by W, Sacramento My favorite view is LA because it’s my home and everything about it is amazing. I haven’t been to LA in a minute, but everyone loves to go there. I would say it’s very well known. My parents moved to LA and that’s how I discovered this amazing city. I love going to Hollywood. The view is just not like others. You can go to the top of the hill and you will see all the city lights. You will see all the traffic lights and all the building lights. To get there, you have to drive
Continue ReadingAuthor: mpau@thebeatwithin.org
Family
by AC, San Mateo My relationship with my parents is really good and strong. We’re always just talking, cleaning and chilling together either with music or with the TV show on. I know mostly everything I wondered about my parents because I asked them and then we go on talking for hours while they cook or just sit on the couch. I love how our relationship is strong because we really don’t know how much we’ve always struggled, but we managed to get through it as a family. So, I’m thankful for that. Our bond has always been good. We
Continue ReadingFake’s The New Real
by Georgie, San Mateo October 31, 2020, 8:20PM. I’m chillin’ in my girl’s room watching her put on her makeup, not just no regular makeup, the type they use for movies to make cuts and scratches look hella real. We got invited to this Halloween party, so we were going to go see what it was all about. My girl’s friend was the one who was throwing the party. She told us she rented out an Airbnb, got hella food, and decorated it. My girl takes hella long to get ready, so we were barely on our way like around
Continue ReadingMid-April, 2021, Thoughts from My Journal
by Salvador, Santa Clara When I was on the outside my days used to be the opposite of interesting. Most of the time I used to repeat the same routine over and over again. There were some parts that I liked about it and certain parts that I didn’t. But first, I’m going to tell you the things that I used to do when I was on the outside. First wake up, go straight to the bathroom, get ready for school, do school online, go to the 7-Eleven for a coffee and if I had more money then get something
Continue ReadingHurting, Healing, Helping
by Raul Higgins, San Quentin State Prison, CA In the midst of the infirmities and traumatic memories of this deadly Coronavirus pandemic, it continues to linger on in the cells of San Quentin. However, with watchful eyes and cautious paranoia, it’s not an option to let my guard down, either. With the power of prayer and the courageous pillars of our communities it inhales a natural breath of resilience. Then it exhales the most power-fullest currency in prison-HOPE! A hope that’s resuscitated my second wind. Drifting through a wind-tunnel of looming dark shadows and haunting fears that have rattled my
Continue ReadingMy Prison Park Bench
by Keith Erickson, Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga, CA As a child, I never imagined that my favorite place in the world, my world, would be a park bench in a California State Prison. I find the most serene moments being suspended in time, right there adjacent to the inmate soccer field. It’s a place that I have walked by thousands of times over without as much as a second glance. A place where taking a moment to just sit and relax my legs, would require me pausing for a period of time, disrupting my doing absolutely nothing at
Continue ReadingLife Story, Part 4
by William Curl, SATF in Corcoran, CA …I’m on my twenty sixth year of incarceration. I’m no longer the immature kid who had no idea how to properly process the emotional trauma from my childhood. I’m sure none of you woke up one morning and said, “Today I’m goin’ to join a gang or become a criminal.” That’s not how it works. It’s a process that starts with the way we were raised, be it household, environment, some traumatic experience in our childhood caused us to embrace an antisocial way of thinking. It’s all about perspective. The way we perceive
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Volume 26.15/16
Please contact Lisa Lavaysse if you would like to purchase the full PDF or a printed copy of this issue.
Continue ReadingEd Note 26.15/16
We are thrilled to give you readers this beautiful publication every two weeks, as we slowly but surely approach our 25th year of service (come mid-September) of writing and art from inside juvenile hall and beyond! Who would have thought that this tiny non-profit based in San Francisco would touch so many lives over the last 25 years? Think about all the publications, all the workshops, all the letters/submissions sent to us, with the desire to be published, to touch a life, to share a story, to educate and inspire!? What an honor to be doing this work with you
Continue ReadingEmotional Pain Is Worse Than Physical
by R, Sacramento Pain is a word I have heard a lot. It’s also something I have dealt with a lot. Since I was a child, I’ve experienced pain. Both physical and mental or emotional pain I know very well. As physical gain goes, I have broken my hand and shin. I have also been burned, cut, and jumped. To me, physical pain is easier to deal with than mental pain. If it’s physical, you are hurt for a while, a couple days, couple weeks, or a couple of months. But your body is going to heal eventually because that’s
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