Please contact Lisa Lavaysse if you would like to purchase the full PDF or a printed copy of this issue.
Continue ReadingEd Note 30.49/50
Welcome back to the very last issue of the year. We are so proud to continue the amazing legacy of David Inocenio as The Beat goes on! Thank you to everyone for help and support as we all contribute to The Beat Within community. Thank you also to the team of student interns from Urban High School of San Francisco, that have helped us over the last few months to process writing so that we can meet editing deadlines and deliver you another issue of amazing voices! This group of student interns has completed their service hours, and they have
Continue ReadingDisappointed In The School Systems
-Myles, San Mateo I’m disappointed in the school systems. I have seen and personally experienced this system give up on youth that need a bit of extra support. Instead of showing their authentic care and trying to help you catch up, they just decide to say you’re a lost cause and send you to different schools. Although for some a fresh start can be helpful, others may find it as unmotivating and just give up. Because they begin to fit into the labels the system gives. It’s frustrating because there are many people with potential for a bright future but
Continue ReadingChoosing The Right Path
-Titenesha, Central California Women’s Facility (CCCWF) in Chowchilla, CA We can trudge any road if we choose too, we have to want to choose the right path. In life we are challenged to do better. That’s why we are given second chances. However, if we did what we were supposed to in the first place we wouldn’t be faced with having to check ourselves or get ourselves out of the rut that we put ourselves in. My daughter came to prison with me because she was missing out on what other little girls had and that was a mother. So,
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Volume 30.47/48
Please contact Lisa Lavaysse if you would like to purchase the full PDF or a printed copy of this issue.
Continue ReadingEd Note 30.47/48
Thank you for joining us for another issue of The Beat Within! We have been so proud and humbled to continue our relationship with Urban High School of San Francisco. Thank you also to the team of student interns that have helped us over the last few months to process writing and help us meet editing deadlines so that we can deliver you another issue of amazing voices! This group of student interns has completed their service hours, and they have all taken additional time to write a reflection on their personal experience with The Beat Within. My time at
Continue ReadingKeep Your Guard Up
-JD, Albuquerque, NM “It’s hard knowing who to trust with your personal life when you cry in your room at night, you don’t always know who to call so I am very close to my family.” This is a quote from Lady Gaga. It’s a very understanding quote because it makes you really think. Not only that, it’s very inspirational. This gives you an outlook on life. It’s showing you not to just trust anyone. It also shows tough love because you can’t always trust family either, so you might have to put up your guard on that. You’re going
Continue ReadingThe B Number Project
James, San Quentin State Prison, CA A former member of the Aryan Brotherhood and a Black Panther, what would bring these two men together? After decades of fighting and killing each other on California’s prison yards, two veterans of these wars, have managed to put their past differences behind them and form a meaningful friendship. It all started with an idea that more needed to be done to assist aging prisoners. Called the B Number Project, it was formed after two employees at the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center saw a need to try to help prisoners in their seventies and
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Volume 30.45/46
Please contact Lisa Lavaysse if you would like to purchase the full PDF or a printed copy of this issue.
Continue ReadingEd Note 30.45/46
Greetings and welcome back to another fabulous issue of The Beat Within! Thank you to all our partners and collaborators in Counties and Cities near and far! We hope you enjoy all the wonderful submissions of writing and art for this issue from the young people (and adults) that have shared their thoughts and struggles so boldly and honestly. We hope that by sharing our experiences with one another we can bring some community and solidarity and make the world feel just a little bit smaller. We hope to bring connection through shared experiences and compassionate listening. The Beat goes
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