Lessons from San Quentin

2014-10-17 Religion

Author : Bill Dallas
Release : 2014-10-17
Genre : Religion
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 219/5 ( reviews)

GET EBOOK

Book Synopsis Lessons from San Quentin by : Bill Dallas

Download or read book Lessons from San Quentin written by Bill Dallas. This book was released on 2014-10-17. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If Bill Dallas didn’t have it all, he had most of it. A diploma from a prestigious university, a lucrative career as a top California real estate entrepreneur, and more than enough money to fund a life filled with sports cars, penthouses, and beautiful women. And then it all fell apart. Convicted of grand theft embezzlement, the former golden boy found himself in one of the nation’s most infamous institutions—San Quentin, home of “the worst of the worst.” He thought it was the end of everything. But the real story was about to begin. Lessons from San Quentin chronicles Bill’s journey from narcissistic playboy . . . to suicidal inmate . . . to spiritual apprentice. Along the way, it introduces us to his unlikely mentors—San Quentin’s “Lifers,” who guided Bill to an unexpected relationship with God. Through a vivid and transparent recounting of stories from his prison experience, Bill shares 12 life principles he had to learn the hard way—and that can help you triumph over even the most difficult circumstances.

A Rescue from Illiteracy

2020-11

Author : Mary Pecci
Release : 2020-11
Genre :
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 340/5 ( reviews)

GET EBOOK

Book Synopsis A Rescue from Illiteracy by : Mary Pecci

Download or read book A Rescue from Illiteracy written by Mary Pecci. This book was released on 2020-11. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Imagine you are a twenty-three-year-old illiterate black inmate at San Quentin Prison, unable to read or answer your mail, walking blindly past warning signs posted on prison walls. Then out of the blue, a well-known reading specialist comes right to your door to teach you how to read. This book, A Rescue from Illiteracy, tells that very story. It all began during Mary Pecci's many workshops, when she would be confronted by participants who claimed that adult illiterates had "passed the point of learning." In an effort to disprove this theory, Mary set out to find an adult illiterate and teach him to read. She began to amuse herself with the thought that a prison was one of the few places where she could get an adult illiterate who would be predictably available. But San Quentin, the closest prison, was a maximum-security prison. She was scared stiff. As the days passed, she began to be intrigued by the thought of some poor, lost illiterate in some prison hellhole receiving the services of a professional reading specialist. She could picture him pinching himself to see if it was really happening. She then thought to herself, Wouldn't it be fun to bring a miracle into someone's life? So, Mary prayed for a sign from the Lord, and when she received that sign, she made the arrangements to volunteer to teach an inmate to read at San Quentin Prison. As this story unfolds, it sheds light on three major issues that have a critical impact on our society: the crippling handicap of illiteracy; what life is like in the prison system; and the inadequacy of our public education system.

My Life with Lifers

2012-02-24 Education

Author : Elaine Leeder
Release : 2012-02-24
Genre : Education
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 012/5 ( reviews)

GET EBOOK

Book Synopsis My Life with Lifers by : Elaine Leeder

Download or read book My Life with Lifers written by Elaine Leeder. This book was released on 2012-02-24. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "I have always been drawn to darkness," Elaine Leeder writes. "I know I always championed the underdog." That path has led her through many years of teaching prisoners and now to San Quentin in California and her current role as a leader of the inmates' own group, New Leaf on Life. There, although many of the "lifers" she teaches have served twenty to thirty years and are eligible for parole, they never see that opportunity because of the popular view that they are all "hardened criminals," killers incapable of rehabilitation and unfit to be free. What Leeder has learned, however, is that incarceration does not dictate character. Her students, although they are convicts, are committed to making their time in jail a life sentence in the best sense, not a death sentence. They have gone the extra mile to come to terms with their crimes, and have often managed to redeem their lives. My Life With Lifers shares the journey of a woman "on the outside" as she discovered the true nature of life in prison, and the roadblocks -- so many unneeded -- on the inmates' path to freedom. What Leeder's experiences add up to is both a fascinating human story and a reasoned and impassioned case for prison reform.

