incarceration
-
On empathy.
To write from another’s perspective, an author must empathize deeply with that character. And we need that sort of empathy to help us change the world.
authorial distance, autism, autism spectrum disorder, corrections, empathizing with characters, empathy, In Defense of Cultural Appropriation, incarceration, jail, jail poetry, juvenile delinquents, juvenile detention, Kenan Malik, Lost in Place, Lying Awake, Mark Salzman, mass incarceration, novelists, prison, school to prison pipeline, teaching creative writing, teaching in a corrections center, teaching in jail, teaching poetry, The Curious Indicent of the Dog in the Night Time, The Reason I Jump, True Notebooks, writing practice
-
On consent.
To make a better world, we’ll need to get over our potential embarrassment and make sure that somebody’s “yes” means what we think it does.
affirmative consent, Alarming Rise of Rape Culture, album of the month clubs, ask first, Asking For It, assault, consent, elastic definitions of consent, Eve Rickert, Fatimah Asghar, Franklin Veaux, gender violence, gendered violence, incarceration, jail, jail poetry, justification, Kate Harding, masculinity, morality, More Than Two, no means no, Peggy Orenstein, poetry about gender violence, poetry in jail, positive consent, prearrange consent, rape, rape culture, rationalization, rationalizing rape, reading poetry in jail, sex while sleeping, sexual assault, sexual behavior of college students, sleeping sex, teaching poetry in jail, toxic masculinity, unwanted sex, Veaux and Rickert, violation, violative assault, When Refusing to Twerk Is a Radical Form of Self Love, When Tip Drill Comes on at the Frat Party, why do men rape, why don’t men ask first, yes means yes
-
On the value of religious misinterpretation.
We’re liable to misinterpret old stories when we look at them with modern eyes … but it’s worth knowing what myths might mean in a better world.
Abraham, anachronism, anachronistic crtique, Ants Among Elephants, Bible, can God save us, caste, caste system, Christ, Christian theology, colonialism, conquest, covenant, creation in Genesis, dalit, David Kishik, DK, Dravidar Kazhagam, forgiveness, forgiving god, Genesis, God, God saw that it was good, God’s insecurity, Goldman, grammar, hebrew, Hinduism, human sacrifice, human sacrifice for good harvest, imperialism, incarceration, incarceration crisis, incarceration in the U.S., incarceration in the United States, jail, Jesus, Jesus’s sacrifice, Job, John-Michael Bloomquist, mass incarceration, merciful god, mercy, Noah, Old Testament, oppression, poetry, poetry in jail, rainbow, Rama, Rama threatening ocean, Ravana, Ravana worship, religion, Rudyard Kipling, sacrifice, sacrifice of Jesus, suffering, Sujatha Gidla, Tamil, teaching in jail, teaching poetry in jail, textual analysis, The Book of Shem, The Flood, The Iliad, The Prodigal’s Return, theology, Translation, untouchable, why did Christ have to die, why did Jesus suffer, why does Rama threaten the ocean, why is God jealous, Yahweh
-
On attentiveness and names.
Some kids are exceptionally attentive to their environment … but we tell them they have an attention deficit.
abuse, ADD, adderall, addiction, ADHD, amphetamine, attention deficit, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, chemical dependence, chemistry, childhood abuse, childhood development, childhood trauma, crystal meth, crystal structure, deficit, developmental biology, dirty drop, dirty urine, disease names, diversity, doctors, drug chemistry, drug test, drug testing, evolution, Fruitless, Fruity, gene names, genetics, hedgehog, human evolution, hyperawareness, hypervigilance, incarceration, jail, jail poetry, mass incarceration, medicine, methamphetamine, names, naming genes, neurodiversity, parole, Percy Jackson, pharmacology, poetry in jail, probation, protein structure, reading, self-medication, sensitivity, sensitivity to environment, SHH, Sonic Hedgehog, Sonic Hedgehog mutation, stimulants, teaching in jail, teaching poetry in jail, The Lightning Thief, trauma, urine screen, War on Drugs
-
On overdose.
Minority heroin users were anonymously demonized for decades; now they’re being killed.
cartels, cocaine, dope, Dope to the Cut, drug dealers, fentanyl, H, heroin, incarceration, jail poetry, jail poetry workshop, mass incarceration, opiates, opiods, overdose, overdose deaths, poetry, racial disparities in drug treatment, synthetic opiods, teaching in jail, teaching poetry in jail, The Washington Post, War on Drugs -
On power and dignity in defeat.
