173: Birds Will Be Birds

Allison Langer  0:11  
So Hi, I'm Alison Langer. Hi,

Andrea Askowitz  0:19  
I'm Andrea Askowitz. And this is writing class radio, you'll hear personal stories and learn how to write your own stories. Together, we produce this podcast which is equal parts heart and art. By heart, we mean the truth in a story. By art, we mean the craft of writing, no matter what's going on in our lives. Writing class is where we tell the truth. It's where we work out our shit.

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Allison Langer  0:50  
Today on our show, we bring you a story by Christopher Blackwell. Christopher is 42 and is serving a 45 year prison sentence in Washington State. he co founded look to justice, an organization that provides civic education to system impacted communities and actively works to pass sentencing policy reform legislation. He's currently working towards publishing a book on solitary confinement and I know I can't wait to hear the details on that. He has been published by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, HuffPost, and a bunch of other outlets. He's also a contributing writer at Jewish currents, a contributing editor at the appeal, and he works closely with the prison writing program empowerment Avenue, you can follow Him and be in touch on Twitter, which is now x at Chris W. Blackwell. This story was originally published in the appeal, which is a nonprofit news organization that envisions a world in which systems of support and care not punishment, create public safety. Oh, when that'd be much better. Okay, wait, Chris, this story came to us through writer Jamie Beth Cohen, who mentors Christopher Blackwell. So I just, I just want to thank Jamie, for getting the voice of incarcerated people outside the prison walls. I know I tried to do that myself. But I am like weak, I have not been able to be very successful with that. So it's not easy. So I applaud her, you know, the way they feel over an empowerment Avenue. And me too, is if our criminal justice system, including long sentences, and mistreatment has a chance of changing, we need to hear from the men and women inside, we really need to hear the personal side, we need people to understand like, wow, these people may not be what we're seeing on TV. So this episode really is taking a small moment and bringing some big meaning. When we got this story, we immediately fell in love with it. And what we'd like to do with our stories is really try to figure out like, what's a writing lesson in every essay for those people out there who are also like, love hearing these stories, but also we're trying to write their own stories. So what we saw here is here's this one small moment. And Christopher really brought a lot of meaning big, big meaning to a very small moment with a lot of emotion, a lot of details and we learn a lot about what's going on what's going on with him and his fellow inside guys. And it just really, I don't know for me, it really touched me. So we want to bring you this story and see what you think. Back with Christopher Blackwell's story after the

Andrea Askowitz  3:28  
break. We're back. This is Andrea Asquith and you're listening to writing class radio. Up next is Chris Blackwell reading his story. person can be a hostile place, then the birds came.

Chris Blackwell  3:47  
Last month, a tiny colorful barn swallow and our partner began building a nest outside a window at the Washington correction center and prism where I am incarcerated. The brightly colored birds are diligently assembling their nests, one beak full of mud at a time. All the guys in my unit were immediately entranced by the glimpse of nature, we so rarely get to experience. I was 22 when I was sentenced to 45 years for murder. In prison, guys act tough and move carefully within a highly segregated environment. But once a third is planted themselves outside our window, those barriers melted away. The day room was packed with guys from different gangs and races squeezing in together to observe the swallows at work. We watched their every move, pointing laughing and yelling like we were all close friends. In those moments, we can let our guards down. Forget about prison politics and just be ourselves. We notice moments like these because they are so unusual. After completing your name asked mama bird late for fingernail size eggs. The eggs hatched and a baby birds quickly became the top of the unit. Suddenly, every guy in prison was an ornithologist, claiming to know whether barn swallows were an endangered species. What kind of food day how long the chicks would take to mature, and a string of other details that seem to at least be somewhat believable. I have no idea if any of them knew what they were talking about. But it's so good to see everyone excited about something other than typical prison crap, like lifting weights, and card games. Even the toughest guys became consumed by these little creatures. It was impossible not to be there were adorable. Baby birth became a treasured part of my daily routine. Each morning at 5am I would make my first cup of freeze dried coffee and check on the nest. I approached Slowly. Careful not to upset the mama bird. As you can imagine, she wasn't exactly thrilled about us looming over her bird. But during these calm, quiet mornings, she sometimes allowed me to get close. I would count each of the four babies, making sure they had all survived another night. I savor this silence the time to think after living in prison for 20 years surrounded by layers of dense razor wire fencing designed to keep us in and everything else out. Having this personal connection to nature felt special. For a few minutes, I could feel like a part of something much bigger than the closed world of this penitentiary. As the chips grew, we fretted about whether they would all survive. One prisoner was convinced it would only be a matter of time until the birds pushed one of the babies out of the nest to make more room. I wondered if that was true. I swore that if that happened, I would raise the baby myself giving it a home and my cell Howard around a fly. That was a problem for later. We didn't always agree on what was best for the birds. One time, one of the guys climbed up to the window ledge and tapped on the glass as if you were a child peering into a fish tank, hoping the babies would lift their head. This caused chaos. Several prisoners Me included that worked out and accused him of disturbing the birds for his own selfish entertainment. He tried to insist he wasn't bothering them, but the Marla birds nervous chirps saying otherwise. Finally, he left him alone. But he was too prideful to admit he was wrong. On the morning of July 4, a prisoner on my unit man Dakota Collins made a crack, saying the birds were bound to find their independence that day. It's Destin, Colin said what had started as a joke became a prophecy. By midday, all four babies had left the nest. It's cool that these birds are finding their independence on Independence Day. time this morning Causton another prisoner in my unit told me it just makes the day we get a good meal today. And our friends are off to start their little lives. Although the guys were sad to see the birds go we would be the last to begrudge any living being its freedom.