This Is Ear Hustle

2022-08-30 Social Science

Author : Nigel Poor
Release : 2022-08-30
Genre : Social Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 885/5 ( reviews)

GET EBOOK

Book Synopsis This Is Ear Hustle by : Nigel Poor

Download or read book This Is Ear Hustle written by Nigel Poor. This book was released on 2022-08-30. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A “profound, sometimes hilarious, often heartbreaking” (The New York Times) view of prison life, as told by currently and formerly incarcerated people, from the co-creators and co-hosts of the Peabody- and Pulitzer-nominated podcast Ear Hustle “A must-read for fans of the legendary podcast and all those who seek to understand crime, punishment, and mass incarceration in America.”—Piper Kerman, author of Orange Is the New Black When Nigel Poor and Earlonne Woods met, Nigel was a photography professor volunteering with the Prison University Project and Earlonne was serving thirty-one years to life at California’s San Quentin State Prison. Initially drawn to each other by their shared interest in storytelling, neither had podcast production experience when they decided to enter Radiotopia’s contest for new shows . . . and won. Using the prize for seed money, Nigel and Earlonne launched Ear Hustle, named after the prison term for “eavesdropping.” It was the first podcast created and produced entirely within prison and would go on to be heard millions of times worldwide, garner Peabody and Pulitzer award nominations, and help earn Earlonne his freedom when his sentence was commuted in 2018. In This Is Ear Hustle, Nigel and Earlonne share their own stories of how they came to San Quentin, how they created their phenomenally popular podcast amid extreme limitations, and what has kept them collaborating season after season. They present new stories, all with the same insight, balance, and rapport that distinguish the podcast. In an era when more than two million people are incarcerated across the United States—a number that grows by 600,000 annually—Nigel and Earlonne explore the full and often surprising realities of prison life. With characteristic candor and humor, their moving portrayals include unexpected moments of self-discovery, unlikely alliances, inspirational resilience, and ingenious work-arounds. One personal narrative at a time, framed by Nigel’s and Earlonne’s distinct perspectives, This Is Ear Hustle reveals the complexity of life for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people while illuminating the shared experiences of humanity that unite us all.

Disguised As A Poem

2000-09-01 Biography & Autobiography

Author : Judith Tannenbaum
Release : 2000-09-01
Genre : Biography & Autobiography
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 523/5 ( reviews)

GET EBOOK

Book Synopsis Disguised As A Poem by : Judith Tannenbaum

Download or read book Disguised As A Poem written by Judith Tannenbaum. This book was released on 2000-09-01. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Judith Tannenbaum last met with her poetry writing class at San Quentin prison, one of the students commented, "Now I'm going to give you an assignment: write about these past four years from your point of view; tell your story; let us know what you learned." This beautifully crafted memoir is the fulfillment of that assignment.In stirring and intimate prose, Tannenbaum details the challenges, rewards, and paradoxes of teaching poetry to maximum-security inmates convicted of capital crimes. Recounting how she and her students shared profound and complicated lessons about humanity and life both inside and outside San Quentin's walls, Tannenbaum tells provocative stories of obsession, racism, betrayal, despair, courage, and beauty. Contrary to the growing public perception of prisoners as demons, the men in this poetry class-Angel, Coties, Elmo, Glenn, Richard, Spoon-emerge not as beasts or heroes but as human beings with expressive voices, thoughts, and feelings strikingly similar to the free.Tannenbaum provides revealing views of conditions in the cellblocks and shows how the realities of prison life often paralleled her own life experiences. She also relates such events as visits to her group by prominent poets (including Nobel Prize-winner Czeslaw Milosz); a prison production of Waiting for Godot sponsored by Samuel Beckett himself; and the presentation of her students' work to a class of sixth and eighth graders, who connected to the prisoners' words by writing their own poems to the inmates.

Popular eBooks

Lessons from San Quentin

A Rescue from Illiteracy

My Life with Lifers

Disguised As A Poem

You may also like...