Category: The Beat Without

-Michael Peterson  When I was eighteen years old, I enrolled in the United States Marine Corps. When I got off the bus at the front perimeter of Paris Island, a drill instructor recruiter ran over to me and yelled really loud, “Why do you want to be a marine?”  I answered that on my dad side of the family, there has been a Marine in every generation going back to the first ten men enlisted into the Marines and tons tavern. One of those ten men was William Jewell Peterson, enlisted as a captain and in charge of arranging special

-PoetryIt is a courageous battle we fightTo bear utter darkness and hunger for lightTo look beyond this cage into the starsWe dare to dream behind prison barsTo embrace the beauty beneath our scarsThe audacity to hope within lock and keyTo create harmony in this turbulent seaTo understand who we areValue who we could beThough physically confined, we are spiritually freeI once was blind, but now I seeThe tiniest seed becomes a treeWe learned a truth, do no harm by touchDo not judge anyone but lift everyone upTo not be a hurdle, strive to be a bridge, in the least a

 -Demar M. Nelson I’ve been walking and dreaming in prison for a long time — fifteen years to be exact. It amazes me how much I misunderstood the seriousness of life and now my mission is to get back.  At the age of twenty-one I stood before a judge and from the bench he looked at me but didn’t see me. Seeing me would have meant thinking of my past, my parents, my traumas and what led me to him. But the system does not allow that because if he were to approach his task of sentencing humans beings in

-Adam My self-image is complex. I am a strong minded, easy going, down to earth fella, who can accredit his mistakes to poor choices and negative behavioral patterns. Through periods of time I’ve been someone I don’t want to be; cowardly and insecure. I have, after so many past attempts, been successfully fighting to become the man I am in my most honest form.  This has taken failure and perseverance, mistake and success, but it’s taken a major amount of desire to change and be better. Honestly. When I transfixed my mind to improvement and that goal of enhancing and

-Johnny Rodriguez Affirmations are important to me because of my general purposeful life of meaningful service. Affirmations are important to me to stay steadfast within my short- and long-term goals. I am not perfect to this moment, but I am faithful within my meaningful life even if I fall short at times to stay the course in light of what is out of my control. Affirmations are important to me to affirm the archaic building blocks my loving mother instilled in me. I possibly could have failed to realize or recognize the nurture care I received from my mother, especially

-Shawn Block, Mt. Sterling, ILFace the face of Emmett Till ’til justice finds him wholeFace the wounds that haunt us still restless in his soulThe ballooned orbs where cheeks should beThe bludgeoned smile that we can’t seeLook upon the gruesome marks of Jim Crow’s heavy tollPeer into the casket, gasp at evil’s wicked handPeer into the past at unmasked inhumanity of manThe mangled form that was a boyThe equal rights they can’t destroyLook upon the face that caused the world to take a standHis mother made us look, just look and let the whole world seeShe showed us what they

-Al Cunningham I don’t have to tell you this. You already know that the company you keep, the kind of people you hang out with plays a major role in determining your future. We know that generally, there are exceptions to every rule, but those are few and far between.  It is true that if you lie down with the dogs you will wake up with fleas. If you keep the company of people who thirst for knowledge, eventually that will rub off on you and you will be  better for it. Hang out with people of good character and

-Calvin Edwards, Jefferson Correctional Center in St. Louis, MO Are you hip enough to pimp a hooker from your tablet? Do you have enough game to turn a staff member into a mule? How about being savvy enough to introduce dope into the institution despite all the administration’s efforts to stop you?  Maybe you have enough game to do all of that. You may think you have enough game to get away with murder in here despite all these cameras. But ask yourself this, are you hip enough to run your own legitimate business? Do you have enough game to

-Johnny Rodriguez, CHCF in Stockton, CA The one thing I fear the most right now is not living a meaningful life where I wouldn’t care about what would happen to me, my family, friends, short and long term goals and or with people in general. Especially my future possibilities with someone special that my present could offset preventing me from ever experiencing diverse potential. Life has taught me to understand and to grow in a continuum and be realistic, especially in the face of adversity to persevere and strive for general purposeful well-being to never lose sight. This has taught

-Wendy Fong, Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF) in Chowchilla, CA I became a parent at the age of fifteen. When I became a parent, I wanted to be a good parent. I thought about this for a long time. I realized I wanted to incorporate the values of my father without being too protective.  I did not want to shelter my child too much because I knew being sheltered made me more curious and daring. I knew I did not want to just be my child’s friend because then there was no structure, guidance, or boundaries. I learned this because