The Boat, and a joint fundraiser

Hey, friends-

I hope everyone’s settling in for a perhaps-less-together Thanksgiving holiday, and every one of you at the very least is spending some time eating and merrymaking with your closest loved ones. As my own immediate family gears up to not leave the house from Wednesday to Friday, I wanted to share a couple of things with you.

First, we have a new piece up in The Work that I want to share, jointly written by Re/Creation facilitator Marzian Alam and workshop participant Prisoner K about the ubiquitous Vernon C. Bain Center, aka The Boat, the floating barge that serves as overflow facility for Rikers Island. This piece developed out of conversations in our workshop, in Marzian’s case about boarding the Boat from the outside to facilitate educational programming and in Prisoner K’s case about being detained there. It’s a haunting piece, and I’m gratified to share it with you here.

Second, I’m happy to announce that Re/Creation is doing a joint fundraiser with Dances for Solidarity, an amazing, interesting non-profit organization that connects prisoners in solitary confinement with the outside world through dance and choreography. We’re raising money specifically for the technological needs of the people with whom we work, which is especially important during this time of social distancing. Some things on our holiday wishlist:

• Permanent phone service for Sonny

• A laptop for Antonio

• A work center for Marvin as we help him transcribe 25 years of handwritten work he produced inside Sing Sing before his release last year

• Funds to facilitate more seminar series like the one I just completed at Queensboro Correctional Facility with fellow professors from NYU and St. John’s (Wait, I forgot to tell you about that! Next dispatch, promise!)

We’re doing the fundraiser through crowdfunding nonprofit ioby, which will match donations up to $8,000, and I’d love if you’d make us part of your holiday giving! You can donate below anytime until December 7.

And sorry I haven’t been the best at communicating the past couple of months. As usual, it’s because things have been so busy! Stay safe, fam, and do let me know how you are.