Creativity, Education and Prison - Online Wednesday Morning

[12 December 2006 - Steve Dahlberg] I just found out that an article I wrote last month is going to be featured on Wednesday as the "Editors' Pick" article on Gather.com. Gather.com is an online community, particularly geared toward public radio listeners.

From the Gather.com Editor: On behalf of the editorial team here at Gather, I am very pleased to inform you that your article "The Right to Be Creative -- In Schools, In Prison and In Life" has been chosen as an Editors' Pick. Congratulations! Your article will be featured on the home page of Gather.com on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 from 7:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. EST.
http://www.gather.com

This article was written following the opening performance of "Time In" in Hartford, which featured the words and inspiration of female prisoners from Connecticut. They were part of a creative writing class with author Wally Lamb (who has also been featured as an Oprah author). The article was also inspired by my mentor and colleague Berenice Bleedorn's work with prisoners in Minnesota in the 1980s.

"Last month I witnessed the positive impact that creativity had for a group of incarcerated women. Through a creative writing program, their creative spirits were nurtured, supported and given a voice -- where previously they'd been trampled, stifled and shredded."Time In" explores the stories of women incarcerated at York Correctional Institution in Niantic, Connecticut. This collaborative dance, song and spoken-word performance encompasses the stories of female prisoners' lives before conviction, the ceaseless presence of time in their lives on the inside, and the new lives and language they must learn as convicts. It also explores the life of the mind and spirit-- something that isn't given over to confinement in cells and boxes, like the rest of their lives are in prison. For some, the freedom of the mind is a way to maintain sanity; for others, a way to begin to imagine life after prison."

Here's the permanent link to the article, after it is featured on the Gather.com home page Wednesday morning:
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976857411