So, I haven’t read Orange is the New Black and I haven’t seen more than three episodes of the show. So, it is maybe a little weird that I went to see her speak at Outloud! But, friends of mine wanted to go and I like the library and my friends so I figured it would be worth it. I know so little about our prison system that I figured at the very least I would learn something and that is always good.

I was surprised by how long Kerman spoke. I was expecting that she would talk for an hour about her experiences and about why we need prison reform but she talked for more than an hour. I’m not all that interested in her experiences (which is why I haven’t read the book) but I do believe America is desperate need of prison reform. Since Kerman stuck to her time in prison and used that to illuminate issues facing anyone involved in our criminal justice system I don’t think I really learned anything new. When we look at our prison system, well, when I’ve looked at our prison and criminal justice systems it doesn’t seem like we’re getting a lot of things right. America has had to close prisons because of multiple allegations of rape which is particularly horrifying when women in prison report histories that include violence and trauma (such as intimate partner violence and sexual abuse). We have the largest documented prison population and we send people to prison for nonviolent crimes even when they have no history of violence. And, on top of that there are documented disparities in sentencing based on race. Kerman’s talk was well-structured and it highlighted some of these facts about our prison system. She spoke very clearly and if the only reading you have done about our prison system is her memoir, I can imagine how this talk could have been enlightening.

She did talk about things that we could all do to help with prison reform. Of particular importance for readers in Iowa is to keep in contact with our senior senator Chuck Grassley as he heads the Senate Judiciary committee. Kerman also suggested people become volunteers and consider donating things like books to local jails and prisons. She did not mention any local or national organizations that coordinate volunteers nor were any of those groups present in an official capacity at the talk (at least to my knowledge).

I am happy that I went to hear her speak but at the end of the talk I was left wondering: Why is her voice the only voice I see in the mainstream media talking about prison reform? Kerman answered many questions about her memoir and was quick to point out that hers is only one voice out there on our prison system. I would have liked her to mention some of those authors so that we could read them and get alternative views on the prison system. (It was a library event, after all). Thankfully, I had someone I could ask. My friend Kathrina Litchfield is a PhD student in the University of Iowa’s College of Education’s Language, Literacy and Culture program. She studies the benefits of libraries and literacy programs among incarcerated populations. She co-organized last year’s Incarcerated in Iowa Symposium and she recommended this first book:

Jimmy Santiago Baca spent time in a maximum security prison and his memoir focuses on his life before, during, and immediately after his time in prison. I haven’t yet read this book but I was told it was significantly darker than Kerman’s memoir.

For another opinion about reform I suggest Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Y. Davis. In this book, Davis lays out the history of our prison system, suggests that the time for prisons might be approaching an end, and suggests that society as a whole might be in need of transformation. In all honesty, I’m still working on this book but so far I can say that it has impacted how I see the prison and criminal justice systems.

Finally, I would like to suggest one organization that might be of interest to you if you are thinking of volunteering. Black and Pink is an LGBTQ organization built around the idea of prison abolition and connecting LGBTQ prisoners and free-world allies. If you are interested in finding a prison penpal, they have a program set up. They may also have a local chapter that you can get involved in.

So, Beth already wrote a real review of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. I also found it to be a beautiful novel. (And, I’m so impressed with us for reading an award-winning novel before it won its big award!) The Germans arrived in an undefended Paris on June 14th, 1940 and so I thought that today I’d say a little bit about my favorite part of this book.

Sort-of-spoilers ahead.

One of the main characters, Marie-Laure, is a little blind girl who flees Paris with her father and goes to Saint Malo on the coast where she is left with her Uncle and Madame Manec. Marie-Laure’s Uncle is a bit of a recluse and for all kinds of reasons is not interested in getting involved in anything or opposing the Nazis or anyone occupying the town. He just wants to be in his room and maybe spend some time with his niece. Maybe.

With the occupation there are rations (“‘And these ridiculous shoe ration coupons,’ says Madame Ruelle, the baker’s wife. ‘Theo has number 3,501 and they haven’t even called 400!'”) and neighbors turning on neighbors for more electricity or extra food. The women that complain about things are only inconvenienced by the war; they won’t ever be sent to a battle field (and are unlikely to be rounded up for sedition or other crimes). But, they are against the war and against the occupation. Madame Manec points out to them that women make the world run. They sort the mail and fix the shoes and bake the bread that people eat. They could do something. Madame Manec isn’t proposing they do anything crazy, like make shoe bombs, but rather that they do small things. She proposes that they inconvenience the occupiers. She proposes that they do things to constantly remind them just how unwelcome in France they are.

And, most of the things they do in general would seem like pranks. They change roadsigns, they leave dog poop on the brothel steps, they send flowers to which a commander is allergic to the headquarters. They paint a stray dog in the colors of the French flag. They write pro-French slogans on currency. Later in the book this network of trouble making old ladies becomes very important to the French resistance in the book. But, it starts out as a group of old ladies in the kitchen who want to something but don’t think they can do anything big or important.

I loved this part of the book immensely. I loved the reminder that little things can be courageous.

This book was a gorgeous read and it was little details like the Old Ladies’ Resistance Club that made it so wonderful.