Art & Writing

Art and writing play a critical role in how we perceive the questions of our time. The authors, poets, playwrights, painters, sculptors, printmakers, filmmakers, actors, songwriters, musicians, choreographers, dancers, and other artists, performers, and writers may or may not present the best answers, but they weave together the collective thoughts, passions, fears and joys, the terrifying and beautiful dreams of our people and our world. When considering deeply the meaning of justice, it is important to look at culture contributions as well as policy, research, law, and life experiences. The messages of our creatives can be critical, can be visionary, can be redemptive. These messages can each perform a role in our transformation, our next stage in growth.


Interview: Cop Out from the Red Door Project

  By , , ,

Below is a link to a recorded interview produced by Think Out Loud, a weekly program from Oregon Public Broadcasting, featuring Kevin Jones, co-founder and Artistic Director of the August Wilson Red Door Project, and Portland Police Deputy Chief Robert Day. They are discussing the Red Door Project’s new production, called Cop Out, which is a series of monologues based on playwrights’ interviews with police officers. Cop Out is currently in previews and will have it’s world premiere November 30th through December 2nd at Self Enhancement, Inc., in Portland. The monologues in Cop Out depict stories of police officers of varied rank, experience, race and gender, as they interact with each other, their families, the institutions they represent, and the community they are sworn to protect and serve. Cop Out is the next step in a journey that began with the Red Door’s previous production of The New Black Fest’s… Continue reading

Take a Breath

  By , ,

Are you in a courtroom? an office? On the street? At your kid’s sports practice? In a classroom? Here is a meditation that can be folded into an active day, or used during time set aside for meditation. Observe the people around you and imagine how they might be breathing, how their breath sounds and feels to them right now. For each breath you take, rest your eyes on a different person, and imagine you are taking a breath with them. Notice how the air smells and feels, be present to the sounds that accompany the breath. Gradually move outward in your thoughts to imagine people who are outside of where you are. If you are sitting alone, you would start this meditation at this stage. There may be a park nearby. There could be parents, nannies, and children on the playground. Imagine a young child who is being pushed… Continue reading

Street Requiem

  By , ,

Contributed by Kim Vanderheiden A friend and I recently attended a performance of Street Requiem in Berkeley California. A fellow artist I knew was singing in it, and I had read about efforts to collect the names of the homeless who had recently died on our streets who were being remembered in it. I wanted to hear this contemporary take on a rich and powerful traditional form of music and prayer, and to hear the names of people whose paths have interwoven with mine, but I’ve never known, and who are now gone. The church in which it was held was close to the college campus and active in hosting performances and speakers of interest to the local community as well as students. My friend and I walked in among hundreds of others who were gathering. Many were seated already. We decided to try the balcony. As the orchestra warmed… Continue reading

The Right to Remain Human

  By , , , ,
Wallet card of Right to Remain Human text

contributed by Kim Vanderheiden You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand the rights I have just read to you? With these rights in mind, do you wish to speak to me? In 1966, the U.S. Supreme Court gave its decision in Miranda v. Arizona, requiring that suspects in police custody be alerted to their 5th Amendment rights before interrogation. The court did not rule in what manner or with what language suspects were to be informed. Subsequently, then Deputy Attorney General Doris Maier, along with Nevada County District Attorney and internationally renown letterpress printer Harold Berliner, were called upon to write concise language that officers in the state of California should use to… Continue reading

Book Review: The Mars Room

  By ,

Rachel Kushner’s The Mars Room tells the story of one woman’s life inside the prison system – Contributed by Jenny Zoe Casey In her novel The Mars Room, Rachel Kushner (http://rachelkushner.com) considers our criminal justice system from a rare vantage point – that of a vulnerable young woman who is both subject to it and victimized by it. Kushner’s protagonist, Romy, is just a few years shy of a youth spent in the crevices of working class San Francisco, amongst a cohort trapped in cycles of petty crime, drug use, dysfunction, and poverty. The mother of a young boy whose father is absent, she makes her living as a lap dancer. For reasons that seem rational and easy to understand, Romy finds herself the recipient of two consecutive life sentences, plus a ludicrous additional six years. Thus we are introduced to her experience of life in a women’s prison. According… Continue reading