw">twitter.com/vbehindw</a></b>.<br />
<br /></div>
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</div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Keywords + Tag = Mousey | Sam | juvenile prison | </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">beats
| keyboard | piano | New Mexico | Las Cruces | music | outreach | Hip
Hop | creative expression | Dona Ana County | life | Soundcloud
| Voices Behind Walls | VBW | adolescent | Boyz in the Hood | Ricky |
thought | experience | struggle | mystery | mind</span></div>
</div>
</div>
VBWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15148180186430352163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-857602141344967124.post-75841373829106166502014-12-08T02:26:00.000-08:002016-11-05T23:51:29.303-07:00VOWs Session Clara Belle Williams Hall | NMSU<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEMdc5r92SvL5o7Ym5KC91jIiJs-lO4dBZYkJx291aCydjo6-zuBAxGnj0Y4GoTUFjYIA7ms68UcxYj9JCsNrq2x1p2cf9XUUZkfiste5a8XrpCTJSLmsoA7aAcRSaxv9vNeODiMAXXy8/s1600/ENGLHallway.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEMdc5r92SvL5o7Ym5KC91jIiJs-lO4dBZYkJx291aCydjo6-zuBAxGnj0Y4GoTUFjYIA7ms68UcxYj9JCsNrq2x1p2cf9XUUZkfiste5a8XrpCTJSLmsoA7aAcRSaxv9vNeODiMAXXy8/s1600/ENGLHallway.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>VOWs Session on Location at the Clara Belle Williams Hall</b></div>
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<b>New Mexico State University 12/6/2014 </b></div>
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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.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYjQntsSShlJ-deIdue3slismbyBrV9myLVWAKOHhyphenhyphenTciN5vEh5v-42fRM30T0BcB3-BLKcY9Xdn9RTTRL81XY-IF2YO78m6hzFR0qxBQKZKc3gTJv99TmJPEkiZXzJLRx3Ik6aAQr36A/s1600/ClaraBelle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYjQntsSShlJ-deIdue3slismbyBrV9myLVWAKOHhyphenhyphenTciN5vEh5v-42fRM30T0BcB3-BLKcY9Xdn9RTTRL81XY-IF2YO78m6hzFR0qxBQKZKc3gTJv99TmJPEkiZXzJLRx3Ik6aAQr36A/s1600/ClaraBelle.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Clara Belle Williams </i></div>
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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. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcZ7usPwDYK5kEbemgjIm3TtHIf-R53gB74f2gaAgHdygEjBGssv8rWgPK08Octrj_kHFDtKtK4LmW_EQ_GP0stZmTHcbO34LlAnERmgRvfcauZ1-ma3ZXF0dzXTF2sSwu24xQuBHrkh8/s1600/107.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcZ7usPwDYK5kEbemgjIm3TtHIf-R53gB74f2gaAgHdygEjBGssv8rWgPK08Octrj_kHFDtKtK4LmW_EQ_GP0stZmTHcbO34LlAnERmgRvfcauZ1-ma3ZXF0dzXTF2sSwu24xQuBHrkh8/s1600/107.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Room 107</i></div>
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It's a Saturday, finals week, so the hallway lights are off. Room 107, welcome back.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPcd59XynvyahjBro-Z80MSp-BvQr3OD-n1kJj76RfnZ3vFrcOOxznxPP36mY9D_HMz-yXxP4mPK3n3PKAJYJ1gSW4gjE0l7NhfQ8hT9OD_2DbemycvCPwu2itXJ18gu-YmLCQ_zcXpCg/s1600/ClassShot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPcd59XynvyahjBro-Z80MSp-BvQr3OD-n1kJj76RfnZ3vFrcOOxznxPP36mY9D_HMz-yXxP4mPK3n3PKAJYJ1gSW4gjE0l7NhfQ8hT9OD_2DbemycvCPwu2itXJ18gu-YmLCQ_zcXpCg/s1600/ClassShot.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Inside</i></div>
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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!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1yp_Qr7cttxjyHv0Xj5Iz8ufNzpiYOo_LRnXzHiPykyP4uxUctcpBeI4ml_15cHVRNBzqUS2_8XW7RAcM-fm_NmavQcU-bDmDlqSe6uV0IsCU1FtX8hbkCnfJl5UAh2X-34o9dpX041k/s1600/VBWChalk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1yp_Qr7cttxjyHv0Xj5Iz8ufNzpiYOo_LRnXzHiPykyP4uxUctcpBeI4ml_15cHVRNBzqUS2_8XW7RAcM-fm_NmavQcU-bDmDlqSe6uV0IsCU1FtX8hbkCnfJl5UAh2X-34o9dpX041k/s1600/VBWChalk.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Chalkboard</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibOYqj-jXZZjlA90WMaKzD18uC5cxaKod4Ii0JR5tPIzFx8FaIajGIVXnyva9FwzKbl0LhJUbRpvte8jcEYc3cwh4fiflLGQ-dmZGEUW71c_8BPNb45oeVK4v6e2yUU7H7YtZg0cc_2Xo/s1600/D2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibOYqj-jXZZjlA90WMaKzD18uC5cxaKod4Ii0JR5tPIzFx8FaIajGIVXnyva9FwzKbl0LhJUbRpvte8jcEYc3cwh4fiflLGQ-dmZGEUW71c_8BPNb45oeVK4v6e2yUU7H7YtZg0cc_2Xo/s1600/D2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>MasterD2</i></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
