We are thrilled to announce that we are now writing ‘inside’ with mentor-mentee pairs from the Vermont Women’s Mentoring Program!

This mentoring program links incarcerated women at Chittenden Correctional Facility to supportive women mentors from the local community, who can provide meaningful advice throughout the reentry process. (It is a partnership between Vermont Works for Women, Mercy Connections and the Department of Corrections.)

Sarah and I envisioned facilitating writing circles for this unique grouping nearly a year ago, sensing that our model could help deepen the relationships between mentors and mentees getting to know one another.  We were graced with the presence of five mentor-mentee pairs for the kick-off circle last Sunday!

Soul Armor by Emily Steiner Franz

Together we wrote to the prompt … a costume I’d need in the world I hadn’t entered yet … from the poem “Costumes” by Sharon Charde.  I’ve included two pieces from new ‘inside’ writers.  Read on.

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The perfect costume for a world I have not entered yet. I guess that would be an invisible force field that would keep all evil away from me. I would be free to roam about, and wouldn’t have to worry about the demons of my past sneaking up on me and pulling me down.

I’m getting ready to enter a new world alright. The world of sobriety. The open world of sobriety, not surrounded by a barbed wire fence that has kept me away from my past – also my past away from me. 

Now I’m a few weeks away from walking beyond this fence. And I’m ready. I have a suit made of armor. My invisible force field.  –MD    Continue reading →