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“I loved going to the book club, I didn't have to be tough and aggressive, I could just be me. And they liked me, who I am. So that helped me to embrace who I am and accept it. … I think 2 of the most important things I've learned since my initial Free Minds meeting is personal responsibility and the power of expressing yourself through written words. I'm in the process of writing a book right now.”
—Jonas, Age 23
Delonte: I Control My Life
Delonte was just 16 years old in 2004 when he was arrested and charged as an adult for robbery. Before his incarceration, Delonte had stopped attending high school on a regular basis. He was raised by his grandmother since his mother and father were not a part of his life. He liked reading and writing, but his classes just didn’t hold his interest. While he was locked up, he was introduced to Free Minds and relished the opportunity to occupy his time with books and creative writing. “Free Minds were friends when I needed them. They sent me books that I liked to read, and taught me how to express myself through poetry.”
To read more success stories click here.
Tara Libert, Co-Founder of Free Minds, Assumes Executive Director Position; Kelli Taylor Steps Down
By Julia Mascioli , Free Minds Summer Intern
In July, 2010, Tara Libert assumed leadership of Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop as Kelli Taylor, Co-founder and Executive Director of Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop, stepped down. Taylor will continue to work with Free Minds in a volunteer capacity.
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Kelly Taylor (left) and Tara Libert |
Taylor and Libert founded the program together in 2002. During the last eight years, Free Minds grew from twenty-five members to over 3-hundred and fifty, and is one of the leading organizations working with youth charged as adults in the District of Columbia.
“I'm thrilled to be able to continue the work Kelli and I started with just the simple idea that books and creative writing can change lives. Over the years, I've seen Free Minds blossom into a strong organization with amazing members, dedicated volunteers and loyal supporters and I look forward with excitement to the growth that lies ahead. Every day I’m inspired by the courage and commitment of our youth as they face daunting challenges with hope and a belief in the power to change,” Libert says.
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Free Minds Wins National Book Foundation Innovations in Reading Prize!
May 5, 2010- The National Book Foundation awards its Innovations in Reading Prizes to organizations that are demonstrating passion, creativity, dedication, and leadership in the service of creating and sustaining a lifelong love of reading within their local community or beyond. We are excited by this opportunity to have the enthusiasm and talent of our book club members recognized."
To read more, go to: http://www.nationalbook.org/innovations_in_reading.html
Author George Pelecanos Visits Book Club
On a recent Thursday afternoon, the Free Minds Book Club was thrilled to host a visit from best-selling crime writer, George Pelecanos. The young book club members who gathered in the Correctional Treatment Facility’s chapel had just finished reading Pelecanos’ new release, The Way Home – a story set in the familiar streets of Washington, DC. The book describes the unsettled life of a white teenaged boy named Chris, who is charged with a violent assault and spends more than a year at “Pine Ridge,” a fictionalized version of Oak Hill, Washington, DC’s now-closed juvenile detention facility. The youth were overwhelmingly struck by Pelecanos’ very real depiction of DC life, as they know it.
Mr. Pelecanos, whose past jobs included line cook, dishwasher, bartender, and woman's shoe salesman before he published his first novel in 1992, began the session by describing his journey to become a writer. He told the young men, many of whom have newly developed aspirations to become authors and screenwriters, that “in order to be a good writer, more than anything, you just need to live an interesting life. And you all have already lived incredibly interesting lives.”
When one youth asked him, “How do you get in the zone to write?” Pelecanos replied that he doesn’t take any breaks when he is working on a book. “I write seven days a week,” he told them.
The author encouraged the young men not to be disheartened by their current circumstances. “What’s happened is just one chapter in your life.”
After talking with him in depth about the characters and the redemptive theme of The Way Home (Pelecanos’ 16th novel set in his hometown of Washington, DC), members excitedly peppered him with questions about the storyline that unfolded over five award-winning seasons of the HBO dramatic series “The Wire,” for which Pelecanos was a producer, writer and story editor.
As the session wound to a close, a 16-year-old sitting in the back of the room piped up, saying, “I think your next novel is sitting right in front of you!” to which Pelecanos responded, “Don’t think I’m not listening to every word you say. I’m always working.”
We are enormously grateful to George Pelecanos and to the Pen Faulkner Foundation for making his visit possible and for generously donating books to the members of Free Minds.