Please contact Lisa Lavaysse if you would like to purchase the full PDF or a printed copy of this latest issue.
Continue ReadingMonth: May 2016
A Letter to Youth in Modesto Juvenile Hall
by Miguel Quezada When I knew there was a chance that I could reach out to you young men and women in the Modesto Juvenile Hall, I was ready for the opportunity. You see, back in 1998 and ’99 from age sixteen to seventeen, I was in the max unit, and in 1999 I spent some time in the boy’s unit too. Back then I weighed about one hundred and fty pounds. But I felt a lot bigger because I carried within me a lot of resentment, loneliness, fear, and rejection. All of this spilled out into the world and
Continue ReadingEighteen Years Gone
by T-Baby I can honestly say I wasted eighteen years of my life, each day chasing something; answers, love, a high, money, acceptance. I spent eighteen years acting out and making mistakes because I thought someone would save me. I realize now, though. I can’t keep making mistakes based off the choices people made before I was born or because people thought life was boring and wanted more than just a family. I wish life was laid out in front of me but it’s not and never will be. I don’t know where the days went. Time keeps speeding up
Continue ReadingThe Power of Words
by A. Raheem Ballard Since the beginning of time, language has allowed people of all ethnicities to communicate, to be heard, and to be felt. Through the exchange of words, language has also allowed people to persuade others, and to be persuaded. For example, the ery speeches of Adolf Hitler convinced a nation of people that blonde hair and blue eyes was a sign of ethnic superiority. Then, there was the congregation of Jim Jones, which was tragically misled from America to Africa, only to commit mass suicide. These horri c acts were not only carried out with bad intentions,
Continue ReadingStaring Back At Me
by Rajene Thick brown skin with battle scars everywhere, a glance around my face expressing a deep depression and overcoming of sin. I see three tattoos that express the love for the people symbolized amongst each of them. I see coarse hair, which I was born with and struggled with while going through different stages of depression. I remember my different hairstyles as I think of myself, and cry knowing that my hair did not deserve this point of roughness. That’s just the outside appearance of the mirror for the bigger image is withheld inside of my soul, heart and mind.
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VOLUME 21.17/18
Please contact Lisa Lavaysse if you would like to purchase the full PDF or a printed copy of this latest issue.
Continue ReadingTHE BEAT WITHIN/JJIE
Hello all! We hope most of you had an enjoyable Mother’s Day weekend!? Happy Monday to all. The Beat Within is gearing up for our big trip this week to New Orleans to bring our workshops and publication to the New Orleans Parish Juvenile Hall! An exciting time. We are thrilled to see that our dear colleagues and friends over at the JJIE (Juvenile Justice Information Exchange) based in Georgia, picked up and posted the well written and thoughtful piece of writing from Mistah G today, a former participant in our weekly writing workshops inside the San Francisco Juvenile Justice Center. Today Mistah G is a
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