Students in a Bedford Hills class are having a discussion.
MMC's college programs at Bedford Hills and Taconic Correctional Facilities have reason to celebrate this spring, as approximately six students have had their poems, essays, and articles published in national media and literary press. Masu.
Student work is featured in the latest issue repair— A journal affiliated with Syracuse University that features writings by currently and formerly incarcerated people and has been published in an online magazine in recent months. slate. Students also posted a byline on “Life Inside,” a weekly series of first-person essays by people in and through the criminal justice system, published by the Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization, that tells them where they belong. i got you. carson reviewMMC's literary magazine published in April.
MMC has been the only degree-granting institution in Bedford Hills since 1997 and has been awarding degrees in Taconic since 2019. Published works were often created as part of his MMC course requirements and submitted in collaboration with professors at Bedford Hills and Taconic. .
For several students, this is their first time being published, and this experience has helped them recognize not only their talent, but also their desire for outsiders to know more about them and their lives. But that doesn't mean students only write about their experiences in prison. In fact, their work often reflects social issues that are important to them.
For example, Mariana Kayumova, who remembers feeling “foreign and alien” when she came to the United States from Russia at age 12, explores the immigrant experience through her work. Her poem “Naturalized to Become Someone Else,” written last summer for Taconic’s Contemporary American Women Poets course, is a collection of memories of naturalization ceremonies she and other immigrants participated in and how they came to terms with their new identities. I'm digging into how I worked on it. This included an immigration officer having to yell a name that really sounded like a white person at least five times before one of the dark-skinned women in the front row responded to the new word, saying, “Everyone burst out laughing.'' Kayumova writes that it includes moments when “I did it.” It's an American name. ”
carson review accepted the work, and the second poem, “Eternal Stranger”, was published. repair. It is based on Kayumova's study of Zora Neale Hurston in the Harlem Renaissance course. Kayumova describes her feelings when reading Hurston's words: “They feel most colorful when thrown against a crisp white background,” and relates the writing to her own experience. “What feels most foreign to me is when I'm thrown against any background,” she writes.
Taconic student Jennifer Martinez had two poems accepted to both universities. repair and Carson Review. The first, “Lady Lazarus,” was inspired by the same Harlem Renaissance classes Kayumova took, and the second, “18 Years of Infirmity,” is about her battle with depression and her time in prison. It depicts the situation in which it was sent.
Meanwhile, Sarah Keeley was selected as slate Along with two other justice officials, you will write a first-person account of how technology is impacting incarceration. Keely writes regularly about prison life and couldn't help but wryly describe her typical experience with her IT and finance company JPay, which aims to make prison services more convenient. She said, “When I checked the message at the JPay kiosk, the JPay representative had denied my refund request. charlie st cloud. The rep said I can't get a refund because the system says I watched a movie, and I also have to restart the tablet to make sure the headphones are working properly. I explained. I'm already doing these things and the problem isn't the tablet or the headphones. The movie expired before I could actually see it. ”
Among the Bedford Hills students making their publishing debuts are Tiffany Irwin, author of “I Know 'That Who the Soul Lives By,'” another thoughtful response to Hurston's work; There is also Annie Trovato, who wrote the poem “Modern Art'' inspired by her work. And the writing course I took last fall. She said the class taught her how writing about the arts can strengthen its impact on individuals and society.Both will be featured Carson Review.
And students of all experience levels said they were inspired to keep writing. They include Bedford Hills student Jeri Irwin, author of “Clarity,” a poem about the fight for LGBTQ+ rights. carson review. Upon his release in December 2023, Irwin said he plans to pursue a career as a professional writer who can advocate for the disenfranchised. Kayumova and Martinez, both scheduled to be released this spring, said they plan to continue submitting their work for external publication.
it's worth the effort
Last semester, Marshall Project Editor-in-Chief Susan Chira visited with students enrolled in Taconic's Writing 101 course. The Marshall Project, which he founded in 2014, aims to draw the public's attention to up-to-date, accurate information about prisons, incarcerated people, and the actions of law enforcement officers in a way that traditional media has not done. it was done. Since then, it has won awards and been recognized as an organization that encourages criminal justice reform.
When a student pointed out that most of the essays published by incarcerated people in the organization's “Life Inside” series were written by men, Chira said it was because men make up the majority of the country's incarcerated population. He pointed out that it's not just because we occupy the majority of the population, but because “we don't.” She needs to get enough submission from the woman. ”
That was a challenge Samantha VanTassel couldn't ignore. During her spring and summer semesters, Ms. VanTassel worked on essays about her own experiences, and on February 16 she wrote that she “never expected to fall in love with a woman.” published her work. Then Came Prison” was featured on “Life Inside”. MMC's Satellite This was the first time someone from her campus was published by the Marshall Project. This essay is a poignant reminder of the isolation and isolation experienced by incarcerated people, but it is also a love story about how Van Tassel's life was changed by her relationship with someone she met at the Taconic. there is.
Still, advocates point out that even though Van Tassel and many other student writers have found success in MMC's college programs, writing and publishing from prison is a difficult process. . Since students do not have access to the internet, the only way to find posting opportunities is through periodicals brought in by faculty and university staff. The only place they have access to a word processor is the University Learning Center. In addition, they are unable to schedule a large part of their day (often up to 10 hours) on their own, leaving little time for regular work or creative writing. Additionally, students must physically mail their submissions, which is not expensive considering the average hourly wage for prison labor is 25 cents.
But for students whose work is published, it's worth the effort. Many are mothers, and being able to share what they publish with their children is a way to model the value of reading and writing. Some students mail copies of their published work to family and friends. This is a source of pride that offsets the sadness of separation. In fact, last April, when Ms. Martinez won the poetry award at the annual MMC Honors Day, her brother traveled from Philadelphia to read her work at the event. The next day he told her that he had never been so proud of her.
Plus, creativity is contagious. As word of a colleague's publishing success spreads throughout the institution, more students ask professors to read their creative work and seek out editors and writing mentors among their classmates. became.
Both facilities have plans to form creative writing clubs with in-house publications and connect more budding writers to the healing and transformative power of the pen, something that students like Martinez are no different from. It is. “I'm a new woman,” Martinez said. “I now know my worth and talent, and I want to use it to communicate and help others realize the power of art.”
