Voices Behind Walls...writing | Art of Voices #JBRuby

Voices Behind Walls...writing
"See the light..."

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. 

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. 

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.

#Lee

Here are Ruby's thoughts on how she approached the painting above for the Art of Voices project: "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." 

Art of Voices 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.  

Master Control | Art of Voices #ZHill

Master Control

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".

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 A Place to Stand, 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?

Below is a Q&A with the illustrator about his approach to the piece and art:

Lee: How would you describe your approach to this illustration in regards to its color and other features?

ZH: 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.

Lee: What's your earliest memory that speaks for how you're involved in art today.  What inspires you to create?

ZH: 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. 

Lee: 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?

ZH: 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.

**The "Master Control" illustration by Zachary Hill was featured in this summer's syllabus for a course instructed by VBW Founder Lecroy Rhyanes, called Creative Expressions of Masculinity In & Out of Juvenile Detention at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP).

#Lee

Art of Voices 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.

The Beat Within Since 1996 #TBW20Years

Celebrating 20 Years of The Beat Within

The message below was originally posted on The Beat Within's Facebook which you can view by clicking on the following link: 21.37/38.  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.  

Since 1996.   

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. 

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! 

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.

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.

Thank you FB friends for all the support.

To donate please visit thebeatwithin.org

Youth Stories, The Art of Zine

Download PDF: click here

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.

'Youth Stories' 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.

I look forward to reading the zine 'Youth Stories' 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. 

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."

reading... "Tell Me a Story"

Project NIA
Jane Addams Hull-House Museum
Chicago Freedom School
Rachel Marie Crane-Williams
Elgin-Bokari T. Smith
Teresa Smith
Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (JTDC)
Billy Dee
Chicago PIC Teaching Collective
Mariame Kaba

United Duos | Art of Voices #ZHill

United Duos

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 photo turned illustration we have two participants locking hands...united.  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.  

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.  

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.

    

This illustration represents this idea of creating connections through Hip Hop programming in a juvenile prison and is titled "United Duos".  

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"  

"...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

#Lee

Art of Voices 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.

Introducing the Art of Voices #Brianna

Introducing the Art of Voices

Art of Voices 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. 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.  

The Art of Voices 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.

Below is our first Art of Voices 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.  

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. 

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.  

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.  

Until the next sketch, we present the Art of Voices.  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.  

Thank you Briaanna.

((Mysterious Minds))

Instrumental: click here

  

#VOWorkshop 9/19/2015 'Time Machine'

Deasy aka MD2

#VOWorkshop 9/19/2015 'Time Machine'

Thought I'd share a reflection on September 19th's #VOWorkshop with Deasy aka MD2.  I've been doing "workshops" for a while now.  They're more like "sessions" since we meet to record poems, freestyles, songs, etc.  Aside from that we communicate a lot of ideas & share literature and music.  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 NMSU Criminal Justice Department 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 volunteer.  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 juvenile prisons.  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, Hip Hop.

The September 19th workshop was focused on audio memoir.  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 Luis Rodriguez's story which I read in a juvenile justice course at NMSU.  Along with discovering The Beat Within, 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.

Today, MD2 is no longer a "youth".  He's a family 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 The Violence of Youth, the Presence of a Pen, 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. 

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.

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.  

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.

On this day, MD2, which stands for Master Deasy 2 (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 Ayatollah and Drasar Monumental.  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 Kendrick Lamar's record To Pimp a Butterfly and also taps into MF Grimm's catalog including Scars & Memories, American Hunger, and his latest listens with the Good Morning Vietnam 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. 

 Writing, reading, listening

Good Morning Vietnam

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.  

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. 

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' Joe Frazier.  On my way to the workshop I also got the chance to hear out Chapter 8 of Stuart Scott's audio book Every Day I Fight, titled 'Never Die Easy'... he talks about Ali & Frazier.

 Smokin' Joe Frazier

Treasures

Nineteen years after Tupac Amaru Shakur's death, we also talked about The 7 Day Theory Makaveli album and had a conversation about the Outlawz recent loss of member Hussein Fatal 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.  

As far as the bibliography for today's workshop, we briefly discussed the Have Gun Will Travel text by Ronin Ro, Richard Ross' Juvenile In Justice photography book, Stuart Scott's Every Day I Fight audio book, and Nell Bernstein's Burning Down the House, The End of Juvenile Prison.

We cap'd off the session with an incredible Freestyle by MD2 to an instrumental by one of his favorite eMCees, Eazy E. 

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.

Til' the next session, peace!