People for Change was organized inside the walls of the Toledo Correctional Facility in Spring of 2011. We are a group of alumni from classes offered through the Inside/Out Prison Exchange Program at the University of Toledo.
This blog will serve as a place to publish writings of students and former students. These writings might be prose or poetry. They might be analytical or more personal and reflective. They will often be in response to readings we discuss together during our bi-monthly meetings.
We will also keep readers informed here about events and projects we are working on. We hope to build a network of Inside/Out alumni in Ohio and beyond who are aware of the issues of incarceration and are interested in communicating in a humane and safe way about questions that arise when individuals are harmed or commit harms against others.
I would like to open the blog with a poem by a member of People for Change:
This poem was in response to the double-celling of the Toledo Correctional Institution.
"How I feel about having a cell mate"
I feel like a lion trapped in a bird cage.
Like a Puffy sweeping clean the Cepalt's stage.
I feel like an elephant at a circus being told to stand on those little balls.
I feel like a skydiver with no parachute on a long fall.
I feel like a bird with steel wings
Like a Yo-Yo on a short string
I feel like I'm on a journey with no map
I feel trapped
I feel like a King with no throne
I feel so alone
I feel like an afro with no pick
Or like a blind man with no stick
I feel like a wishing well without a wish
Somedays I don't feel missed
I feel like a bottle rocket with no fuse
Like a handyman with no tools
I feel like music with no speakers
Like I'm in Love with no one
I feel the same way I felt before I had a cell mate
Like I'm ready to be on the other side of that gate.
Lamar
