Books to Prisoners… and Back
I had a chance to make it down to Champaign-Urbana this weekend to see my friend Brian and meet some of the great people at the Independent Media Center there. I met Brian through the Books to Prisoners program they run while I was in Pontiac, and they published a few things I wrote in their newspaper, The Public i. So it was great to finally get a chance to go down there and see the IMC. I was supposed to go down there last November for the National Conference of Prison Book Projects, but they gave me a new parole officer literally two days before the conference who refused to let me go there because I was still on house arrest - even though my original PO said it would be fine for me to go…
I did some work at the IMC Books to Prisoners Project, packing some books up to go out to prisoners. It was quite an experience to be on the opposite side of the Books to Prisoners program - instead of receiving books in a prison cell, I was sending them out to others who are still behind the walls in those cells.
I got to see the University of Illinois campus there, which looked amazing:
We ended up participating in a Copwatch program that they had been doing and expanding in their community - bolstered by the recent acquittal of local activist Patrick Thompson on false charges, stemming from a Copwatch video that Thompson and another local activist, Martel Miller, produced in 2004 and ended up being charged with felony eavesdropping for videotaping police officers in public. We ended up observing about three Champaign PD cars and a University police car stopping a trio of Black youths, who they had handcuffed on the side of the road. Racial profiling and harassment has been a major issue in Champaign-Urbana, with White students being given a pass while the Black and minority community suffers harassment. We stayed to observe the officers conducting the stop, and eventually they let the youths go. Shortly before the youths were freed, a carload of University students drove by and voiced their opinion of the detention of the youths to the officers on the roadside thusly: “Fuck the police! Bitches!”
So I had a wonderful time, and took the train back home after a nice little party for Patrick Thompson’s acquittal. Seeing the great work and community around the IMC down there has really gotten me to strongly consider moving down there and attending the University of Illinois there instead of UIC. But I’ve got soooooo many decisions to make and things to figure out…
Once I got home I received some info in the mail from my college about a writing tutor job that my English professor my first semester (who was totally awesome - thanks Melany!) recommended me for. So, I have to send in the application with two examples of my “academic writing”, then go for an interview in July. Most likely I’ll send my Thesis - Antithesis - Synthesis and A Boy pieces, which I wrote for her class and are some of the better examples of my recent writing. Dunno how the whole prison thing will affect my chances of getting the job, but we will see…
