Ed Note 25.21/22

Greetings, friends of The Beat Within! It is such an honor to connect and share with you all through the pages of  The Beat Within. What an issue you have in your hands! It is hard to believe, that we have being leading workshops inside various institutions, school and community based organizations and putting out our one of a kind publication since 1996! Yes, almost 25 years!    Here we are, as summer embraces us, we have double issue, 25.21/22 for your latest read.  As the COVID 19 continues to plague our  communities around the USA, The Beat Within continues

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A Moment of Your Time

by Dorian Voltaire Excuse me, dear, wish to catch your attention if I mayIf you would allow me but a moment,I have a couple things I simply must sayPlease forgive my grade but I must take a few minutes of your timeBecause to not steal your heart would be a truly unforgivable crimeI just can’t resist it, something about you draws me inA battle against your beauty is a fight no man can ever winBut it’s more than just your beauty, it’s a loveliness deep insideFeminine perfection is something you just can’t hidePlease forgive all the praise and flatteryWhen describing

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Dear The Beat Within Readers, Contributors, and Staff

by Johnny Rodriguez Greetings, Happy New Year! May 2020 be filled with continued vision to facilitate and solutionize short and long term goals.  Once we’re on the road of self-motivating inner healing, change, and recovery management can we individually live a meaningful life with self-respect, dignity, and steadfastness in light of our past.  Continuing to improve ourselves permits us to venture into new arenas cautiously to protect ourselves, especially, the work of reducing the risk of recidivism to earnestly be proactive, social and purposeful. Having a visionary perspective in effect, I’ve learned to not limit my inner perspective to continue

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Attachment and Losing Patience

by CP, There are many things in life that are going to be challenging, like losing a family member or breaking a bone.  Or maybe you did something wrong and ended up in jail.  Or traumatizing, painful, indescribable things have happened to you.  It feels dark, like you slowly start losing yourself.  You question yourself like, “why has this happened to me?”  or “are things going to keep getting worse?”    Then, you want to give up, but then there is something inside of you that makes you keep going.  Maybe it’s the fact you weren’t physically broken.  I feel

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Dysfunctional Yet Delightful

by G I grew up with what I consider a very dysfunctional family.  We’re all crazy and have a hard time getting along with each other.  Although, when we do, we’re a delightful group and can joke all day long.   Despite our abilities to get along, everyone in my family is very strong and no matter what we go through, we keep our heads high.  My mother has raised all four of us on her own.   She is the strongest person I know, and her ability to solve any problem amazes me.  She has been through many obstacles

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Ed Note 25.19/20

Greetings friends of The Beat Within! Welcome to double issue 25.19/20!  It is hard to believe we are well over two months into our Shelter In Place, social distancing, mask wearing life style in order to navigate the new world we are living in, due to COVID-19.  What more can we say around COVID-19 that has not been expressed in this issue and in recent past issues of The Beat Within? We are also hopeful that your news sources are keeping you up to date and not overwhelming you too much. We do know, too much news is not a

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Your Outcome…

by  Marquees Johnson I remember sitting in San Francisco’s juvenile hall attending the Omega meetings listening to Jack throw knowledge into our minds I remember him telling us that only one or two of us would actually understand and take heed to the message and the others would learn and understand the message the hard way. At that time, I just knew that I was one of the two that was going to get the message that night.  Unfortunately, 14 15 years later I now understand that I had to learn the hard way. I’m now 28 old sitting inside

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Mami Te Quiero

by L My mom was never in the picture.  I seen her three times.  First, when I was born.  Second, when my grandpa died, and third, when my sister graduated high school.  She ain’t my mom, though!   My mom aka my aunt said, “A mom is not a woman gave birth to you, it’s the woman who raised you.”  That’s always going to stay with me.  I love her.   It’s going to be hard to spend Mother’s Day here and not with her.  I missed her birthday because I was locked up.  Remember the first time, I got

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