Giving at-risk youngsters the opportunity to write about themselves on their own terms opens the way for more personal support aimed toward their recovery, according to a couple of organizations that united for a writing workshop geared toward juvenile offenders.
The two organizations were Kid C.A.T. (Creating Awareness Together) a San Quentin self-help group, and The Beat Within, a San Francisco-based bi-monthly magazine.
The Beat Within began as an idea in a San Francisco courthouse, according to an article in the Vallejo Times-Herald by Lanz Christian Bates. It is a publication started in 1996 that has expanded to more than 200 volunteers who operate in juvenile halls across the country. David Inocencio, a San Francisco social worker, told the Times-Herald that The Beat Within is way for young people to have a voice. He said that he wanted youngsters to be their own storytellers.
Youngsters submit poetry to sections of the magazine called Pieces of the Week and Co-Pieces of the Week. The Standouts section gives young readers the opportunity to give personal accounts about themselves.
A section called The Beat Without has a connotation of the “blues,” but its honesty illustrates that young minds are able to clearly identify what troubles them, which is one of the first steps toward change, according to the 12-Step model. Magazine staffers respond to the youngsters’ writing by means of a section called From the Beat.
As an example: Bones, a young writer, submitted: What Would Make Me Happier, “I would be happier if I had my freedom. If I had my freedom and never came back no matter what I did, good or bad. When I come to jail, I stress a lot because I can’t see my family. I’ve been in jail five times and am tired.” From The Beat responded: “As you well know, there are consequences when you make bad decisions. The flip side of this is that when you make good decisions, you can be rewarded, especially with hard work and consistency.
“I think the young people truly benefit from reading the stories and relating to them,” Inocencio said in an e-mail interview. “I shared with the young people in San Mateo that we were doing this workshop with men in San Quentín and they were so surprised and looking forward to hearing what Kid C.A.T. members had to say.”
Kid C.A.T. members are offenders who were of a young age when they committed their crimes. However, through their pro-social curriculum they are able to show that they have made progress in becoming responsible and rehabilitated men.
My father — Who is your dad? My anger — What makes you angry? Words from the wise, quote of the week and I am proud — What and/or who are you proud of?
These were prompts that San Quentin’s Kid C.A.T. members wrote about at the workshop. Their writings will appear in The Beat Without section.
Kid C.A.T. members wrote about what it means to be a good dad and described if they were fathers, the choices they’d make in child rearing. Their responses also addressed understanding anger, how to express it and what drives anger from a personal perspective.
Antoine Brown, 36, said that the workshop was something that he could relate to because he wanted to give the young readers insight into how to make stronger decisions about their lives. “I want to just go from what I feel in my heart,” he said about how he decided to answer the prompt.
Brown, who as a juvenile was sentenced as an adult and sent to prison, added, “I found out that life is full of constant struggles. But I never gave up on myself, realizing that change could only come when I decided to change the condition of impure feelings and thoughts that existed within my heart and mind.”
The name Kid C.A.T. conveys the growth of its members from childhood to adulthood while evoking a sense of youthfulness. Its message is that of a mature nature behind the implication of the acronym C.A.T. (Creating Awareness Together).
The Kid C.A.T. members say their goal is to “demonstrate the human capacity of redemption, disarming the stigma in relation to youth, crime and incarceration; to work towards restoring that which has been harmed by the men’s poor choices, in the form of providing services to inside and outside communities; and to pioneer a community effort of improving social values in regards to youth and what is important to their well-being and development.”
“Going forward, with the permission of San Quentin, hopefully we can continue to work together to bring The Beat Within writing workshop to Kid C.A.T. on an ongoing basis,” said Inocencio. “They’re so hungry to engage. We all like to share stories and these men have so much to share.”
