Author: Chang Ni

This book was a product when David Coogan started a writing workshop at a jail to raise awareness in the city about prisoner reentry. Before reading, I thought the book was about prisoners’ remorse for their crimes or their life in prison, but after reading, I realized that the actual content is more profound than I expected. The authors of this book were seeking answers, solutions and means to crab the cycle of dysfunction not only in their lives, but also in society.  The book gave me an opportunity to think about how different environments influenced and shaped people.

I was impressed by one of the chapter that Andre wrote. When his dad started feeding him heroin, his mother known that but didn’t say nothing.  David Coogan talked about a memory when he was at the similar age. He rolled a piece of paper into a pretended cigarette, then his mother ask if he thought smoking was cool. The intervention was the difference. David Coogan’s mother was right there to show his the right way. An important reason why these prisoners commit crimes might be the lack of positive guidance when they grew up.

“We would write hopefully, and with the intent of steering the ongoing process of becoming who we are, not only for ourselves, but for the greater good.” I once saw a talk on television about a dilemma that journalists often faced. If a journalist reports the real experience of a person, it can raise public awareness of the dark side of society. However, the risk to the person involved is high, because the people who have hurt him may see this report and retaliate against him. I’m wondering, will there be potential risk for them when prisoners wrote their experience to the public?

I’ve tried to keep a diary before, but my writing usually stays at the level of narrating facts, and there is no reflection process. After reading the “Portfolio Keeping”, I realized the importance of self-reflection, which is essential for me to practice reflective learning and self-assessment. Besides, I was attracted by how the stories our parents tell affect how we develop as individuals in the memory article.  I found that open-ended questions, lots of detail, and don’t drive the narrative are helpful to memories.  I’ll thy to apply this to my story telling in the future.

My experience of successfully doing something with a group is establishing the BJHSDL (Beijing High School Debate League).

I was the president of debate club in my high school and our club members prepared a lot to participate in NSDA Beijing Regional. In December 2021, NSDA (Nathional Speech& Debate Association) tournaments have been canceled in China due to the sensitive context in their evidence packet. Their efforts were in vain and many club members were discouraged.

I was disappointed and talked about this with other debate club leaders in Beijing. Finally, we decided to held a tournament by ourselves using the NSDA resolution, and the BJHSDL was established. We set schedule and hired judges. The competition went successfully and we attracted more than 100 teams to attend.