My writing is inspired by the idea that those of us in jails and prisons can be creative and that we deserve a way to share that creativity with the world. Here in jail, I receive the newspaper. I was excited to read a feature about a poetry class at Oregon State Penitentiary (“Writing their wrongs,” Oregonian, 12.12.12, by Andrea Castillo.)
The class is the project of two Willamette University students, Reynaldo Goicochea and Reinaldo Ayalo, who are also the teachers. The poetry class is taught in Spanish and began meeting weekly in September 2011. Both the Oregon State Penitentiary and Willamette University are located in Salem, Oregon. The Willamette students model their program on a similar one run by University of Michigan students.
The Prisoner’s Poetry program has three goals: teach poetry basics, revive inmates’ creative abilities and share their work with the outside community.
Some of the guys in the class are quoted in the article:
“These guys really care about us. We don’t talk about nonsense here. They actually want to hear what’s meaningful to us.”
“I call it (the class) internal. We’re purging our souls of dross.”
The two teachers stress the importance for them to take their commitment seriously. “These are men who have been failed in different aspects of their lives. We owe it to them to be there every week.” Originally scheduled for only 14 weeks, extended dates have already been set.
Three of the poet inmates entered a statewide Spanish poetry literary contest and one of them, Santiago Tianquistengo, won first place for his poem “You Will Take Nothing.”
Tianquistengo said of the teachers: “these guys came to inspire us. It is never too late to start a new life.”
Essay: I Was A Prison GED Tutor
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