Finally. No. 12 Voices Behind Walls
newsletter after several months of delay. A well past & belated happy
new
year to all of you that have been a part of our audience online and also to all
the new visitors that have joined the Voices Behind Walls mailing list.
Much respect and I look forward to an exchange of information as we quickly move
through 2011. This newsletter includes several news articles, information
and resources that I've saved since our last newsletter, No. 11, which was
posted during the Summer of 2010. The Voices Behind Walls program has
remained active at J. Paul Taylor Center and in the past 8 months has had the
opportunity to work with a number of very talented MC's, poets and artists.
To the youth and staff at JPTC that help make this program what it is and
intends to be, thank you.
Voices Behind Walls Facebook
In effort to speed up the process of posting news articles, information and
resources related to our workshop and juvenile justice issues, I developed a
Voices Behind Walls Facebook page that you can access from the link featured to
the right or by simply clicking here: Voices Behind Walls Facebook. If you
have a Facebook account please click the "Like" button to stay up to date with
our research and involvements. Where as in the past when updates depended
on our newsletter, the VBW Facebook will be the most up to date page followed by
pages of Voices Behind Walls.org including:
Newsletter | Writing & Art | Audio | Photography | Links | & Donations.
CJ 432 / 514 (Professor Lori Ortiz-Gallegos)
Much thanks
to Professor Lori Ortiz-Gallegos for including our website in her NMSU course
syllabi activities at the Criminal Justice Department. Since the
Fall semester of 2010, we've added 70 undergrad and graduate students to our
mailing list thanks to Lori's classes. To all of you that have joined us,
I hope that you find use of the site's content and please do contact us if you
have any questions, input or have a program/activity of your own that you'd like
for us to promote.
The Beat Within
In 2010 VBW MCs and poets were featured in four (4) Beat Within publications
which you can download by visiting our Writing & Art page: click here.
Since the inception of the Voices Behind Walls program, The Beat Within has been
a significant learning tool for our workshops both in and out of juvenile
detention centers. Currently, The Beat Within is in a transition period
towards becoming a non-profit organization and continues strong through tough
economic times. I encourage everyone, educators, CJ employees, youth,
college students, community workers, (everybody) to check out The Beat Within
and pass the word on the great work that they do. If you're able to donate
funds and are looking for a program to donate to, please visit: The Beat
Within.org.
A shout out also to VBW MCs/poets and artists Shadow & Danny
G from the Ocotillo dorm for their art submission and poems which made it to the
front cover of The Beat Within's year end issue (No. 50). The Beat
Within's issue no. 50 was our program's first time featured on the cover.
VBW Radio
In October 2010 we began working on a
pre-recorded radio program that we hope to broadcast at college radio stations
like KRUX 91.5 fm. As of January 2011, we're about 25 minutes into the
audio program with the goal of completing a 60 minute mix of selected tracks,
poetry/rap recordings from VBW contributors and other rotations. Due to
another activity that we've recently started working on (discussed below), we've
had to delay the VBW Radio activity but will be returning to it soon.
In between 2003 and 2006, I got the chance to work on several broadcasts that
involved Doña Ana County youth from area high schools, group homes and the J.
Paul Taylor Center. Our goal is to create radio mixes that we can post
online, propose to area radio stations for rotation, and pass on to other youth
programs around the country.
Donations | Business Account | VBW
Paypal
In 2007, Voices Behind Walls received an
Endowment Award from the NMSU English Department in which we used to open up our
own business bank account. Recently, I upgraded the account to include a
business savings/credit along with an online Paypal to accept donations.
For more information on our donations requests please visit the following page:
Donations. The page includes instructions on donating to our program
online through Paypal. We're also currently in the process of coming up with a creative
donations plan to include an exchange of postcards, bookmarks and other artworks
with our donors to raise money for the resources needed to facilitate our
workshop.
I also extend an open invitation to individuals out
there that are familiar with studio production and that are interested in
passing that knowledge on to our program. That type of knowledge is in high
demand with many of the youth at JPTC. In the past I've been blessed with
the opportunity to know a number of individuals that have helped us with audio production and that have donated equipment that we use til' this day.
