‘Mystery in Blue’

Last Thursday evening, women who participate regularly in writinginsideVT shared their writing with interested inmates and invited providers from other prison programs. Following the reading, we received a large number of comments by guests attesting to the power of our model, the depth of expression elicited, and the willingness of the writers to be vulnerable in their sharing. One particularly striking comment: ‘I didn’t realize the depth you have to go to in order to absorb someone else’s emotion.’

And isn’t that what vulnerability is all about? One open heart opens another. These women behind prison walls opened themselves to a group of strangers to share the deepest part of themselves, as they have opened to women with whom they live in close and difficult quarters.  They have learned a great deal about human dignity – their own and one another’s. They have learned their own value. They have learned the power of telling their truth from the heart.