Abstract
The tradition of valuing writing (and the teaching of writing) among the incarcerated is long within Survive and Thrive. Our founder, the late Rex Veeder, was always immensely proud of the work he did in teaching in prisons. One of Veeder’s students, Jimmy Baca, wrote in honor of Veeder as his teacher while incarcerated, in “What Is Broken Is What God Blesses” and in “What’s Real and What’s Not” in earlier issues of this journal. Avesa Rockwell, in turn, wrote about her experiences with Veeder and Baca in “A Tributary, to Poetry and its Teachers.” Prison writing has a place in rehabilitation, in restorative justice, in reflection, and in Survive and Thrive.
The writings in this special issue, then, are selections from the “Writing Beyond the Prison” project. They have been written by incarcerated people, and as such, they have not been subject to the double-anonymous peer review process typical of Survive and Thrive. As a result, these writings represent the perspective of the incarcerated on their own experience.
Readers may want to read carefully, understanding that there are many complex and triggering topics discussed in these poems and essays.
Thanks to Robert Chase, Zebulon Miletsky, and Susan Scheckel for the content in this special issue of Survive and Thrive. Thanks to Laura Thro, who suggested this theme for this issue, and to co-editor Julia Brown for connecting S&T to the SUNY projects. If you would like to propose a special issue of Survive and Thrive, reach out to the editors.
Recommended Citation
Beard, David
(2024)
"‘Writing Beyond the Prison’ for Survive and Thrive: A Note by co-editor David Beard,"
Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine: Vol. 9:
Iss.
4, Article 2.
Available at:
https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/survive_thrive/vol9/iss4/2