Winning is pretty easy. It takes effort to get there, but once we’ve done it, most people can act with grace. It reveals more about a person’s character to see how they handle defeat. In the Christian bible, Jesus is a more compelling character than Yahweh. Jesus faces adversity, which sometimes he accepts calmly –…
Americans love a winner, anti-racism, Aryan, Aryan supremacy, ban the box, books to prison, books to prisoners, Christianity, Deadpool, death of Thor, defeat, dignity in defeat, education, equality, equity, felony, George Patton, gods die, growth, heroes, incarceration, Independently Blue, inequality, inequity, jail, jail poetry, Jesus, Jesus losing his temper, Julien Poirier, Laughing Shall I Die, learning, loser, losing, mass incarceration, Midwest Pages to Prisoners, MWPP, mythology, myths, Norse, Norse myths, Odin, odinism, pagan, paganism, Pages to Prisoners, patriotism, personal growth, poetry, poetry in jail, poverty, prison, prison education, racism, racist, Ragnarok, redemption, Reginald Dwayne Betts, suffering, superheros, teaching in jail, Tom Shippey, trials, Viking myths, Vikings, white supremacy, winning, Yahweh
-
On reading poems from Donika Kelly’s ‘Bestiary’ in jail.
Will poems about lovelorn bowerbirds help men in jail for domestic violence? At least the words are beautiful.
abuse, abusive relationships, affirmative consent, AI, art, assault, Bestiary, Bower, bowerbird, Bruce Weigl, child abuse, Child Beater, consent, CPS, creation, DCS, desire, domestic, domestic violence, Donika Kelly, drinking, Heartbreak, incarceration, jail poetry, Kavanaugh, kindness, love, love poems, mass incarceration, mouse, objectification, poems, poetry, pornography, pre-emptive excuses, relationships, respect, romance, sex education, sexual assault, sexuality, teaching in jail, teaching poetry in jail, That Cat, The Impossible, trauma, violence, What Gay Porn Has Done for Me, writing, writing poetry
-
On neural plasticity.
What would it take to convince yourself that you are worthy of love?
addiction, biofeedback, brain development, brain growth, CBT, chemical dependence, cocaine, cognitive behavioral therapy, counseling, criminal justice, day by day, depression, dopamine, dopamine receptor levels, dopamine receptors, drug addiction, drug counseling, drug use, e-meter, free will, getting over addiction, happiness, healing, incarceration, jail, lie detector test, mass incarceration, mental health, methamphetamine, mind control, neural development, neural plasticity, plasticity, poetry, poetry class, polygraph, redemption, rehab, rehabilitation, reshaping thought, Scientology, sobriety, substance abuse, teaching in jail, teaching poetry in jail, therapy
-
On nature.
Nature heals, but we yank the world away from people in need.
boaters, boats, cell block, concrete, contraband, domestic violence, drug use, evolution, finding a way to survive, forest bathing, Greazy, Grow, growing a tree in jail, heroin, human evolution, human instincts, incarceration, instincts, instinctual behaviors, instinctual urges, jail block, jail boats, jail poetry, life inside jail, mass incarceration, medicine, methamphetamine, nature, nature bathing, nature walks, opiates, our man, Our Man Grows an Orange Tree, plants, poem, poetry, prison poetry, stress, teaching poetry, teaching poetry in jail, withdrawal
-
On substitutes.
High school classrooms turn chaotic when a sub is running the room … and now they’re sending substitute teachers to maintain order in prisons??
classroom culture, corrections, education, federal hiring freeze, gang control, gang violence, guest teachers, head count, high school, incarceration, insufficient prison guards, Issac Bailey, Issac J Bailey, jail, jail guards, jail staffing, jail violence, mass incarceration, My Brother Moochie, New York Times, prison, prison gangs, prison guards, prison head count, prison murders, prison staffing, prison violence, prison walk throughs, rehabilitation, safety, secretaries patrolling prison, staffing shortage, sub plans, subs, substitute teacher, substitute teacher training, substitute teachers, substitutes, teacher training, teaching in jail, trauma, unsafe jails, unsafe prisons, violence, violence in jail, violence in prison, walk through, who deserves good teachers
Frank Brown Cloud 