Allison Langer  8:44  
My gosh, well, I'm going to jump in because you know, every prison story just fires me up because especially something like this where the public who doesn't know what I've seen, like the kindness and the love gets a small little glimpse into who these guys have either always been or have morphed into have grown into matured into or whatever. So I don't know, I just I love this story so much to humanity.

Andrea Askowitz  9:15  
It's so tender. It's so sweet. I know. I love it, too. It really does show a different side that you wouldn't expect. But then as soon as he starts talking about how all the guys were so enthralled by these birds. I got it, the part where they all became ornithologist. It's so funny. It's sad.

Allison Langer  9:46  
I know. They just had something to bond to that took them away from all their other bullshit.

Andrea Askowitz  9:51  
I don't want to say anything negative about this story because it's written really well. But the one thing that I wish it had was like when he talks cuz about the politics, I wanted one little scene of that, how does that play out? He talked about how they all acted like they were laughing and everything like they were all friends. But what does it look like when they're not friends? I wondered? Well, I mean,

Allison Langer  10:14  
it doesn't take that much imagination to see a fight in prison. I mean, that's what we see all the time on every TV show, we see the bad. So everybody kind of has an idea. Like, it's almost like cliche. I think it's pretty true. From what I hear. I was talking to too tall the other day. And you know, one of the guys I talk about all the time, who's been on our podcasts a lot that I taught in prison. And he said, I just don't feel like going out to the basketball court to play because there's so much drama. And I was like, like, why? You know, and he's like, Oh, these guys get mad. And then there's this. And I'm like, well, that's everywhere. But then it's worse in there. Because you can't hide you can't go home. I mean, it's just like, you're stuck. And then things start up. And yeah, it's just magnified.

Andrea Askowitz  10:58  
So that's a good point, not point. It's like a good, you made a good case for why he didn't step out and tell us kind of like, what's, what maybe would sound cliche. So instead, he just kept his focus this narrowed or kept just focus on this beautiful moment where everyone was bonding. And they had this nature moment. I loved how very specific it was, like, barn swallow. Like, he knew exactly what kind of bird it was. Also, he told us that he was 22, when he was sentenced to 45 years for murder. He did not step around that thought that was very cool. As a storyteller goes, Yeah, I agree. 100%,

Allison Langer  11:45  
I want to know that and it to me, it makes even more sense to hear the kindness I mean, more sense, that's not the word like it even is more impactful to me knowing that here's this guy that the society thinks is a murderer, and should be in prison for life and put them away for good and but what we're seeing is that, that those long sentences, they're not even necessary, and I won't get into the whole victims rights and stuff like that. But these guys also have rights at 22 years old, your brain isn't even formed. But what we're seeing, and we don't know much more than this guy has a huge heart. But what I am noticing with this heart is that he is watching. He's caring, he's looking for, he's willing to take care of them. He's, you know, protecting them. Like he's changed. So this story might be about a bird. And but it's about so much more. So

