Special Session: Book Planning!
In a context such as a prison in which the right to make many decisions has been denied to people, it is especially important in the workshop setting to foster a collaborative and non-hierarchical structure. In this spirit, we held an extra session of the class on Wednesday to discuss the book.
To celebrate our extra hours together, Montserrat brought Jamaica tea (she also sells delicious popsicles, in cappuccino and peanut flavors). The women have been excited since last Monday, when we organized a photo session after the workshop. They came dressed and made up and we spent an hour on the lawn outside the class. They took turns posing on their own, some with a background of one of the guard towers, some with in front of a pink flowering bush. Then they lay on the grass in a star shape for group photos. Afterwards, we picked grapefruits from a tree on the lawn and the women filled our bags with them. It was a beautiful afternoon, warm, one of the bright illuminated moments in the chiaroscuro world of lights and darks that is the Cereso.
The book is to be published by local press Catarsis. I explained to the students that it will include their stories and with their permission, photos. Then we passed a sheet of paper to each students, and asked them to write 1) if they would like their photo to appear in the book, and 2) to write their names (or pseudonyms), birthplaces, highest level of education and name of school, and a quote that represents them. Only one of the six students chose anonymity. She will appear in the book with a pseudonym and, per her request, with a picture of her hands writing instead of her face.
In keeping with the spirit of collaboration, the title of the book was put to a vote. The initial title was: A través de los muros: Historias de encierro y libertad. Immediately upon hearing it, Yelena suggested, “What about Contamos a través de los muros?" All of the women immediately supported this change. The final title will be “Nos contamos a través de los muros” (English translation: “We tell our stories through these walls”). They also unanimously vetoed the subtitle, so it was cut. Looking back on it, what they came up with together is better than anything I could have written on my own: it is active, and it comes from their perspective. Edgar, the education director in the Cereso, seems pleased with the progress of the workshop. “They’re excited,” he told me. “They’re collaborating together.” He has been very kind in allowing me to program a special party, to which community members have been invited, to celebrate the closing of the workshop and the book publication on Monday. What began as an idea has turned into so much more than I even imagined when setting out for Merida in June. I know the students share this sense of joy as well, of sharing and creating together, something that will fly far beyond these walls. Below is an image of the book cover, designed by my friend the excellent artist Uggo González.