Category: Editor’s Note

Happy 25th Anniversary to the one and only, The Beat Within! What a benchmark! What an amazing journey! We have definitely learned plenty from those early days back in the 1990s, to where we are today, September 2021.  We are humbled and full of gratitude for this trek we have been on. From the early days, when San Francisco, the mothership, was where we were birthed the magazine, as the youth shared their feelings on the death of Tupac Shakur, to where we are today in nearly 25 + sites. We are touched and very proud to be on this

Greetings! We are incredibly impressed with the amount of writing many of you are sharing with us each week, thank you.  We would like to welcome you readers back for another double issue of writing and art from our amazing friends – young and old – inside and outside of the system. We are also incredibly grateful to you writers who are embracing this opportunity for the first time.  The chance to have your voice heard is important. To tell your story is important and to educate your take on our topics means plenty to us and our many readers. 

Another week, another Beat! We are thrilled to get this latest issue of our amazing publication into your hands. There is plenty of great writings to be shared and to be able to produce this one-of-a-kind publication every two weeks means the world to us. We can’t thank you, writers and artists, enough for all your time and work. The dedication of your writing truly shines in these pages! We can’t thank our many partners, allies, and friends who help make this program a success for all of us. This is the kind of work where you can’t do it

We are knee deep in Summer, yet the start of school is right around the corner! Where does the time go?  We certainly hope you readers are doing well, staying healthy, while preparing for the upcoming fall season!? If you have been following the news it certainly appears to be yet another challenging season, as we are still dealing with COVID and new variants.  We encourage all of you to continue to wear your masks, wash your hands and be mindful of people’s space. We are hearing of too many good people who are fully vaccinated and are still testing

Better late than never! After nearly 2 years, we finally took a break to celebrate family and friends last week up in Lake Tahoe, CA. It was great to getaway and enjoy this amazing place, especially given how COVID kept us all away until recently, but unfortunately that put the magazine on pause, and we fell a few days behind.  Our apologies.  You may question internally, why could someone not step up in one’s absence, well, as a tiny non-profit, we don’t always have the people power to have folks cover for the good work, but we know you understand,

Greetings! Hard to believe we are now in the month of July! Half the year is gone!! We hope 2021 is moving in the right direction for you all!  We can’t thank you enough for your continued support, as readers and stories. The recent work coming from our very insightful writers is so impressive. We are honored to showcase the amazing talent and heartfelt writings from our young and old, who courageously step up each week to teach and share through their journeys, free and incarcerated.  This latest double issue, 26.25/26, will truly not disappoint.  We are incredibly moved by

Greetings friends! Welcome back to another amazing edition of The Beat Within!  Each issue we put out continues to amaze us with so many great pieces of writing and art that you all share. As the world begins to slowly open up, we are thrilled to return back in person to many of our partnered sites. It is really great to see you writers and staff in person. we  know the feeling is mutual.  The other night we returned for the first time to San Mateo County Youth Services Center, and wow, did we have  fantastic sessions. Plenty of solid

Greetings Beat lovers!  Another week, another Beat for you supportive readers and friends of our amazing publication. This week’s issue is no different, filled with lots of writings from our wonderful workshops, to the submissions that come in unsolicited. We are grateful to you all for believing in this journey and playing such an important role in our success. The last couple issues we have had the honor to showcase the writings from our friend, OT, in Managua, Nicaragua.  This issue we continue with our dear friend and colleague who has played a major role in The Beat Within for

Greetings! It is always an honor to have OT start things off, when it comes to this one-of-a-kind publication, The Beat Within. Our latest issue is packed with thoughtful writings from our amazing young people, who step up in our workshops each week, to our elders, whose desire it is to teach and raise awareness in support of all readers, especially the young people of The Beat Within. This double issue, 26.19/20, is no different, but we do know one thing, it is a one-of-a-kind issue that is making a difference for all who pick up this seventy-two pager to

Another week, another Beat! We would like to welcome you wonderful readers back to another fabulous edition of the one and only The Beat Within, double issue 26.17/18. We would like to extend a warm embrace to every single one of you readers and hope that when you read this you and your loved ones are in best of health spiritually, physically and mentally. Our dear friend OT is back with his insights for all our friends to read straight from the very hot climate of Managua, Nicaragua.  Let’s pass the keyboard to our dear friend and colleague, OT!  Boy