A Book. A Podcast. A Mission.
When Owen learned that his brother, Mikey, had overdosed on heroin and was in the hospital, he blamed himself for being the one who first got Mikey high. And he beat himself up for the time in his life when he was getting high.
When Robb discovered booze as a 12-year old, all of his problems went away: the abandonment by his mother, the anxiety about his racial identity, the relentless physical abuse from his father. Years later, he hit his rock bottom.
After being sexually abused by older boys, Ronald learned how to use sex to manipulate older boys, and after watching the grown-ups abuse substances, he learned how to get high, too. Eventually, he learned how to see another version of himself.
In this tribute to Black history month, we take a literary journey into the ways race consciousness emerges in our everyday lives. What can these moments teach us about our collective history and future life in America?
While Dean and Kelvin were being incarcerated for marijuana in Virginia, it became legal in other states. Now, the Commonwealth is poised to legalize it. Will they get it right? Or will Black people still struggle for freedom and justice as they did before?
In this episode, we follow Dean through the beatings he received as a child to see how they led him into the criminal justice system.
If you are stuck in a prison of the mind, I feel like I know you and might even be able to help you.
On this episode, we look at our childhoods and upbringings, our earliest experiences, and how our early backgrounds shaped our adult lives.
On this episode, we ask what happens when African-American children first encounter the reality of racism.
On this episode, we preview how the show works and what to expect from Writing Our Way Out: The Podcast.
Writing Our Way Out 