It’s hard to believe we are into the last month of the year, and the Winter holidays and 2023 are quickly approaching. Where did these last 11 months go? We certainly hope when you look back you will be fine with how your life is unfolding, if not, we hope you have the will power to do something different to improve your health and wellbeing. Wow, what a year of great work for The Beat Within, and we anticipate plenty of the same going into this next chapter. As always, we warmly welcome you readers new and old, back for
Continue ReadingThree Favorite Happy Moments
by CL, Santa Cruz I’ve had some happy moments in life, but I have three favorites. One is when me and my family took a trip to Lake Tahoe. That was one of the most fun times in my life because me and my mom, uncles, aunts, and cousins all rented a big house where we all stayed. It was fun because when we got there, the house had a little hill where you could park your cars, but it was full of a lot of ice and the cars didn’t have chains on the tires, so the cars couldn’t
Continue ReadingSomething That I Truly Love Doing
by D, Sacramento What do I believe is the ideal job for me? I think the ideal job for me would be a basketball player. I would like to be a basketball player because it is something I love to do, and I have been doing it for a very long time. I do it with my friends and a lot of people. I used to play with my family all of the time and I really enjoyed playing (as we were winning). I also love a challenge when someone is against me or my team. It is really fun
Continue ReadingFloyd Mayweather, The Best Boxer Ever!
by Raven, San Mateo In my head, the athlete that’s the best to me is the boxer, Floyd Mayweather. I find it weird that he is never in the conversation for best boxers ever because Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, and Canelo Álvarez are some of the best. I like all of them, but they have their own losses. Floyd beat Canelo when Canelo was in his prime, but when Floyd was not. In my opinion, that’s a record you can’t beat. Other sports legends have lost, but this legend is undefeated so far. He still has one more fight against
Continue ReadingAgainst All Odds
by Curry, San Francisco We have all heard the phrase, against all odds. The dictionary defines this as if you do something against all odds, or against all the odds, you do it even though there were many problems/challenges, and it didn’t seem possible to do. I can relate to this topic right now because I am betting on a NFL football game, in which the San Francisco 49ers are playing the Los Angeles Rams at the 49ers home stadium. As of right now, the odds are stacked against the LA Rams because the 49ers have a history of beating
Continue ReadingThe Beat Within
by Efren Bullard, Ironwood State Prison in Blythe, CA Hello to all the youngsters who find themselves locked up. It has been a while since I last sat down and spoke to you guys. I have been trying to free myself from prison. On November 6th, 2022. I will have been incarcerated for 29 years. At the time of my incarceration I was eighteen years old. I will be 48 on November 19th. I was sentenced to double life without parole plus 22 years for the murders of David Happas and Scott Evans. Now, even though I would love to
Continue ReadingFamily Trumps All
by Aaron Begay, California Men’s Colony State Prison in San Luis Obispo, CA What you decide to put into life is what you’re eventually going to get out of it. For me, it was the moment I decide that I was going to put everything I believed into living life of crime and selling drugs at a young age. That itself would eventually have me living behind bars, and because of that the only thing I got out of it was 15 years to life in prison. Growing up as a teenager that came from having nothing and coming from
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Volume 27.41/42
Please contact Lisa Lavaysse if you would like to purchase the full PDF or a printed copy of this issue.
Continue ReadingEd Note 27.41/42
Greetings friends! We want to welcome you readers back to another edition of The Beat Within. This latest issue truly shines with plenty of great writings from our weekly workshops with the young people (and the adults) inside and outside of the system. We are very proud of the great work coming out of our groups and want to extend a big thanks for all of you contributors. It is hard to believe the year is ending soon and 2023 is right around the corner! We must thank our partners, friends, collaborators and you writers and artists who step up
Continue ReadingThe Survivor
by Tanaj, San Francisco Tanaj is someone who’s lost, back-to-back trauma is all he knew. After losing his mom, everything went downhill. He started stealing cars, and hanging out with the wrong crowd. One night he stole another car not thinking much of it, like those other nights, but not knowing tonight would be different. He picked up a friend, someone he called his brother not realizing it would be his last time seeing him. They went off to the beach reeking of weed, cursing the words of a song they loved so much without a care in the world.
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