Welcome back to another double dose edition of the one and only The Beat Within. This is the only magazine where everyone speaks their truths and stories without having to be judged in a negative way. We have a special treat for our readers as we have one of our volunteers step up to the plate in a major way. HL is here to share what they have learned from helping type and edit The Beat Within submissions. The floor is hers!
To The Beat Within Community,
I am beyond grateful to be part of such an impactful organization like The Beat Within, one that has continually served incarcerated juveniles and opened doors for them in hopes of embarking on a new beginning. Also, to integrate writing programs into that mission becomes a testament to just how much creative expression matters in spaces where voices are so often overlooked.
As someone who has always found a safe space through art, artistic expression became an instinct from a young age, as it was simply how I made sense of the world around me. To be able to share that space with youth who carry as much weight from their experiences in young adulthood, and to witness them turn their stories into something powerful and full of hope. That was something I had not anticipated.
I was immensely moved by all of the excerpts I worked with, and I can say that without any hesitation. Through the words of the writers, I was able to see the world through an entirely different lens, and what an honor it is to witness perspectives beyond my own confines.
These writers expressed culpability, grief, gratitude, and motivation through the ways they know how, through language that is completely and entirely their own. Some pieces made me laugh. Some made me sit in silence. Some felt like confessions. Every single one of them reminded me that creative expression lives wherever there is someone with something to express, and these young writers had so very much to express.
There were absolutely moments in certain excerpts that felt like a mirror, like a reflection of who I was and who I am, told entirely through someone else’s story. That kind of recognition is not something one anticipates, but once it happens, it stays with them in a very intimate way.
My experience with The Beat Within became a reminder of just how vital it is to build communities, to belong somewhere, to be given an opportunity to reclaim oneself, and to be handed the torch and shown that the path forward is one they are destined to walk.
That is absolutely everything. Being even a part of facilitating that sense of possibility for someone else is one of the most grounding experiences I have had. The hardest part about my experience is navigating the tension between editing and preserving the writer’s voice.
Each time I approached an excerpt, I carried with me, the mindset that my role is never to steer away from what the writer intended. Because behind every sentence is an individual with their own vision of the life and the world they inhabit. It’s their perspective and I will never fully understand from the outside.
What I discovered along the way is that revision does not have to mean erasure. It can mean clarity. It can mean making sure the writer’s original intentions land where they hoped they would. Not losing sight of that became my guiding principle throughout the entire process. The duties that came with this role were never purely technical. They were only deeply human every single time.
Working with The Beat Within has only strengthened my existing standpoints on incarceration and the justice system in this country. What this experience gave me was something no statistic or policy paper ever could. It made everything personal in a way no textbook ever has.
These young writers pushed me to reconsider what accountability truly looks like, what growth truly looks like, and what we owe each other as a society that claims to care about its youngest members.
Ultimately, they are not defined by the circumstances that brought them into that system. They are writers; they are thinkers. They are members of society who deserve far more from us than what they have been given.
My time with The Beat Within has made me more committed than ever to advocating for restorative justice and for meaningful education inside facilities.
Their words deserve to be heard far and wide. I feel deeply responsible for helping make sure that happens. With gratitude,
-HL
What a powerful reflection from HL! Thank you for being so honest and pure with your thoughts. We are truly honored to keep providing our writers, both young and grown, with a platform where they can share their stories, their truths, their struggles and their triumphs. Life is all about sharing our experiences together so we can grow, mature and keep trying to be the best version of ourselves that we can be. Let’s stay resilient and keep marching towards our goals and dreams. Until next our next issue. Long live David and The Beat keeps going and going…