Art created by a participant in a comic arts project at our local youth jail (2010)

Happy New Year! When I started this blog 18 months ago, I wanted to find a place where I could write about my work and about the issues that I care about. It has turned into more than that. I really appreciate hearing from the readers of this blog. Your ideas, suggestions, and encouragement keep me writing. I am incredibly grateful.

The beginning of a new year is a great time to set intentions. Here are a few of mine for this blog:

1. I will continue to rant against various injustices. After all, what good is it to have a blog if you can’t rant and vent? It seems to me that this is the purpose of blogging: catharsis.

2. I hope to keep bringing the voices of currently and formerly incarcerated people to the fore. I’ll do that by sharing their writing and ideas.

3. I will continue to highlight the terrific prison abolitionist work that is taking place around the world (and particularly in the U.S.). This includes sharing resources and information about transformative justice.

4. I will continue to provide updates about my own work and share the product of that work when appropriate.

5. I hope to provide a platform for the writing and projects of friends and strangers who are doing inspiring and interesting work about the prison industrial complex. I hope to expand the space to include many more guest bloggers. The people who I have been gently nudging to write over the past 18 months will be getting more assertive pushes this year…

6. Finally, one of the most consistent themes that I hear from those of you who e-mail me is that you appreciate learning more about the history of prisons and criminal legal reform. I intend to continue to write about this here. In fact, I am planning a series that will focus on some of the “invisible” moments of resistance to the PIC over the past 400 years. More on this is forthcoming…

2012 is upon us. May each of us make the most of our opportunities this year and May we each contribute in some way to making the world more peaceful and just!