Quarantine reading, watching and listening materials
Thank you to each of you who have provided your support to Brilliance Inside during this time of transition. (For those of you interested, meet us here and thank you in advance!)
We hope you continue to transform and thrive in your own lives, your work, with your families, trusting that this ultimately transforms your communities. This is the ripple effect we see from our work and we know it applies to us outside of prison just as much as it applies to the prison residents.
Our greatest hope is that you see, in this season, an incredible opportunity to create the change you wish to see. If our Donovan friends have taught us anything, it's that everysituation - no matter how extreme - can be a reason to be defeated and deflated or a reason to rise up, learn and transform.
Therefore, our intent is for these monthly emails to be a continued source of inspiration and community. For anyone who struggles seeing the light instead of the darkness, know that you are completely loved, supported and cared for.
Also, the Brilliance Inside team shares below its reading list of thought-provoking and inspiring books written by prison residents or about prison. In addition to the continuing lessons from the world's leading experts in confinement, these books carry a wealth of insights for us to implement in this season.
Third, feel free to reach out if a conversation is the greatest source of support right now. Replies to this email come directly to me, Mariette.
Finally, a bit of news from the inside, as we remain connected to the Donovan community and receive regular updates. As of last week, no Donovan resident had contracted covid. And the one staff who has, has been working from home for weeks. We honor the staff and custody who are walking the tight-rope between keeping every person physically safe and ensuring their emotional, psychological and spiritual well-being. Not an easy balance to strike...
As I release you to the resources, inspiration and ideas below, each of us at Brilliance Inside wish you get another brilliant month of growth, transformation and new creations.
The Brilliance Inside quarantine reading list
Inside This Place, Not Of It: Narratives from Women’s Prisons edited by Robin Levi and Ayelet Waldman
Trafficking the Good Life by Jennifer Myers (a Brilliance Inside volunteer)
Writing After Life: Stories from Those Who Served a Life Sentence edited by Leslie Willis (a Brilliance Inside volunteer)
Felon: Poems by Reginald Dwayne Betts
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson (There's a movie too!)
The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row by Anthony Ray Hinton
I Am Susan Burton: From Prison to Recovery to Leading the Fight for Incarcerated Women by Susan Burton
Solitary by Albert Woodfox
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
No Future without Forgiveness by Desmond Tutu
Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship by Father Greg Boyle
Locked In: The True Causes of Mass Incarceration and How to Achieve Real Reform by John Pfaff