Natrel again
Jul. 9th, 2005 08:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sleepymaggieOk here's another thing off the natrel list that I thought was interesting. Its from Margot Adler. They were having a conversation about pagan prison ministries -- so she responds with thoughts about her book (Drawing Down the Moon) and prisoners.
"Regarding prison ministry. I have never been an actual prison minister, but strangely, at this point 90% of the letters that come to my old PO box for Drawing Down The Moon are from prisoners. I get several a month, mostly asking questions about resources for Paganism, occasionally wanting to get in touch with a chaplain, more often wanting more books. In a few cases, I have had fairly long correspondences. In one case, I spent several years corresponding with a prisoner of the Asatru faith who was able to send me pictures of his Yule blot, with 17 other guys at the federal medical center in Michigan I believe. They were able to have ceremonies outside in a grove of three trees right next to the Native American sweatlodge, proving them much luckier than most prisoners I have come across. Interestingly, in the perhaps 40-50-70 letters I have received from prisoners (this is a really rough guess), there has never been a single one from woman prisoner.
This fact connects with something that has long fascinated me, and is a question I would like to pose to Wendy or anyone else involved with prisoners. A couple of years ago, I did a story for NPR on prison libraries. I was able to enter two prisons in Maryland, one for men, one for women, and talk to prisoners in the library, as well as librarians, etc. Libraries are often the one free space in prisons. And they have been subject to many recent cutbacks. As one man told me, "here my mind can travel anywhere." In the men's prison, the guys were amazing. Many were in for ten, fifteen years, some for life. Most in the library were muslims, the population was definitely at least 80 percent black. The books being read were of two kinds: spiritual books and self help - on the one hand - and books on business, how to set up your own business, books on black enterprise, etc. - or the guys were on the library computer researching how to improve their legal situation...The interviews were thoughtful and deep, and almost everyone talked about life changing spiritual journeys. In the women's prison, it was a racially more mixed population, more working class whites in the population. Most were in for only a couple of years, and ( this is my surmise) therefore hadn't been forced to think as deeply about their future. They were reading romances, and some history, true crime, etc. and if they were using the computer, the research they were doing was all about divorce, custody, and getting their man back. It was all about men, the boyfriends they were still tied to. The interviews were incredibly shallow. This happened a number of years ago... but I wonder if the fact that most women don't serve long sentences, and therefore still feel tied to their old world makes them less able to delve deeply in the prison situation. I came away very disappointed with the women and wondering why they were so unreflective. As I listened to my tape, pulling cuts, over and over I chose cuts from the men, who were articulate and deep...at least seemingly so.
Anyway, I have no idea if there is a connection between that experience and the fact that I never received a single letter in prison from a woman. Of course perhaps Drawing Down the Moon hasn't been making the rounds in women's prisons... hard to know. Any thoughts out there? Margot Adler."
"Regarding prison ministry. I have never been an actual prison minister, but strangely, at this point 90% of the letters that come to my old PO box for Drawing Down The Moon are from prisoners. I get several a month, mostly asking questions about resources for Paganism, occasionally wanting to get in touch with a chaplain, more often wanting more books. In a few cases, I have had fairly long correspondences. In one case, I spent several years corresponding with a prisoner of the Asatru faith who was able to send me pictures of his Yule blot, with 17 other guys at the federal medical center in Michigan I believe. They were able to have ceremonies outside in a grove of three trees right next to the Native American sweatlodge, proving them much luckier than most prisoners I have come across. Interestingly, in the perhaps 40-50-70 letters I have received from prisoners (this is a really rough guess), there has never been a single one from woman prisoner.
This fact connects with something that has long fascinated me, and is a question I would like to pose to Wendy or anyone else involved with prisoners. A couple of years ago, I did a story for NPR on prison libraries. I was able to enter two prisons in Maryland, one for men, one for women, and talk to prisoners in the library, as well as librarians, etc. Libraries are often the one free space in prisons. And they have been subject to many recent cutbacks. As one man told me, "here my mind can travel anywhere." In the men's prison, the guys were amazing. Many were in for ten, fifteen years, some for life. Most in the library were muslims, the population was definitely at least 80 percent black. The books being read were of two kinds: spiritual books and self help - on the one hand - and books on business, how to set up your own business, books on black enterprise, etc. - or the guys were on the library computer researching how to improve their legal situation...The interviews were thoughtful and deep, and almost everyone talked about life changing spiritual journeys. In the women's prison, it was a racially more mixed population, more working class whites in the population. Most were in for only a couple of years, and ( this is my surmise) therefore hadn't been forced to think as deeply about their future. They were reading romances, and some history, true crime, etc. and if they were using the computer, the research they were doing was all about divorce, custody, and getting their man back. It was all about men, the boyfriends they were still tied to. The interviews were incredibly shallow. This happened a number of years ago... but I wonder if the fact that most women don't serve long sentences, and therefore still feel tied to their old world makes them less able to delve deeply in the prison situation. I came away very disappointed with the women and wondering why they were so unreflective. As I listened to my tape, pulling cuts, over and over I chose cuts from the men, who were articulate and deep...at least seemingly so.
Anyway, I have no idea if there is a connection between that experience and the fact that I never received a single letter in prison from a woman. Of course perhaps Drawing Down the Moon hasn't been making the rounds in women's prisons... hard to know. Any thoughts out there? Margot Adler."
