Category: outside

  • Reading at the Enoch Pratt Library, June 15 2016

    WritersLiveMikita1 (2)Reading from The Maximum Security Book Club and Q&A at the Enoch Pratt Library on June 15, 2016, with (l to r) JCI Scholar Vincent, Baynard Woods, Correspondent for the Guardian and writer for the City Paper, Glennor Shirley, Maryland State Prison Librarian, and JCI Scholar Mikita Brottman. You can listen to interviews with Mikita and Vincent at:
    Midday with Sheilah Kast, WYPR, June 13 2016
    “Roughly Speaking” with Dan Rodericks,  Baltimore Sun, June 15 2016

     

  • May 17: Ed Fotheringill

    Guest post by Joshua Cahall

    unnamedToday’s class with Mr. Fotheringill was quite interesting to me considering I have very little knowledge about or interest in Buddhism. Some aspects of it seemed admirable and attainable, while other parts of it seemed a bit hokey. I do believe meditation is a very powerful exercise. I touched on it a little during class, about these Buddhist monks being discovered dead for days with no signs of decomposition. It’s just inexplicable. It shows somehow that this meditation they were in was so deep that the death of their physical body didn’t even cause it to decompose. I think this shows meditation can be an extremely powerful force in some individuals, maybe even all individuals are capable of this.

    I will say that the thing I absolutely love about Buddhism is its overwhelming promotion of peace. I’ve heard of many Muslim terrorists, but I’ve never heard of even one Buddhist terrorist. I think that shows its legitimacy and practicality.

     

     

     

  • Lecture: Dr. Ruth Toulson

    Lecture: Dr. Ruth Toulson

    Guest post by Donald Gross

    (R.I.P Douglas Scott Arey)

    Wow! This particular lecture had to be one of the most, if not the most informative lectures that I have ever had the pleasure of participating in. I would never have guessed in a hundred years that a Q and A during the lecture would be so diverting, especially since the field of inquiry was basically about death, in particular the death transitions and rituals that are conducted in Singapore.
    It wasn’t just the lecture itself, it was the lecturer too. She wasn’t at all pretentious about anything. She avoided no questions, and answered them all with an acceptable response. It takes a very unique and special person to occupy the position that Ruth holds, and to be a female makes it even more special. She gave a very informative and interesting exposition. It was a very eye-opening learning experience to talk about the beliefs and customs of different cultures as they apply to the diverse parallels that lie between life and the afterlife.
    services-box-img-lppljwo0y2njfcs9v1i58j4vmyhphed168psofxir2    Ruth was truly the personification of someone who came to give a good lecture on Death’s rituals and customs. From her black attire to her mysterious tones and emphases that she used to describe certain events, she really came prepared to give a lecture on the subject of making the transition from life to afterlife. I’ve never hear the subject of death be described so eloquently. Ruth’s presentation was conducted so well that it actually seemed rehearsed, even to the asking of our unsuspecting questions. She presented us with Singapore’s complete traditions and rituals in detailed descriptions, beginning with the death of the person straight through to the embalming process. She also spoke somewhat discontentedly on the government-ordered ten-year exhumations.
    I also found the ceremonial rituals fascinating, especially when she was explaining the traditions regarding the Mardi Gras-like entertainment during the funeral, the color definitions, and the forty-day-long time frames of some of the funerals. I still don’t get the thing about why, if the ritual is performed incorrectly, the decedent becomes a hungry ghost.
    Even the personal tidbits that Ruth shared with us were very informative as well as enchanting. It was the first time I have heard there should be no charge for a child’s funeral. I enjoyed how she shared her family’s involvement in the business, along with her being the only white person to ever be employed by the African American Staff of March’s Funeral Home. That was the icing on the cake.
    In closing, I really enjoyed this lecture. I would really like to participate in a course based on Ruth’s book.

  • Topics in the Humanities, Feb 16 2016

    Topics in the Humanities, Feb 16 2016

    Guest post by Sean Almond in response to class visit by conceptual artist Hugh Pocock

    I enjoyed the presentation you gave here at JCI. Your work and thoughts really opened my eyes to  new concepts of what art is, or could be. I thought that your piece “Volume” was brilliant. To utilize the museum’s own air system and the claim the air as your own, that was great. I also felt a connection to your invitation to dinner, showing how much technology is relied on even in the simplest aspects of our lives. Being in prison, I understand this, just from my interactions with family and friends, and how society is losing the more or less intimate art of communication. Everything is very impersonal now.

    I always thought of art as sort of “high-minded,” involving masterpieces, etc., and saw my own drawing as mundane, or mediocre. Through your work, I think I have a better understanding of art, and that it’s a more personal expression, and not confined to one particular set structure.

    Your work is now an inspiration to me, reminding me not to confine myself to a box, and to look at the world a little differently.

     

     

     

  • JCI Scholars in the Marshall Project

    This excellent article by Beth Schartzapfel, Staff Writer at the Marshall Project, refers to the JCI Prison Scholars program, and includes quotes from scholars Josh Miller and Vincent Greco. 

    Obama is Reinstalling Pell Grants for Prisoners