The Beat Within is so thankful and grateful to continue to provide incarcerated youth and adults with the opportunities to express their voices,hopes, dreams and challenges. We know that by spreading love and compassion together we can make a difference in the world. Community support is vital to our continued success,thank you for your donation of any sizeor consider volunteering with The Beat Within
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Volume 29.47/48
Please contact Lisa Lavaysse if you would like to purchase the full PDF or a printed copy of this issue.
Continue ReadingEd Note 29.47/48
Greetings to our Beat community near and far! We’re happy to have you with us once again for the deep and powerful writing of incarcerated youth across the country. We’re excited to welcome our colleague Omar Turcios to the editorial section as he introduces us to his new baby boy, Jayden David! We hope you’ll enjoy the story he shares with us of his son’s birth and blossoming personality. Welcome Omar, and welcome Baby David! Welcome back to another double dose edition of the one and only The Beat Within. This is the only magazine coming at you every two
Continue ReadingWould Rather Be Respected
-Batman, Santa Cruz I’m not too sure what’s better. In a sense, as a leader I would assume if people love you, they will follow you no matter what. But even if someone loves you, they still can betray you. As for being feared, if someone is scared of you, they will follow. As a leader, you have to be able to guide people. If you’re loved, they will willingly listen to your advice. If you’re feared, people will listen no matter what. To me, if you don’t have both, you’re not a good leader. Being feared will keep people
Continue ReadingWe All Can Change
-Kamron, San Francisco A lesson learned? Well, one is that we all can change, so don’t never think it’s too late or that we can’t change, because we can. It’s just you have to really want to, and you want to need to. Not only for yourself, but for the people you hurt while making your own mistakes, or when you’re punishing yourself. Sometimes we have to love ourselves for our mistakes because that’s what makes us better people, and no one is perfect.
Continue ReadingA Mad Man’s Scream
-Jimmy Lee Bozeman II, Federal Correctional Institution in Otisville, New York To those who take time to read this inscription of a chapter within a book I am currently composing while incarcerated inside a United State’s Federal Correctional Institution. This is concerning The United State’s Justice System, black criminal justice, the African American community and portions of my life as it relates to the three. At this time, I am serving a twelve and a half year sentence for the crime of unarmed bank robbery. My hometown is Kansas City, Missouri. Within the fifty years inside the criminal justice system,
Continue ReadingGrateful for God’s Grace
-Marco Garcia, San Quentin State Prison, CA Mistakes are a natural part of life but at times some of us, as myself, could go too far. It’s sad to say but my biggest mistake is the thing that gave me my authentic self. Why you ask? Well, it’s because many of us, as myself, go through life pretending to be something that we are not. Many of us, as myself, may go through life without the knowledge of change. It may be easier for us to hold onto the shame and pain. Well, the real courage is to change and
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Volume 29.45/46
Please contact Lisa Lavaysse if you would like to purchase the full PDF or a printed copy of this issue.
Continue ReadingEd Note 29.45/46
Greetings to our Beat Within community! We’re proud to present to you our latest publication 29.45/46, which is, as always, packed with great reflections and insights from our incarcerated youth and adults near and far. We’re happy to have you with us! This issue’s editorial note is brought to you by two of our interns from Urban High School of San Francisco, who have been working diligently to transcribe parts of our magazine this fall. Our first intern Charlotte writes about the intricacies of identifying with young people her age in the system, as well as the intimacy of getting
Continue ReadingA Family Story
-Nicholas, Sonoma Born in Veracruz, Mexico, my dad was the youngest of eight. His family was very poor, and in search of a better life he moved to the United States in 2000 when he was twenty-seven. After hearing about a high paying job, my dad moved to Aberdeen, Washington. That is where my father met my mother. A couple of years of dating and my brother was born. One year later, I was born. Times were tough for my family. Money was a big struggle for them. We ended up moving down to Sonoma after my father’s sister offered
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