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. </div>
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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. </div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">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</span><br />
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<br />VBWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15148180186430352163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-857602141344967124.post-83483202124828566652014-12-08T00:24:00.004-08:002016-11-05T23:50:58.507-07:00'Wordsworth' by Carlos Andrés Gómez <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCrlSdRbnmFQmSn0Hm6qPYut9Idme1Lwi9qP0h-CIgLEBjPQHKhdQzkke2v8T2H-UnOxqcKmvYsSJN6vZrj2V3Xn-bunbkGcZ-jcs5g3QkQjved7hK_eAVlhqmM4mgG7Kc0ZM7hLkoLlY/s1600/Carlos+Andres+Gomez+Art.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCrlSdRbnmFQmSn0Hm6qPYut9Idme1Lwi9qP0h-CIgLEBjPQHKhdQzkke2v8T2H-UnOxqcKmvYsSJN6vZrj2V3Xn-bunbkGcZ-jcs5g3QkQjved7hK_eAVlhqmM4mgG7Kc0ZM7hLkoLlY/s1600/Carlos+Andres+Gomez+Art.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">VBW Justice Archive Update</span></b></div>
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Carlos Andrés Gómez Recording 'Wordsworth'</div>
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To ((listen)) visit the VBW Research Network: <b><a href="http://vbwresearch.blogspot.com/2014/12/vbw-justice-archive-wordsworth-by.html" target="_blank">click here</a></b></div>
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<u>About the VBW Justice Archive</u></div>
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The Voices Behind Walls (VBW) Justice Archive is a collection of audios,
artworks, photographs, and writings archived on the following:<br />
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VBW Research
Network Blog: <b><a href="http://vbwresearch.blogspot.com/">vbwresearch.blogspot.com</a></b><br />
VBW YouTube: <b><a href="http://youtube.com/voicesbehindwalls">youtube.com/voicesbehindwalls</a></b> <br />
VBW Soundcloud: <b><a href="http://soundcloud.com/vbehindw">soundcloud.com/vbehindw</a></b><br />
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The purpose of the archive is to document VBW program history,
specifically the creative expression of its participants and program
partners. Files of the VBW Justice Archive are resources for educators,
youth, and the public to share. We hope these files inspire new ideas
and other creative expressions in all learning spaces. The archive is
especially to acknowledge the existence of its participants, a majority
incarcerated youth, who recorded into the VBW microphone between the
decade of 2004 to 2014. Hopefully you all find your way back to our
page to reflect on your contribution to the VBW program.</div>
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The VBW Justice Archive began documenting its program history in 2014.
Audios will be posted periodically. Updated will be posted at the links
above including <b><a href="http://twitter.com/vbehindw">twitter.com/vbehindw</a></b>. </div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Keywords + Tag = Carlos Andrés Gómez |
Voices Behind Walls | VBW Justice Archive | archive | justice | words |
Wordsworth | Monte Smith | creative expression | spoken word |
performance poetry | KRUX 91.5 fm | Jefferson High School | New Mexico
State University | NMSU | powerful | tone | mood | lessons</span></div>
VBWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15148180186430352163noreply@blogger.com1