Five Things I’m Afraid to Write About

The Daily Post’s Topic #274: Make a list of 5 things you’re afraid to write about

While I was brainstorming for this post, I couldn’t think of a whole lot of topics — I’ve published over three hundred posts, and I’ve covered a fairly wide range of topics. As I was writing it, however, I kept thinking of new things that I’ve found myself avoiding. I may end up making another post titled “Five Additional Things About Which I’m Afraid to Write” (yes, ending the title with a preposition bothers me a little, although it’s clearly not stopping me). 

How I Was Introduced To Prison Abolition

The first time I can remember the concept of prison abolition appearing on my radar was my junior year of college — a friend was involved with an organization, Justice Now, that works with women prisoners and toward a world without prisons. Their website, although it never technically mentions the term “abolition,” was the first real exposure I had to the idea of prison abolition — the idea of getting rid of prisons in favor of  a “world without prisons.”

Blogging About Prison Abolition

I have referred to prison abolition numerous times on my blog. I have not, however, devoted a post specifically to prison abolition. For a number of reasons, really — how could I condense everything I want to say into one post? There’s also a lot of pressure for that one post to be perfect: it’s an important topic. I want for learning about prison abolition to change people’s minds, people’s worldviews, people’s lives. And I don’t think I’m the person to do that.

My Reading Lists: What I Want To Read

I’ve never been very good about reading one book at a time. There are so many books, and there’s so little time — I’m nearly always in the middle of several books at a time. I’ve recently finished Queer (In)Justice (written by Joey Mogul, Andrea Ritchie, and Kay Whitlock), which I’d strongly recommend to everyone, and I just started Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness yesterday (I can already tell it’s going to be excellent). I’m also in the middle of The Revolution Will Not Be Funded: Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex, by INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence, which I’ve been working my way through it for a while now. 

TJLP: “I Have Been Changed For Good.”

As I think about the time I’ve spent involved with the Transformative Justice Law Project (TJLP), the song “For Good” from Wicked comes to mind. Absolutely, the incredible people I’ve met through TJLP have truly impacted who I am and informed how I think. TJLP — as a community, as a law project, and simply as a space in which I’ve been has definitely allowed me to grow and learn and flourish.

I’ve heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return

Today I Went To Prison

I went to a prison for the first time today. I accompanied one of the attorneys for the law project at which I intern on a legal visit to one of our clients. It was horrifying. I am more convinced than ever that something needs to change: the prison industrial complex is just wrong, on so many levels. 

This Is Just Wrong

While I was checking Facebook a few minutes ago, I just saw a link to this article and video — “Utah police shot and killed a man within seconds of storming his parents’ home.” I’m not going to summarize the article or what happened; go to the article for that. I honestly don’t know what to say.

On so many levels, there is so much wrong with this.

The Chance to Make a Difference: Transformative Justice Law Project of Illinois

If you’ve followed my blog at all, you’ve likely heard of the Transformative Justice Law Project (TJLP), as I’ve blogged about it numerous times before. (I would like to state for the record, however, that anything on my blog other than the following letter is my own opinion and not necessarily reflective of TJLP.) TJLP is an amazing organization and really has changed my life. Please read the following letter from TJLP, reposted with their permission, and consider making a donation.

I Love TJLP

“Dream big about how fierce and beautiful we want the world to be.”

I’ve only been interning with TJLP* (the Transformative Justice Law Project, about which I’ve blogged previously) for a matter of months, but it has already been one of the most outstanding experiences of my life. There is something really magical about TJLP — a combination of the people, the clients, the values upon which TJLP was founded, and maybe some kind of special TJLP essence.

The Most Amazing Person I’ve Ever Met

Owen Daniel-McCarter

Seriously. I know I’ve gone on in the past about various fictional characters and people (David Tennant, Blaine from Glee, Sam Tsui, and the like), but this time, I really mean it. Owen Daniel-McCarter is the most incredible person I’ve ever met (including Dean Spade, and those of you who spent any time near me around the last month or so of my senior year of undergrad know that’s saying a lot). He is just an absolute joy to be around, and he inspires me to be a better person.

Owen founded the Transformative Justice Law Project (TJLP), which provides “free, zealous, life-affirming, and gender-affirming holistic criminal legal services to low-income and street based transgender and gender non-conforming people targeted by the criminal legal system” in the state of Illinois.