Greetings Here we are, late February 2023. It is very hard to believe how fast time is already flying by… Where does the time go? One minute we’re preparing for the holidays, completing our year-end issue, and winter break, and the next minute we are embracing the early days of 2023, and now the month of February, with March around the corner. Wow! Hard to believe this amazing double issue, 28.07/08, is completed and ready for your eyes.
Usually, you get to hear from our friend, OT, in this editorial note, who is always amazing with his stories and updates, but for this issue he was given a break, so allow this editor to share some thoughts with you all.
As far as this editor is concerned, the writing in this issue. is fabulous. The many pieces issue will tug on your heart strings, will move you to tears, will make you truly look at yourself and the life you are leading, for better or for worse. Some pieces will make you laugh out loud, while others you read, you are simply grateful this is not you, as someone has it worse than you, others share thoughts and ideas around our weekly writing prompts. In the end we hope you will find inspiration and motivation to do the right thing.
Big praise to all those who write from the VOYA Units in Sacramento, to the powerful writers we visit all around the Bay Area, to those putting it down daily from Southern California! San Diego rocks! And that is not to say our BWO writers truly are an anchor in each and every issue. Big props to San Quentin, CCWF and everyone else who weighs in week in and week out. It is with great pleasure to bring you some of the most important voices in the world, as our amazing workshop writers, young and old, courageously share a part of their lives with us readers. The writing truly comes from the heart, as does this editorial note and the host of comments attached to each piece. If you don’t know by now, The Beat Within is truly heart. A one-of-a-kind magazine that has plenty of soul and love for this one-of-a-kind community that is committed to building and bettering our lives through each word on every page. Since day one, many years ago inside the San Francisco Youth Guidance Center (aka Juvenile Justice Center), back in 1996, 26 years ago.
Of course, there are many publications in the world, but as far as we know, there is nothing like what you have in your hands today. The Beat Within is one of the most unique publications because it brings together writers from all over the land, young and old, who sadly and for the most part, find themselves tangled within the criminal justice system. Where else can you get such a hand on the pulse of our youth and adults and those who are in the criminal justice system all at different points and crossroads? As far as we are concerned, these writers have the answers, or hopefully are on the verge of finding their answers. They know what’s working and what’s not. The question is, is there still time to mend what’s broken? We believe for most of them there is, yet that “fix” is different for each Beat contributor. With that said, these writers and artists have a platform, this anchor, this lifeline to share with The Beat Within community to educate and shed light to us readers, be it young or old, student or teacher, lawyer or judge, friend or enemy, parent, or community leader. We are all here to listen to these individuals who are living in constant struggle as they are figuring out how best to navigate in (the system) and hopefully one day navigate out in their communities, free of the system.
The Beat Within, due to our commitment and hard work, 24/7, has touched so many lives weekly in our writing and conversation workshops, and twice a month through our publication for many years. What is the secret? How does Beat manage to be in all these places and get so many writers to contribute their thoughts, their art with the world? The answer is simple, it’s being consistent. It’s about being transparent. It’s about being a good listener. It’s about building relationships and treating our contributors with great respect. This is across the board, from the powers that be, to the youth we serve daily, to those we have never embraced. The Beat Within wants all of our friends, colleagues, partners and allies to have a sense of ownership towards the work we do. Our success is built on teamwork, being open minded to the work, to our writers and artists, to the system who so kindly opens the doors to us each week to allow our writers this golden opportunity to share stories and learn from one another through our one-of-a-kind writing and conversation workshops.
Our workshops are quite special, as we work in these hour plus long sessions each week to help inspire change, hope, share new ideas, tell new stories, create new art, tell our truths, and courageously share a humbleness that comes with writing and trust during these workshops.
Of course, the workshops differ, if you are inside juvenile hall to the ones we run inside San Quentin or at our newest site, where we now run a monthly group at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, CA. What remains the same, is that we stay true to our weekly prompts, as we discuss as a class and encourage writers to pick one of our topics to write about (as we do in most of our classes). Then open it up for our participants to read their respectful work aloud, before we collect the writings to bring back to type, edit, respond and prepare for publishing.
We send you all, great respect for opening your hearts to The Beat Within and this amazing community for so many years. Please do not hesitate to give us a shout out. We would love to hear from you. Please let us know how you are doing. We care. We want to hear from you and are always touched by your kindness, your letters and your stories. Sorry, we often do not get the chance to write everyone back who shares a submission or letter, but we hope you know we truly care and appreciate what you bring to the table. As a tiny non-profit, we simply cannot deliver letters to every one of you, if we can do one thing, that is to send you a magazine with your published work inside and hope you will deliver more stories, poems, and art for the world to read.
26 plus years and still going strong. Hard to believe. Thank you for allowing us to be a part of your lives and having the courage to share your story, as most of you know you are very important storytellers and teachers. We have learned so much from you all. Thank you for welcoming us into your lives. It is such an honor to have you as friends, colleagues, partners, students, teachers, however you see fit…
This issue goes out to you readers who feel the love and respect we hope to have expressed in this note. A big thanks to our colleagues as well, who play such a vital role in making sure our workshops each week are a success, and the work you see in this magazine is properly typed up and responded to. Again, we want to thank you all for your time and patience, as we are learning through life after Covid, how things in our communities have changed over this period, and we can only hope for the better. We are adjusting and doing our best to bring our best to you each and every week. Thanks for your time and patience. Enjoy this one-of-a-kind issue!