Category: Editor’s Note

As Spring brings with it more sunshine, longer days, The Beat Within is back again with another incredible issue for your reading pleasure through the extra hours of daylight. Our longtime friend OT, is back today, with a heartfelt story about asking for help from others. A topic that we can all relate to as I know it is often hard for anyone to ask for help. OT really lays it out in a way we can probably all relate to with the daily struggle. Memories From My Adolescence I remember when I first started high school, I didn’t have

Greetings to our Beat Within community near and far! We’re thrilled to have you with us for our latest issue, where our writers tackle topics ranging from quality friendships and being a “grown-up,” to reputations and the right to confidentiality. While we don’t play favorites, we’re confident that this issue of The Beat will inspire our readers to think deeply about our relationship to those closest to us, our world at large, and the person we’re always evolving into.  We hope you’ll extend a warm welcome to two of our interns, Mia and Sophie, who dedicated their time and attention

Welcome back, The Beat Within is proud to publish another stellar issue of writing and artwork from our incarcerated community around the country! As we awaken into Spring, we hope you are able to look forward with hope and inspiration. This issue’s editorial note is brought to you by two of our recent interns from Urban High School of San Francisco, Delilah and Oscar! In her reflection essay, we learn that Delilah found community among our incarcerated writers who bravely process their grief in our pages. With Oscar, the power of writing one’s truth becomes a source of inspiration and

 A big hello, and a warm welcome back to another double issue of The Beat Within! We’re here to celebrate the deep, personal, and critical reflections of our Beat Within community, and we thank you for being with us.  For this issue’s editorial note, we’re excited to share the perspectives of Mia and Louis, who have been interning with us through our partnership with Urban High School of San Francisco. Mia writes beautifully about the testimonies that have stayed with her, and Louis’ commitment to advocacy is a crucial component to the movement we’re all engaged in here at The

Greetings to our Beat Within community near and far! We’re proud to present our latest issue to you, full of amazing work from incarcerated youth and adults across the country.  This issue’s editorial note is brought to you by two of our interns from Urban High School of San Francisco, Justin and Marco! Through Justin’s reflection, we learn how his internship with us was able to expand and clarify a lot of what he’s known about the justice system while growing up. With Marco, we’re let in on the ways that he identified with many of the writers he encountered

Welcome back, readers and writers, to another thoughtful and timely edition of The Beat Within. While we were editing this latest publication, we received devastating news that our colleague and former Beat writer, Hayden Renato, passed away suddenly. Our longtime facilitator for Alameda County, Zach Wyner, is here with us to share a few words about Hayden’s journey, and to celebrate this young person’s life and mission. Hayden was a fierce advocate for youth justice and will be deeply missed by our community.  “If children are to succeed, then we need to matter. I can’t stress this enough. We are

Welcome back, readers and writers across the nation, incarcerated and free, to another stellar issue of The Beat Within! This publication is chock full of powerful reflections on 2023, and our hopes, dreams, and goals for 2024. We’re also incredibly grateful for the raw and vulnerable writing we received about the status of your mental health, feeling misunderstood, and the growing pains we all experience as a necessary step in becoming better versions of ourselves. Your words, stories, and testimonies are taken to heart, and we send our love to each and every one of our writers who is currently

Greetings to our Beat Within community, and to 2024! With each new year that passes, we’re met with new opportunities to learn, grow, and to challenge ourselves to become the people we want to be. Each new year is also an opportunity to honor our journeys — however difficult they may have been — and look back on our past with compassion. We’re thrilled to be on this journey with you, and are excited about the potential this year holds for all of us.  We’re turning it over now to our good friend and longtime colleague Omar, to share some

Thank you for your support and partnership, we made it! We celebrated The Beat Within’s 27th anniversary of service and we made it through our hardest year ever, after the loss of my beloved husband and Beat Within founder, David Inocencio. I know he is proud to watch us from his angel perch and see that we have continued his legacy. The Beat goes on, just like he always said. David’s work this year expanded into Stanislaus and Vacaville, we are proud to share their stories and welcome them to our Beat Within family.  Please continue to send us your

Welcome back to another stellar issue of The Beat Within! We’re thrilled to have you with us to share the important and necessary mission of uplifting the voices of our incarcerated community around the country. As always, the writing in this issue is honest, critical, and deeply personal. Thank you, we are so impressed by the level of care and attention our writers bring to their work day in and day out.  Now, we turn it over to two of our interns from Urban High School of San Francisco, Kaya and Noah, to share their reflections for our editorial section.