Etan Thomas Leads Series of Writing Workshops

“They brought a tall man to my cell!” one Free Minds member told his mother on the phone, so excited he momentarily forgot the name of his visitor. “We talked about poetry.” Already a prolific writer, the youth has been writing even more extensively since his encounter with 6’10’’ NBA Wizards player Etan Thomas.

Thomas, a published and dedicated poet as well as a basketball player, is leading a series of writing workshops for the members of Free Minds Book Club at DC Jail. In the first workshop, on May 1, 2009, Thomas spoke to the assembled teens about his own experiences as a youth, and his belief in the importance of the numerous small decisions that decide your path. Life is “just so many little choices,” he said, "but they have a big impact."

In that vein, a theme of the workshops has been responding to "haters" or people that don't want you to succeed. Thomas' own experience with haters was one of the things that motivated him to start writing, he told the youth. By channeling the frustration he felt when people told him he couldn't do something into poetry, he was able to move on and show them what he could do. “I started writing spoken word and poetry because I wanted to get it out,” Thomas told the Book Club. Then he performed one of his poems directed towards a coach who told him his dreams were impossible.

Free Minds poets have been writing their own poems about haters and performing them for each other. “People are going to tell you that you can’t make it, 'cause you made a mistake,” Thomas stressed, “and it’s up to you to believe them or not.”

After each workshop, Thomas returns to the unit to meet individually with book club members who were on lockdown and unable to attend the session. Talking through the crack in their cell door, Thomas reviews their work and offers critiques, as well as strong support to continue developing their craft. Etan encourages them to read as well. After he said that one of his favorite books is the Autobiography of Malcolm X, many Free Minds members requested the book to read immediately!

The excitement of the workshops is best expressed in the following poem by W.B., a 17 year old who wrote and performed it during Thomas' second workshop:

When I Get Out
By W.B.
May 15, 2009

When I get out
I’m gonna be the best man that I can be
I’m even gonna go to college
I can’t wait you’ll see
I can’t wait to see the opportunity that’s
Waiting for me on the other side of the door
The opportunity to be an electrician that I wanted to be
Or even more
I got a lot of things planned for me
When I get out
But first I’m gonna finish my last year of high school
And that’s without a doubt
I refuse to be a dummy
Not knowing nothing
I want to learn a new vocabulary
Without that slang and cussing
When I get out there I just can’t wait
Man I just can’t wait!

Save the Date: Hear Us Out! 2009 - Date Changed

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Paulo's Story

Paulo was just 17 years old when he was charged and incarcerated as an adult at the DC Jail.

When he looks back he sees a lost young man with no goals or dreams. “I didn’t think much about my future or my life. I lived day-by-day. I was too preoccupied with hanging out with my friends, stealing and causing problems,” he says now.

“I didn’t like to read or write before I came to prison,” says Paulo. “It bored me…I was in the 10th grade and I didn’t even know how to compose a complete sentence.”

Left: Paulo graduates from the GED program at Petersburg Federal Prison

All of that changed when Paulo joined Free Minds. Initially, the first time he was told it was time for “Book Club,” Paulo attended only because he was so desperate to leave the isolation of his cell. But it was that one Monday morning that he says helped him change his life.

“Thanks to Free Minds, I now place a great value in books and in writing,” he says. “I have come to understand why so many people hold on to their books and writing as a treasure…Free Minds has taught me how to select books and how to value them, and in writing, how to free my mind and be creative. What it has emphasized to me, moreover, is that reading and writing are fun! Free Minds was the kick a car needs to sometimes start.”

Since his transfer to federal prison, Paulo has remained in touch with Free Minds. He not only receives letters regularly, but also new books. “Every book that I have received from Free Minds has taught me something. I always learn something form a book whether it’s a new word, a new writing style, or a new idea,” he says. “Books are always leaving a mark on my life.” The book that has had the greatest impact upon Paulo is A Place to Stand, the autobiography of acclaimed poet Jimmy Santiago Baca. “He writes about what I’m going through,” Paulo says. “I speak not of the physical, but of the mental struggles and of how he dealt with them. I see myself following his footsteps.”

Paulo also writes to his Free Minds volunteer pen pal, Kristen. “Over the years, I never thought that I would meet someone like my pen pal,” he says. “It is people like her that make one reflect upon one’s life.”

Paulo has come a very long way since he first came to Free Minds at the DC jail in 2003. He has not only earned his GED, but he now teaches courses to other inmates in federal prison helping them to pursue higher education. In 2007, he and a partner developed a seminar to teach other inmates how to get their GED and earn a bachelor’s degree while incarcerated. Paulo has already successfully completed three college courses and earned high grades in all of them. He plans to obtain his undergraduate degree and then pursue graduate school to become a psychologist.

“Changes are happening everyday in my life,” Paulo says. “I see myself as more mature…I have become more caring and responsible. Finally, I have changed my entire perspective on how I should live my life.”

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