Events

The Community Hears Free Minds Poets!
Hear Us Out! 2009

Nearly 500 people came to downtown Washington, DC to hear the words of incarcerated youth at the 6th Annual Free Minds Poetry Reading. The 6th & I Historic Synagogue was filled almost to capacity with family members, attorneys, judges, writers, artists, business people, schoolchildren, activists, neighbors, and regular DC residents who came to see what all the excitement was about. Guests brought donations of paperback books which would be distributed at the DC Jail. The evening was emceed by local favorite WKYS disc jockey, EZ Street, who warmed up the audience before introducing nine young Free Minds members who are now back home in the community. Each young man stood at the mic and read their own poetry as well as the words of their fellow members who are still incarcerated.

Audience members alternately laughed, cheered, and even cried upon hearing the hopes, dreams and regrets of poets like 18 year-old Delonte, who had been released from jail just one week earlier after being charged and incarcerated as an adult at the age of 16. In his poem, Change-Like Symptoms, Delonte described a desperate desire for a positive new direction.

 

Change-Like Symptoms

I refuse to stay in park and become rusty and old
I want my value to go up
So I’ll always be worth bein’ sold
You can be stubborn and stay the same
But I’ma make a quick change
Like a Lamda switching lanes
Tryin’ to get to its destination
One thing people fail to do
Is make change—a revelation
You need it to get places in life
Well I’ma make an upgrade
While you clowns stay in clown stage
I’m glad unique sticks to me like glue
I’m daring to be different
I’m feeling sick with change-like symptoms

It was his first time performing in front of an audience, and Delonte said he had to pray to make his knees stop shaking. Despite his nerves, the appreciation and applause of the crowd and the chance to give voice to the young men still behind bars made it all worth it. “I can’t wait to do this again next year!” he said.

The final piece was an original performed by nationally acclaimed poet, Messiah who had also served as a coach for the event, teaching the young men the art of spoken word performance.

The presentation concluded with the debut of “Hear Us Out!” a rap song written, produced and recorded by Free Minds members with the help of local artist Head-Roc. The song was received with wild applause and a promise by EZ Street to air it on the radio.

At a reception following the reading, guests enjoyed refreshments and mingled with the poets, buying hand silk-screened t-shirts and the Hear Us Out! poetry book which they then had autographed.

“This is my favorite part!” said 21 year-old poet and first-time performer Terrance as he signed a book for a woman who had driven all the way from New Jersey to attend the event.

To all of those who came, listened and heard, thank you for believing in our youth!

Read local press coverage of the event.

Hear excerpts of the poetry reading from Coffeehouse TV

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!

 

Free Minds Raises New Friends

Supporters old and new gathered at the elegant Marvin Bar and Bistro in Northwest DC on March 25th, to learn more about the work of Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop. Guests loved the delicious soul food appetizers generously donated by Marvin, but more than anything they enjoyed the chance to meet Free Minds members themselves.

Left: Drew Williams shares his success story with the Marvin crowd. At the age of 17, Drew was incarcerated on robbery charges. Now 22, Drew has his GED and recently graduated from barber school. He has a full-time job cutting hair for a large and loyal clientele at a shop in NE DC. Drew plans to go to college and study business, and eventually open his own barbershop.

They came to spread the word about Free Minds and also to share their poems and stories, which were met with great acclaim.

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Local Author Visits Free Minds Book Club

On Friday, February 27, 2009, guest author DaWayne Williams came to speak to the incarcerated youth of the Free Minds Book Club. The author of Reputations Fade Away, a true chronicle of his young adulthood on the streets of South East DC, Mr. Williams delivered an impassioned address to the young men. As he described his progression from violent drug dealer to accomplished author, Mr. Williams continually returned to one point: the power of your dreams.

“Your dream does not start the day you get out of here,” he declared to 14 young teens in orange jumpsuits. “Your dream starts the day you decide to believe in it.” Mr. Williams told the story of his life, from a difficult early childhood, to first shooting a gun at age 13, to the day he saw the movie Antwone Fisher and was inspired to write his own life story. “I learned how to write by writing this book,” he told the group. “Nobody helped me.”

L.W., 17, said that Reputations Fade Away was the first book he had ever read from front to back. “It was very cool,” he said, to meet the author face-to-face.

Book Club members asked Mr. Williams questions about the craft of writing. He stressed the importance of details such as powerful character names, as well as the benefits of consistent journaling.

He encouraged the youth of the Book Club to follow their creative dreams by getting a mentor, “hanging around people that do what you wanna do,” and not letting anyone tell you that you can’t achieve. “You also have to read and write,” he continued. “For you to be a writer you have to read books. You have to know your feelings, and you have to take it and write it in your own words.”

“Writing is good for your mind, “ he concluded, “and remember to protect your dream.”

At the end of the session, Book Club members wrote down their own personal goals and then took the opportunity to share them and speak individually with Mr. Williams.

© Copyright 2006 Free Minds Book Club and Writing Workshop