-Mardell, San Bernardino Change is one of the most mandatory aspects of life. With change comes growth and new experiences, even if these new changes come off as scary or terrifying. They need to happen for our character, our lives, our relationships. Change can be beautiful — things like flowers, caterpillars, nature in general. Without change, we wouldn’t see these beautiful things. Change is wonderful, terrifying, and necessary. If we do not change, we do not grow.
Continue ReadingYear: 2024
Volume 29.03/04
Please contact Lisa Lavaysse if you would like to purchase the full PDF or a printed copy of this issue.
Continue ReadingEd Note 29.03/04
Welcome back, readers and writers across the nation, incarcerated and free, to another stellar issue of The Beat Within! This publication is chock full of powerful reflections on 2023, and our hopes, dreams, and goals for 2024. We’re also incredibly grateful for the raw and vulnerable writing we received about the status of your mental health, feeling misunderstood, and the growing pains we all experience as a necessary step in becoming better versions of ourselves. Your words, stories, and testimonies are taken to heart, and we send our love to each and every one of our writers who is currently
Continue ReadingMy 2023 Breakdown
by Londell, San Francisco This is a breakdown of 2023. This past year I learned about accomplishing things and doing better things. This year I experienced some things that are not healthy and some that are. It’s difficult looking back on 2023 because it was a better year than the one that just started. The start of my 2024 is kind of going bad. It’s bad because I can’t go home. When I look back on 2023 the biggest lesson I learned was not to come to jail, but I still came. It’s important to reflect on what we have
Continue ReadingFinding a Reason to Smile
by SB, Sacramento “Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine.” -Lord Byron When they say, “Always laugh when you can,” it’s true because I have a cousin at the age of twelve who had surgery. He lost both his legs and all his fingers. He was depressed because he knew that he wouldn’t be able to do the stuff that he wanted to do. Before the surgery, he was playing flag football. He didn’t like the fact that his friends were still having fun and he wasn’t. His friends stopped being friends with him for the fact he
Continue ReadingNever Give Up
by Ziggy, San Mateo Looking back to the biggest lesson I learned in 2023, it’d most definitely have to be to never give up on something, even when the chances of success are little to none. I learned this lesson when I was in school and I had four days to raise my grades from all “B’s” to all “A’s,” so I could give my graduation speech and receive my award for being valedictorian. There was very little chance for changes with there being so little time left. But I used it as motivation to get my assignments turned in.
Continue ReadingIt’s that Time of the Year Again
by Joseph Aguirre, Correctional Facility in Delano, CA It’s that time of year again where for many, it can be lonely and painful. Many people don’t have family, friends and can be in confinement or in the streets. My utmost regards and love to those and encouragement to be strong, God sees and knows our needs. My name’s Joseph Aguirre. I’m an ex-gang member of forty-four years in age, Mex-American, from the small town of Fairfield, CA. Just the other day, I was thumbing through my address book, coming upon your address, PO box. It was written there a long
Continue ReadingEveryone has a Message
by Joshua Swetky, Correctional Facility in Denver, Colorado My name is Joshua Swetky, and I’m thirty-seven years old. I live in the Mile High City of Denver, Colorado. I enjoy studying, reading, writing, and especially drawing and art, and my goal is to expand my abilities and talents in a way to bring about positive influences upon society through introspection. Despite life’s ups and downs, I maintain a positive mental attitude and remain optimistic through my personal expression of art. I believe everyone can express a message that, even in the darkest places, can create light. We live only once,
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Volume 29.01/02
Please contact Lisa Lavaysse if you would like to purchase the full PDF or a printed copy of this issue.
Continue ReadingEd Note 29.01/02
Greetings to our Beat Within community, and to 2024! With each new year that passes, we’re met with new opportunities to learn, grow, and to challenge ourselves to become the people we want to be. Each new year is also an opportunity to honor our journeys — however difficult they may have been — and look back on our past with compassion. We’re thrilled to be on this journey with you, and are excited about the potential this year holds for all of us. We’re turning it over now to our good friend and longtime colleague Omar, to share some
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