Books for prisoners
A program for book discussion for prisoners could use some donations, if you happen to have some extra cash.
mamculuna writes:
I’m looking for help buying books to be read and discussed at a medium-maximum security prison in South Carolina. These will be works of literature, especially by black writers. The theme we'll follow this year is the question of personal responsibility, and these are probably the books we'll read:
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Butler, Octavia Kindred
Achebe, Chinua Things Fall Apart
Fitzgerald, Scott The Great Gatsby
O’Brien, Tim The Things They Carried
Morrison, Toni Beloved
Camus, Albert The Plague
Daley, James The World’s Greatest Short Stories (Dover)--although if I get full funding, I'll probably use James Alan McPherson's Elbow Room instead.
I'll buy the books (in paperback, possibly used), prepare background materials and reading questions, lead the discussions, and prepare for each book with a short discussion before we start--most books will take more than one discussion to cover, and some will take several. We'll probably meet once a week for two hours, though prison schedules are unpredictable. This will probably last from mid-October, 2016, through mid-April, 2017.
Last year a grant funded the first round of book discussions, but it was a one-time-only grant and also it’s very difficult to coordinate a grant’s schedule with the realities of prison life, so I’m trying crowd-sourced funding instead. The men were very enthusiastic and have told their friends about the group, and the prison also encourages us to repeat the group.
A number of small contributions to the project will show the men that there are many people in the community who encourage them to read and think, and I know they feel a responsibility to stick with the sometimes-difficult work of reading and thinking when they know that other people have made it possible.
This is not an expensive project-I can buy fifteen copies of seven books for under $1000, so that is my goal. My time and the prison space are donated. If it's possible to fund the group this year for less than that, I'll save the money for next year's group. I don't reuse the books, because one goal is have the books passed on to other inmates. In a setting where books are scarce, each volume will be read by many.
I first realized how much reading meant to men in prison when I taught English there for a community college, and since then I've led meditation groups for many years in prison settings. My own backgroup includes 30 years of teaching experience, many years of leading library book discussions, and a lifetime of reading and talking about books.
Studies have shown that exposure to good literature has the power to increase empathy, and we all know that reading increases literacy and cultural awareness. I hope you’ll be willing to help with a donation to this project.
Both the men in the group and I will be very grateful for your generosity, and you can know that you're not only making someone's life a little better, but you may also be making a small contribution towards turning him to a better way of living.
Help spread the word!
mamculuna writes:
I’m looking for help buying books to be read and discussed at a medium-maximum security prison in South Carolina. These will be works of literature, especially by black writers. The theme we'll follow this year is the question of personal responsibility, and these are probably the books we'll read:
( Collapse )
Butler, Octavia Kindred
Achebe, Chinua Things Fall Apart
Fitzgerald, Scott The Great Gatsby
O’Brien, Tim The Things They Carried
Morrison, Toni Beloved
Camus, Albert The Plague
Daley, James The World’s Greatest Short Stories (Dover)--although if I get full funding, I'll probably use James Alan McPherson's Elbow Room instead.
I'll buy the books (in paperback, possibly used), prepare background materials and reading questions, lead the discussions, and prepare for each book with a short discussion before we start--most books will take more than one discussion to cover, and some will take several. We'll probably meet once a week for two hours, though prison schedules are unpredictable. This will probably last from mid-October, 2016, through mid-April, 2017.
Last year a grant funded the first round of book discussions, but it was a one-time-only grant and also it’s very difficult to coordinate a grant’s schedule with the realities of prison life, so I’m trying crowd-sourced funding instead. The men were very enthusiastic and have told their friends about the group, and the prison also encourages us to repeat the group.
A number of small contributions to the project will show the men that there are many people in the community who encourage them to read and think, and I know they feel a responsibility to stick with the sometimes-difficult work of reading and thinking when they know that other people have made it possible.
This is not an expensive project-I can buy fifteen copies of seven books for under $1000, so that is my goal. My time and the prison space are donated. If it's possible to fund the group this year for less than that, I'll save the money for next year's group. I don't reuse the books, because one goal is have the books passed on to other inmates. In a setting where books are scarce, each volume will be read by many.
I first realized how much reading meant to men in prison when I taught English there for a community college, and since then I've led meditation groups for many years in prison settings. My own backgroup includes 30 years of teaching experience, many years of leading library book discussions, and a lifetime of reading and talking about books.
Studies have shown that exposure to good literature has the power to increase empathy, and we all know that reading increases literacy and cultural awareness. I hope you’ll be willing to help with a donation to this project.
Both the men in the group and I will be very grateful for your generosity, and you can know that you're not only making someone's life a little better, but you may also be making a small contribution towards turning him to a better way of living.
Help spread the word!