(Kelvin or Terrance) “In many states, up to 80 percent of the youth who are incarcerated are rearrested within 3 years of release” (CSG Justice Center). What are two pieces of advice you would give to a juvenile?
(Dr. Coogan) It’s discussed in the book that many ex-convicts are stigmatized and very disadvantaged when it comes to being employed. How do you look to change the narrative through these writing workshops?
I agree to the class commitments.
In preparation for Tuesday’s class visit, everyone split into groups to discuss and analyze the roles of some characters as well as the significance of their stories. We also formed questions that would be important to ask the book contributors when they came into class.
As stated by Kaylee, men throughout the book thought of women in two different perspectives. We discussed how men treat their mothers with respect and love while they treat other women in the book as sexual figures. A primary reason for this is because of the sense of purpose and belonging that these men feel between themselves and their mothers. With a majority of them having a poor father figure, their moms symbolize strength and stability in their lives. As for the miscellaneous women throughout the book, these men look at them with lust and not the qualities that they see from their mothers. The men don’t believe any other women can replace the mold of their mother.
Dr. Coogan:
The best way to describe Dr. Coogan is as the light at the end of the tunnel. For many of these men, they grew up with poor role models, whether it be their parents, partners, or friends. Through starting the writing program for the prisoners Dave allowed them to reflect and solve their greatest problem. Identifying who they were, who they are now and who they want to be. These prisoners struggled to express themselves, for example, sucking up their emotions and not crying. In some way, writing out their stories become the coping source to express all the feeling they felt and kept bottled up within themselves for their entire lives. Dave serves as a leader to the men but primarily as an initiator. He puts prisoners in position to be successful by initiating their personal growth through writing.
What we know about him: VCU professor, has a daughter, etc.
Purpose: The opportunity to make a difference through his teaching – asking “why?”
Questions to ask:
Page numbers: xi-xii, 1-4, 5, 7-16, 241 (beginning of each chapter), 54, 33, 120,
Themes:
Writing Our Way Out is a novel that considerably changed my views on incarceration and those who find themselves in prison. The book didn’t place emphasis on the crimes of the prisoners, but instead focused on the impact of childhood and the rehabilitation process for prisoners once they returned to the real world or while they were in jail. The second half of the novel shocked me in that not everybody had a “happy ending.” In fact, many of the prisoners ended up serving more terms in prison after the writing workshop was completed. Despite the workshop being a strong foundation for personal reflection, those that got rearrested couldn’t stay away from the justice system, whether it be due to societal biases (racism as told by Coogan) or the fact that many men coming out of incarceration aren’t prepared to return to a life of free will and social dynamics. This sheds light on flaws pertaining to the justice system, as it stresses punishment rather than personal growth. Many men who come out of prison return to the same relationships, lifestyles, and thus actions that got themselves into prison in the first place.
The story that I wanted to focus on was the life of Stan. More specifically, I wanted to focus on the impact that storytelling had on his life after being released. From having a poor relationship with his father to getting caught into prostitution, Stan faced many of the struggles that afflicted other prisoners in their stories. Despite this however, Stan starts to find and connect with himself at a greater level while in prison. Through a deeper understanding of his faith, Stan realizes that his body is the temple of the living God. Trying to pursue a loving life of God as he leaves prison, Stan uses his faith as a firm foundation in his everyday life. Whether it be smoking or any other material things that negatively impacts his life, he wants to stay away from it. Learning that he negatively affected others Stan realizes that by turning his life around he needs to be the bright light for everyone else to see.
Although I expected this book to address the crimes and actions of the convicts, I was surprised to hear the men’s stories from their childhood. After the first half of reading this book, I realized that social structures and environments are almost certainly determining factors into how peoples lives develop. Prevalent issues such as divorce, drug use, lack of a nuclear family, and emotional/physical abuse had a life changing impact on the lives of the storytellers. For most of the convicts, the struggle to belong to a tight-knit family unit was the origin of emotional trauma. As a result of emotional distress, these men took advantage of poor coping mechanisms in their environment, such as drugs, prostitution and crime.
When it comes to storytelling, this book unveils the high degree to which storytelling allows people to self reflect on their lives. As the book progressed and the convicts continued to share their stories they became more open with David Coogan as well as themselves.
My biggest takeaway from reading “Portfolio Keeping” was the emphasis on self reflection. Before reading the book I initially thought of a portfolio as a collage of all the work done throughout the year and a few pictures attached for aesthetic purposes. Now, I realize that a portfolio isn’t just assignments crammed onto one website, but instead a blog in which a journey is told. Even when you’re finished with a piece of writing, a portfolio gives you the chance to analyze, revise, and reflect upon your assignments and the journey that you took to handing in the best work you could possibly present to others. Rather than presenting just assigned essays and projects in a portfolio, it’s important to ensure that you add personal reflections in your portfolio while self-reflecting throughout the entire process of building your portfolio. By reflecting through the step by step process of creating your portfolio, the project will become better organized, easier to manage, and constructed in a more well thought out manner. By reflecting on comments your classmate or instructor made on your portfolio or assignments, you will be better at understanding which strategies of building your portfolio are more successful. For example, if you don’t understand most of the comments left on your work, you might be better off having someone else to comment on your work. In some way, reflecting is a tool for revising.
Memory is the awareness of emotions, conflicts, and events that occurred in the past. Not only is memory just that, but it is a tool in which people develop self-reflection. As said in the articles, storytelling unlocks a space for intellectual and emotional growth for children. An example of this is when parents tell their children stories. As a result of this type of storytelling, children are able to connect with the feelings of their parents as well as practice the storing of information (memory). I can relate to the significance of storytelling in my life by the stories I heard from my grandma. When my family traveled to my grandparents house in New Jersey once a year, my grandma loved to share stories of her childhood in Ireland. I specifically remember her telling us stories about the frogs that lived in a pond near her house and the adventures her and her friends would have there. Although I can’t remember her stories to a tee, my grandmas stories helped me to reflect on the differences between our childhood lives while learning something completely new about her life.
When listening to stories, memory can be constructed and shaped earlier as a child. By listening to stories or telling stories ourselves, for example telling a story about your first day of school, children can gain a better sense of who they are, their experiences with others, and they’re connection to a storyteller (family, etc).
It’s the summer of 2022, my forehead is dripping of sweat and my teammates and I had just finished our 6 mile run. This entire summer we were focused on success going into the upcoming cross country season. This success consisted of winning our League championship. Last season, due to a combination of injuries and a small roster, we were unable to see our team on the school banner in the gymnasium. With similar goes in mind, we made it our goal to have not just better training, but training that consisted of consistency and focus. Six days a week we would meet at the track to run miles and get to bond with one another.
Fast forward to the day before the league championship, our team is sitting in a circle surrounding our coach. In our hands are packets with the exact positions we would need to place in order to beat our rivals Somers. This year, the league championship would be as competitive as it could possibly get. For half an hour our team was discussing all the in and outs as to how we could accomplish our goal. The veterans gave some motivation and everyone insisted that we would get good sleep the day prior to the race.
With all the hard days of practice, and essential focus our team won the league championship, and only by a point. Our top runners placed high as expected but it was the effort of the backend that brung us to victory. One of our veterans, had one of his best races of his career, and our last placing runner competed to the line to place ahead of an opponent by the smallest margin. With hard work and one goal in mind our team was able to place ourselves into a position for success.
In regard to the honor code, are we able to comment on each other’s work, essays, etc?
Creating thorough and well thought out daily class notes is important for the success of everyone in the classroom.
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