Andrea Askowitz  12:47  
what is it about? Do you know? Yeah, I do. What do you think? Tell me,

Allison Langer  12:52  
what do you think? I think, okay, we find that these birds find independence on Independence Day, which I've also heard from another guy, this guy, ie, in prison, the Fourth of July has a totally different meaning for these guys. And he was arrested on Independence Day. So that's when he lost his independence. So for him, it's just the opposite. I love that he made that connection. And how cool that this is July 4, they took off. But he says, although the guys are also sad to see the birds go, we would be the last to begrudge any living being its freedom. So they, they want to hold on to him, but they also want to see them go. So he's, I think he's learning to let go. That's, that's how it is to me.

Andrea Askowitz  13:34  
So the situation is man in prison, all these men in prison, find these birds that they want and kind of fall in love with. And the story is, they don't begrudge anyone their freedom. I

Allison Langer  13:50  
think that and also that in loving and caring for these birds, that they wanted to keep them but they, they realized that in order to be free, they had to fly. So I think there's like sort of a common theme with maybe a metaphor for for his own freedom. Like he also needs to fly. Maybe society wants him there. But in order for him to be free, he needs to fly. I don't know. Something like that. That's good. I

Andrea Askowitz  14:20  
like that.

Allison Langer  14:20  
I mean, for sure. It could be longer and boosted in there could be lots of things and maybe we could see what happened to him and how he got there. Like this could be a whole book you know, I mean, it could be a whole bigger longer story. But I think because it's such a just a cool defined little incident like little situation that he found meaning in this small little bit of like, it's okay to let somebody go even when you love them.

Andrea Askowitz  14:46  
I'm convinced it doesn't need anymore. You sold me. I think it's perfect. No, yeah. Hi, no first time.

Allison Langer  14:54  
First time for everything. My independence day. Yeah, today it is I

Andrea Askowitz  15:00  
thought his details were awesome. 5am freeze dried coffee, the four babies, he did say that it made him feel like he was part of something bigger. And that was just really beautiful. The chaos that ensued when one of the guys tapped on the glass and I was very impressed that the narrator even called himself out like he got worked up. I didn't know that guys in prison had this other meeting about the Fourth of July, but obviously they do. I mean, now that you mentioned it, and then that line, they're our friends are off to start their little lives. Just like his language is so sweet. I loved it. Yeah.

Allison Langer  15:43  
I want him to be off to start his little life too. He's very prolific. He writes a lot. He's been published a lot. He's really trying to do some cool things in the world. It's

Andrea Askowitz  15:54  
Chris Blackwell, the guy who did an art show in New York.

Allison Langer  15:59  
No, that's Cory divan. Arthur. Yeah. Okay. Now this guy's at Washington correctional Correctional Center. We said this at the top, but he's working towards publishing a book on solitary confinement. And His writing has been published in the New York Times The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Huff Post. I mean, this guy gets out there. He's a contributing writer at Jewish currents and contributing editor at the appeal. I feel like he also works with Ella's mom, Debbie. Debbie's Alinsky. Yep. I think she's working with him. But the the person who sent us who submitted this on his behalf is is Jamie Beth Cohen. And she mentors him. So she's the one who did the recording for us. She's the one who got the story helped with some of the edits. I mean, we really didn't have any edits. I think I asked one question just wanted him to fill in a blank that I wasn't sure of. But I mean, this came in super clean. And he's just Yeah, he got into it. And it's so cool to have such a short piece. Bring such like, I don't know, emotion. I don't know. It was very cool.

Andrea Askowitz  17:10  
Agree. Awesome. Okay. Thank you, Chris Blackwell, for sharing your story. And thank you for listening. We I want to thank

Allison Langer  17:18  
Jamie Beth Cohen also. So thank you for working as a liaison for him and for other incarcerated writers because I can tell you how much time I know it takes and you are very much appreciated by us. And I'm sure Chris and many many other people so thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Andrea Askowitz  17:45  
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Allison Langer  18:02  
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Andrea Askowitz  18:15  
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Allison Langer  18:19  
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Tara Sands (Voiceover)  18:29  
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