-Batman, Santa Cruz I’m not too sure what’s better. In a sense, as a leader I would assume if people love you, they will follow you no matter what. But even if someone loves you, they still can betray you. As for being feared, if someone is scared of you, they will follow. As a leader, you have to be able to guide people. If you’re loved, they will willingly listen to your advice. If you’re feared, people will listen no matter what. To me, if you don’t have both, you’re not a good leader. Being feared will keep people
Continue ReadingWe All Can Change
-Kamron, San Francisco A lesson learned? Well, one is that we all can change, so don’t never think it’s too late or that we can’t change, because we can. It’s just you have to really want to, and you want to need to. Not only for yourself, but for the people you hurt while making your own mistakes, or when you’re punishing yourself. Sometimes we have to love ourselves for our mistakes because that’s what makes us better people, and no one is perfect.
Continue ReadingA Mad Man’s Scream
-Jimmy Lee Bozeman II, Federal Correctional Institution in Otisville, New York To those who take time to read this inscription of a chapter within a book I am currently composing while incarcerated inside a United State’s Federal Correctional Institution. This is concerning The United State’s Justice System, black criminal justice, the African American community and portions of my life as it relates to the three. At this time, I am serving a twelve and a half year sentence for the crime of unarmed bank robbery. My hometown is Kansas City, Missouri. Within the fifty years inside the criminal justice system,
Continue ReadingGrateful for God’s Grace
-Marco Garcia, San Quentin State Prison, CA Mistakes are a natural part of life but at times some of us, as myself, could go too far. It’s sad to say but my biggest mistake is the thing that gave me my authentic self. Why you ask? Well, it’s because many of us, as myself, go through life pretending to be something that we are not. Many of us, as myself, may go through life without the knowledge of change. It may be easier for us to hold onto the shame and pain. Well, the real courage is to change and
Continue Reading
Volume 29.45/46
Please contact Lisa Lavaysse if you would like to purchase the full PDF or a printed copy of this issue.
Continue ReadingEd Note 29.45/46
Greetings to our Beat Within community! We’re proud to present to you our latest publication 29.45/46, which is, as always, packed with great reflections and insights from our incarcerated youth and adults near and far. We’re happy to have you with us! This issue’s editorial note is brought to you by two of our interns from Urban High School of San Francisco, who have been working diligently to transcribe parts of our magazine this fall. Our first intern Charlotte writes about the intricacies of identifying with young people her age in the system, as well as the intimacy of getting
Continue ReadingA Family Story
-Nicholas, Sonoma Born in Veracruz, Mexico, my dad was the youngest of eight. His family was very poor, and in search of a better life he moved to the United States in 2000 when he was twenty-seven. After hearing about a high paying job, my dad moved to Aberdeen, Washington. That is where my father met my mother. A couple of years of dating and my brother was born. One year later, I was born. Times were tough for my family. Money was a big struggle for them. We ended up moving down to Sonoma after my father’s sister offered
Continue ReadingBehind These Walls
-Uz, San Francisco Left behind, behind these walls, nowhere to go with a lot to leave behind. Family, kids, opportunities. You see there’s a lot you don’t appreciate when you are free. Actually, let me rephrase. Value the things around you, like your freedom and the people who care for you and the things you enjoy until you don’t got it anymore. Think before you act. Think before you move because then you can end up just like everyone else who can’t because it was too late. Then you’ll be left behind. Missed, forgotten, and a place that can break
Continue ReadingWords of Positivity
-Mark Peacock, Vacaville, CA Glad to hear that the spirit is still alive, and I am very grateful that there are like minded brothers and sisters out there! I wasn’t born until 1962, so I missed out on everything that had happened back then. I had an older brother who grew up then, and he would come home and talk about how things used to be in those days. Even though they were out of style in the seventies, he would often wear striped bell bottoms and leather sandals. I never asked if they were Birkenstocks or not. He always
Continue ReadingLearn to Love Yourself
-Josiah, California Medical Facility in Vacaville, CA “You don’t have to be a product of your environment. You can be what you want to be.” Lisa Ling I was raised in an environment filled with gangs, violence, drugs, alcohol and unhealthy relationships. My whole life I felt I was destined to be a part of my hood. When I was growing up and putting in work, I felt like this was what I was destined for. I felt like I wanted to die for this because I was brainwashed to believe. But never was I told, “You have a chance
Continue Reading