CASTING FORWARD
We drove to Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution in Pendleton, about a 3-hour drive from Portland for our monthly meeting where we were surprised and delighted to learn that David Pedro, EOCI Superintendent and his staff selected us as their volunteers of the year; they recognize that “bringing music and creative writing into our facility enhances rehabilitative efforts by providing a creative outlet for AICs ...” We were presented with certificates and a small crystal ball etched with a globe and it seems to float on the pedestal engraved PonyXpress. The award comes just over a year after we decided on the drive back from Pendleton to create this project. I can’t help but think how the work we are doing together with our writers is akin to looking into the crystal ball to see what lies ahead. The impulse to show up at a prison writing workshop, sharing our thought and hopes and stories, to drive for hours to meet with strangers and slowly build trust, to turn around and publish those tender words — all of these things are acts of faith. They are the actions of people who see the potential for something better. Scoff at the fortune teller’s crystal ball if you like, but there is great power in letting yourself see what is possible.
WC Puppy’s “In This Mirror” meets the moment, as a man comes across a few tables of belongings at an estate sale. He wonders: “would his legacy amount to a yard sale to liquidate all his material possessions?” What he encounters is a magical object that helps him provide a measure of his life. R. Miranda’s “When Love” operates as a short, short story written as a poem. It that moves through an entire life, posing the same question as a refrain.
With great thanks to Oregon Humanities and Station Director Chase Spross at XRAY.FM, our radio three -part mini-series will broadcast
Tuesday, May 14 at 7:30am (Simple Man from OSP)
Tuesday, May 21 at 7:30am (Mothers from OSP)
Tuesday, May 28 at 7:30am (Roots Meet at the Crossroads from Coffee Creek)
The shows feature our writers reading their work, with a little bit of context from us about the project. You can listen in real time on the XRAY.fm website/or find them archived later: This project was a joy to put together, and we hope that we will be able to make more of these shows. | TDS