Broken

Never think no one will help because they will. I’m glad it took years to put this puzzle together because what I see today is the puzzle I have come to love. It might have taken many years of waiting to see the results, and what I see today is beautiful.

From Violence to Creation

Jason Davis, head of the Harlem Bloods and now engaged with peace activity, talks about moving from violence to creation, how he brought his gang with him, and how he learned to use his influence in prison for good.

Our Attention: The Most Precious Commodity

Our freedom comes from consciously putting our attention on what we want to, not on where it’s drawn to or hijacked. We put our focus where we want. The economy, the media, the ex, whoever — they don’t get to draw our attention if we don’t want it to go there.

Cinnamon-Cardamom Filled Whole Grain Scones

When I was in my late teens I began reading cookbooks like novels. It turns out I have something called synesthesia where a stimulus that comes in through one sense gets transferred to another sense. For me, it meant that when I read a recipe, I could smell it and taste it.

Why Self-Kindness Is Essential and Five Ways to Practice It

Why is it essential to be kind to ourselves? It’s astonishing that this question would even come up, but it’s more astonishing how many of us don’t think we deserve kindness — a tragic tribute to demeaning childhood programming and trauma.

Doin’ Life in Prison

If I had a single life sentence
I’d still be struggling though
Instead of seeking the Lord.
I’d be aiming for ‘dem milestones
Seeing what I could do for me, myself, and I
to get an out date soon.
Instead He gave me five
sentences well past my lifetime.

Free Food: A Place to Find Love

One of our volunteers, who comes in every week, is very observant. He watches. I asked him the other day why he comes, he said, “To come to a place where all people are accepted. It’s not like that in other places…”

More Free than Those in the Free World

Remember what we put in is what we get out. It’s up to us to do the work, and then to apply the work. Yes, we may be incarcerated, but we have the power to be more free than those in the free world.

Buoyancy

To praise the sun is to praise your own eyes.
Praise, the ocean. What we say, a little ship.

So—the sea-journey continues and who knows where?
Just to be held by the ocean is the best luck
we could have.