I have enjoyed reading “Writing Our Way Out” because of the storytelling aspect of the book. At first, I was confused what this would be about, and later I wondered how the introduction of the writing class would transition to the ex-offenders’ stories. I like how David Coogan tells the story of how the writing class came to be and then seamlessly introduces each person’s story into the narrative. The stories are by far the most interesting part for me. Reading about lives that are vastly different from mine really opens up my eyes to what some people were born into and how that can affect how their lives play out. In many stories, family members and other people they knew heavily influenced their life outcomes in awful ways, which I found to be very disturbing. From sexual assault to physical and verbal abuse, every one of their stories had me empathizing with them and wondering what it would have been like if I had been born into such a life. I really admire how these people were so genuine and dedicated to this writing project that they were comfortable enough to have them published. Something else I appreciated was the portraits of all the contributors on the back of the book. Whenever I read books, I focus less on the descriptions and more on the dialogue. In this instance however, I wanted to view these people as real humans with real stories, so seeing their faces really helped me see the humanity in them. In the latter parts of the book, I hope we find out what happens to these people after they are released back into the world and if this project helped them in any way.