Please contact Lisa Lavaysse if you would like to purchase the full PDF or a printed copy of this issue.
Continue ReadingMonth: June 2020
Ed Note 25.25/26
Greetings, readers and writers of The Beat Within! We continue to embrace and amplify your truths and your stories, even in the most chaotic and challenging of times. For this issue, we welcome back the voices of two of our editorial interns from Urban High School, who have transcribed pieces for The Beat Without over the course of their semester. Their reflections here are especially timely. One of our interns writes about how their work for us has changed their stereotypical view of incarcerated people and meditates on the impact that COVID-19 has had on the incarcerated population. Elizabeth writes
Continue ReadingTo The Beat Within and Beat Without
by White Eagle Greetings! I’m in prayers and positive thoughts all is well with our growing family and friends with all that’s still happening with this world wide COVID-19 pandemic. Another person of color being murdered by the deceased police. Mr. Floyd is another example of struggle and conflict that could bring change and clarity to this country, to this world, and if not now, then when?! Will his murder be of one more of the millions of millions of blacks that were stolen and taken and carried away wrongfully and intent to keep? To a land that has used
Continue ReadingTime To Speak Up
by Jerome Carpenter I’m writing this on behalf of all the people that got killed. Their spirits are asking me to speak for them. Just like them, I want to ask all of the young people not to be like me, and the one reason is look at where I am right now. Some of us are dead and some of us are in prison. If you are the kind of person that doesn’t like losing to anybody, I say then listen to your dead homies if you don’t want to hear it from the living people/homies. Many of you
Continue ReadingLife History and Lifestyle
by Binh Nguyen My name is Nguyen Phuoc Binh, I am a refugee from Saigon, Vietnam. In 1980, at the age of seven, my father, older sister, and 26 other people escaped by boat from a communist regime for fear of being sent to a “Re-education Camp.” On the second day of our journey, we ran out of food and water. Our boat had a leaked, the motor died, and we floated aimlessly in the vast ocean. We took turns scooping water out of the boat to keep us from sinking. By this time we had been without food and
Continue ReadingCompliments
by T How do I respond to compliments given to me? Hmm, I mean, I am not really fond of compliments nowadays because somewhere deep down inside me, I have a feeling that these compliments aren’t true. When people tell me that I’m doing good or whatever, I don’t pay it no mind. I just say, “thanks,” and go about my day. Because how else am I supposed to take a compliment? By repaying that same person with a compliment too? Nowadays, that’s something that is hard to do. Because people are deceiving. One minute they say that they
Continue ReadingI Miss My Sister
by R I miss you Lala. Lala is my older sister, we are six years apart. She is my only sibling that has the same mom and dad, so we are really close. He first tattoo was my name and my first tattoo was her name. The last time I seen my sister was in January before I went on the run. We weren’t really on good terms because she thought I stole something from her, but we are better now. Me and my sister don’t fight a lot, but we have gotten into a few big fights before. We
Continue ReadingVolume 25.23/24
Please contact Lisa Lavaysse if you would like to purchase the full PDF or a printed copy of this issue.
Continue ReadingEd Note 25.23/24
Greetings friends! Welcome to another thoughtful and timely edition of The Beat Within. This double issue, 25.23/24, is full of various writings from our youth to our adults, incarcerated and free. We truly value our Beat community and the insights that they bring to our workshops and to us independently each week. The other day, we were talking to our long-time colleague, Simone, about our concerns, frustrations, and hopes with what is going on in the world. We were so inspired by our deep conversation that we asked her to write this week’s editorial note, to help us respectfully capture
Continue ReadingA Letter To The Youth
by Reggie DeHaro Greetings ladies and gentlemen, My name is Reggie DeHaro and I’d like to share the story of my life with you in hopes that it’ll make a difference in your life and help you make better decisions. Because although “Life” is all about choices, it’s the decisions you make now that will determine your destiny. It’s a sad truth that the youth struggle with peer pressure. Peer pressure to join a gang, to commit crime, to use drugs and or alcohol, to bully someone or not say something when they see someone being bullied. That’s the reason
Continue Reading