Happening with HEPI
Dr. Jim Nolan will continue in the role of Interim Director while Dr. Katy Ryan is on leave.
HEPI hosted teacher training for new instructors and book club members on May 8th at Greene and May 9th on campus. Inside students led the first day of training. Guest speaker Kenny Matthews, Outreach Coordinator at the West Virginia Drug Intervention Institute, joined participants for the second day of training.
Dr. Ann Pancake, Dr. Laura Brady, Dr. Nathalie Singh-Corcoran, and Leslie Wilbur hosted a creative writing workshop at Greene on May 2nd. More than 45 people participated and learned about story structures and maintaining a daily writing practice. They also drafted original free-verse poems using George Ella Lyon's "Where I'm From" as a model.
HEPI now has a Writing Studio to help people revise their writing. The Studio is currently available to C Block. Please contact Ms. Gansor for more information.
Course Updates
Students recently completed FCLT 380: The Holocaust in East European Literature and Film with Dr. Lisa DiBartolomeo.
“ This semester is my second teaching most of this group of men, and the subject matter has been hard, as expected. But the students have been so sensitive to the stories, characters, and events detailed in our texts. One thing that I have deeply valued is the way they bring their perspective as incarcerated men to the texts we have read and viewed.”
Students also completed Math 122: Quantitative Skills & Reasoning with Dr. Jennifer Kearns.
Students will take Math 124: Algebra with Applications with Instructor Clark Metz over the summer.
In the fall, cohort members will take ENGL 102: Composition and Rhetoric with Instructor Destinee Harper and CRIM 433: Inside-Out
Prison Exchange with Dr. Jim Nolan.
Alumni Updates
We recently learned that Derrick's conviction was vacated, though he remains incarcerated. His case has gained significant attention and will be i ncluded in an upcoming book by John Grisham. We hope for the best outcome for Derrick.
Jodi Link returned to Morgantown in December. In April, she started a new position as a social worker with the 17th Judicial Circuit Public Defender Office in downtown Morgantown. She sends her care to the cohort on the inside and hopes to see them soon.
Kaitlynn Youse started a new position this month as a Community Corrections Monitor at the Community Corrections Center near Greene.
Emily Morrell wrapped up her first year of coursework at Princeton in May. This summer, she’s learning Spanish, writing, and working on research. She’s hoping to get involved with a program that offers classes on the inside in New Jersey while she’s at Princeton (although no one could beat the discussion and performances of the cohort at SCI Greene!). Emily sends care and solidarity to the cohort on the inside.
Book Club
Book Club has been on DE Block this semester and will rotate to AB Block next semester. This semester’s book club has read 6 books and a number of short stories and poems. Club favorites were Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.
Creative Writing
Students in Dr. Ann Pancake’s AB Block creative writing workshop submitted work to be included in this newsletter. You will find “Heart Attack“ by Stephen and a stanza from a longer poem by Bones on the back of this newsletter. You can find these pieces and more from the book club on the HEPI website.
Book Suggestions From HEPI
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Suggested by Ann Pancake
The Chaneysville Incident by David Bradley
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Suggested by Melvin
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of American’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
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Suggested by Dominic
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
Rules for Renegades by Christine Comaford Lynch
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Suggested by Bones
The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Dubois
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Suggested by AB
T he Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
HEPI Highlight
Rayna, HEPI Program Coordinator
HEPI is about community. We are small, but mighty. I learn so much from each of the students, scholars, and community members, and it helps me be better. It gives me hope. The hope is the fuel. I love the community. The meaning behind it all. I see the value. The impact. I feel it in my bones.
I have so many favorite memories from HEPI. One particular moment that stands out was at a closing ceremony for a drama course. Sim, with all the bravery in the world, got up and sang an original song he composed. He prefaced it by saying he couldn’t sing that well before belting out a jaw- dropping solo. Other moments, too, like Champ performing at the same ceremony, rapping about “they said I couldn’t do it / I said, sit back and watch.” The students presenting pitches to administration in the Chapel.
Performing parts of plays. Watching the students lead teacher training. The leadership, the wisdom. Hearing about students being released.
As far as future goals for HEPI, I want to offer more student support services to the cohort, like academic advising. I would love to start a second cohort. I would love to offer workshops and bring in more guests. I would love to see every group project from the Inspiring Change Collective come to fruition. Ultimately, I want HEPI to be sustainable. I can’t tell you how much I look forward to watching the first cohort graduate with an Associate of Arts degree.
Heart Attack
Stephen
I'd never been to a funeral before. To be honest, I was dreading this one. Til this point in my short seven year old life the only dead bodies that I'd seen were in movies and video games. I'm pretty sure Pop Pop's body wouldn't be like one of those though, would it?
I still don't understand what happened to my Pop Pop. Why would his heart attack? Was it mad at Pop Pop? Zombie attack, vampire attack these things I can understand. Zombies are hungry for brains and vampires are thirsty for blood but what makes hearts attack? This is a new one for me and I'm still puzzled. In the Walking Dead, Darryl kills zombies with a crossbow and I don't have one of those. My vast experience with vampire movies probably isn't useful either because I'm dealing with a killer heart. I've got my trusty pocketknife that Pop Pop gave me with me though and if that damn heart attacks again I'll be ready.
Mom and Dad don't seem worried, sad, but not worried. That's ok, it's all on me to protect us from that killer heart. Sometimes it's on us kids to protect our parents. Mom and Dad do their parts so me, I'll stop that damn killer heart.
As I walk up to the coffin I'm sweating and I start to shake but I've got to do this. I slip my hand into the pocket of my suit pants and make sure my knife is there. Only five more steps. I can't breathe. One, Two, Three, Four, I force my foot forward for one more step, Five. I stare down at Pop Pop gripping the knife in my sweaty hand and then, nothing, nothing at all.
It's just my Pop Pop, my Pop Pop who carried me on his shoulders, who taught me how to throw a ball, who loved me very much. Then the tears begin to fall. The heart doesn't attack but the tears begin to fall.
Excerpt from Book Club or the Crook Club
Bones
Although our liberties were confiscated we still have the freedom of thought
Caught up in the Rapture of next character next chapter
As we gather in laughter it all got a grip on me like a Raptor Mental blocks are lifted
And we're gifted wit a glimmer of the hereafter