Since equipment doesn't last forever, we're always looking for
expertise/recommendations on new equipment that we can use for the purposes of
audio recording and production in our workshops. Upon arriving at
JPTC, several of the youth put me on to a number of recordings that they had
been working on with JPTC staff. It would be great to see these kinds of
activities expand and not only behind the walls but also in community spaces like the
University where those kinds of resources can be acquired. Just something
to think about.
J. Paul Taylor Symposium 2011
| VBW Documentary | The Story Board
In November 2010 the
opportunity was presented to our program to get involved with the J. Paul Taylor
Symposium 2011 which is themed "Justice for the Children of Incarcerated and
Detained Parents". Voices Behind Walls and JPTC will be hosting a panel
during the event that will involve spoken word performances and the tentative
screening of VBW's 1st documentary film project that explores incarceration
and parenthood amongst JPTC participants. Shout out to Lupe Zaragoza who is currently
working with our group to film & edit the documentary. As of February 19th,
we have been able to capture several interviews with JPTC youth as well as
poetry/rap performances. We've been working on the story board/documentary
since Decemeber 2010, which has caused us to delay other activities such as our
chess intiative and the VBW radio program. Much thanks to Dr. Cynthia
Bejarano and Dr. Lisa Bond-Maupin from NMSU for inviting us to participate.
Voices Behind Walls Workshop Agenda
In addition to
updates through our newsletter, Facebook and other VBW pages, we also frequently
update our homepage with the latest Voices Behind Walls workshop agenda.
Currently, our workshops are scheduled every other Saturday and on other
occasions when approved. To keep up with our latest activities, please
download the agenda from our homepage at Voices Behind Walls.org. We also
invite participation from other programs in the Southwest and open our online
space to the creative writing and art of youth contributors from
other locations.
Thank you to everybody
that has dropped by the site and sent encouraging messages. We look
forward to the new year and I'm hopeful that now that we have the Facebook,
we'll be able to consolidate the time it takes for us to document what we're
doing in the workshop onto the net. We're patient though, so in due time,
piece by piece, we'll continue to update the pages of our site with the work
youth have been doing. If you're a parent, relative, or significant other
of one of Voices Behind Walls' contributors, please stay tuned for more updates
of audios, writings, artworks and other creative expressions that we're
documenting in the workshop.
I also want to note the addition of two blogs
linked to the right, the Youth Addressing Justicia blog site and the ¡Aqui se
puede! blog site which intend to document the activities that transpired during
the life of those programs in between 2002-2006 with the NMSU Family Life
Center. We'll also be adding new information at the Youth Addressing
Justicia blog site, that includes info on social justice literature, activities,
and topics related to addressing the violence against women in areas
such as Ciudad Juárez. Our condolensces to the lives we continue to lose and
much respect to the families of victims, advocates, and community members that
continue to move forward against the injustices taking place, not only in our
border communities, but around the globe.
In conclusion, posted below are two audio recordings, the 1st from Basco of the Saguaro
dorm who recorded a piece that explores incarceration and parenthood to a Havoc
produced instrumental titled "Where Your Heart At". His rhyme is titled
"Father 2 Son". The 2nd recording is from VBW MC Seth, titled
"My Girl". We plan on including both recordings in the documentary we're
working on
for the J. Paul Taylor Symposium. Until the next newsletter, be well
everybody.
Peace.
Basco - "Father 2 Son" | Instrumental by Havoc -
"Where Ya Heart At"
Seth - "My Girl" | Instrumental by Lil' Rob
"...Cause you don't know what you got til' its gone So take full
advantage and listen to this song I ain't tryin' to hate or pull your chain
dawg You don't know what you got til' its gone You don't know what you got
til' its gone So take full advantage and listen to this song I ain't
tryin' to hate or pull your chain dawg You don't know what you got til' its
gone..."
Voices Behind Walls & The Beat Within Publications
