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Volume 5, Number 2 - Spring 2007
Writing Crosses Borders at
Mission
by Patricia Andres
When we approached the National Endowment for the Arts to sponsor a writing component at residential settings, the rationale was to provide participants opportunities to create reflections on their lives, using literature as the spark. What better way to make literature a central part of their experience in a corrections center, a residential recovery facility or a shelter, than to invite them to read, discuss and write creatively in response to the stories?
People & Stories participants bring multiple literacies to the table, even in the absence of formal education. Verbal and aural literacies, literacies of memory, knowledge of sacred texts such as the Bible—all come to the fore to create sophisticated literary discussions. Across educational levels, many find writing harder than speaking. Yet participants’ voices emerged in writing that is powerful, beautiful and honest.
The Trenton Rescue Mission program brought resident men together with volunteers from the surrounding suburbs. We became a community as we heard, analyzed and then wrote personal responses to the stories, representing struggle and triumph, hopes, dreams, celebration and lament. In the process we discovered common threads that connect us all. We also discovered the power of literature to enrich and illuminate life.
After reading “A Tree, A Rock, A Cloud” by Carson McCullers
Growing up in a home where there were plenty of rules, you can’t fully appreciate them until later on in life. A child associates rules with control, being mean. As you mature, you realize that rules nurture discipline and stability.
I believe we are born with faith, so that we can overcome the challenges we’re confronted with from the unknown. Kenneth Granville
After reading “The Home-Coming” by Milly Jafta
“It is so good to have you home.” I like that line, because I think about my mother and my family a lot, and I know that they need me home. It will be so good to be home, living successfully and being in recovery, taking one day at a time. I will love to be home with my family and going to church and NA meetings, doing positive things. Pervis Samuels
“How could I be expected to keep track of the time, when I could only measure it against myself in a foreign land, when I planted seeds but never had the chance to see them grow, bore children but never watched them grow."
I sit between these dull gray brick walls with nothing to look at but me. But this is not me in this cage. This is a stranger within these walls. For me freedom is a concept, not just a word. In my cell, there is no sky. I have a devotion to freedom and liberty and in order to keep it, I must stand and be a voice for those who cannot be heard." Jason Williams
After reading “Mountain Birthday” by Anne Lamott
Amazing. We end up getting exactly where we’re supposed to be. The excitement in life comes and goes. Sometimes we’re very excited to do something and when it comes down to it, we don’t even try, like a bird that’s afraid to fly out of the nest. Scared of what might happen instead of trying things out.
And when I contemplate something, the thoughts in my mind fight against each other. Taking up valuable time in my life when I’m going to be scared anyway. Caspar Poole