While reading the latter part of “Writing Our Way Out,” I was happy to find out that these men were mostly able to reclaim their lives after incarceration. I liked that many of them found some sort of outlet or motivational factor to keep them going, such as religion or knowing that their family needed them. I was also happy to read that writing their stories helped them reconcile with their pasts. Some of them believed that their way of thinking back then was twisted, which they didn’t realize until they had physically written down their stories on paper. However, I was sad when I found out that some of the men were re-arrested. It’s important to know that progress isn’t linear. It ebbs and flows and that’s just how life is sometimes. I was extremely saddened to find out that Andre was killed due to his involvement in a robbery after he had just worked so hard to get acquitted on three trials. Most of all, I learned to view prisoners as humans with stories while I was reading this book. Sometimes, I found myself in disbelief that these stories I was reading were real. I think it will start to feel more real when we are visited by David Coogan and some of the ex-offenders in class. I think it will be a surreal experience meeting them in person, but I am still very excited to hear what they have to say.

I have decided to focus on Naji’s story in particular because some of the events that happened in his life were so profound that they just stuck with me. When he was young, his mother died unexpectedly and he never knew his father. He ended up living with his grandparents, who inflicted physical abuse on him and his brother. His grandmother was emphasized as the main abuser. This caused him to seek love and acceptance throughout his life, which might have led him to do irresponsible things. He started to use drugs and steal to sustain his drug habits, all to distract from his abusive home life. While he was incarcerated, he began to educate himself. All his life, he had learned to hate white people due to racist experiences growing up. When he was introduced to the Nation of Islam, he started seeing the world through new eyes upon discovering that the first man on earth was Black. He even changed his name from James Canady to Naji Faruk Mujahid because it was more fitting to who he was becoming. After he was released, he discovered that his grandmother had Alzheimer’s and that she didn’t remember any of the abuse she subjected to him. He took care of her regardless and became more responsible with his life. Although he didn’t focus as much as he intended on his religion, learning about the Muslim faith was a large factor in rebuilding his life. Writing through Dr. Coogan’s project was also a major contributor because it helped him analyze his life through a new lens.