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Building Bridges Instead of Walls [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-06-17
There are so many things I could say about the magnitude of the work by incarcerated individuals, their dedication, their passion to better themselves. My wife’s work aligns perfectly with my work in support of the immigration community, we both share the belief in Building Bridges Instead of Walls. With that in mind, I would like to share the essay that I wrote for the Anthology Writing from Both Sides of the Moon
This past Saturday, my sweet wife hosted an Opening Reception which featured writing and visual art by members of the Writ112 writers’ collective, founded at Stateville Correctional Center, and system-impacted individuals from across the state.
“Would you look at that” I thought to myself as I directed my eyes to the sky. I was wearing a special kind of glasses while trying to look at the sun.
The news had been talking about that event for days “a solar Eclipse” they said “an event that takes place only once every twenty years”.
Some of my friends had decided to visit family or friends at nearby states just so they could witness the moment when the moon passes between Earth and the Sun, obscuring the view of the Sun from that small part of Earth.
I questioned their decision “why drive hours away, just so they could find themselves if only for a few minutes engulfed in darkness”?
“You don’t understand” they responded “you have to witness the totality”.
Their response got me thinking about my wife.
She has spent years, driving twice a week from our home in Chicago to teach writing to incarcerated individuals. The last year she has been part of a Saturday writers’ group with the guys in the inside, that have master degrees and work as tutors during the week.
And almost every week she would show me the multiple poems, essays or stories written by them.
Then she would say to me “you have to visit my writing group”.
“Can you get me in” I would ask.
“I am not sure” she would reply.
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