Research Project

I'm going to budget for 5-6 posters right now. In all likelihood I'll only need 5 but I just want to budget for more. 

• One 24x36 poster from Staples costs $30. So if I had 6, it would be $180, if I had 5, it would be $150. Out of these, 2 would be complex visuals, 1 would be a quote and 2-3 would be blown up photographs. An 18x24 poster from Staples costs $15, so I could have the two pictures be smaller if necessary. If I did that, it would be $120.
• Corkboard from Amazon is $40
• Index cards should be < $10, along with pens.

So I'm hoping to keep it below $150. It's the posters that really make a dent.

I just looked again @ Released: Alex Juhasz's5 Short Videos about Women and Prison (also noting that only two of you, so far, had viewed it...). Madison and Farida, I'd recommend it especially for you, as an invitation to think about how to structure and shoot a video--I think that those close-ups of Angela Davis will inspire your filmmaking!

For my project, I'll need an X-Acto knife ($6 on Amazon), a self-healing cutting board, a self-healing cutting mat ($10 on Amazon), and a book. I'd really like to get a used, hardcover copy of the DSM-V, and it looks on Amazon like that would be about $53. If that's too costly, I could reconsider--I just don't quite have a sense of how much money is reasonable to request. 

In terms of display, I'd like to use one of those wooden book displays, that basically looks like a small podium. I don't think I would have to buy this--I think I could talk to someone at one of the libraries on campus, as I've seen them used there.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/09/opinion/prisons-and-jails-put-transgender-inmates-at-risk.html

My daughter just forwarded me this report, which I thought might interest/ be of especial use for Rhett, Joie and Sula's projects.
A Report on Black and Pink's National Survey on LGBTQ Prisoners @
http://www.blackandpink.org/wp-content/upLoads/Coming-Out-of-Concrete-Closets.-Black-and-Pink.-October-16-2015..pdf

I have emailed Kathy Boudin, Abdul, and Noelle Hanrahan. Noelle suggested that I… Every prison has ‘a policy’ that allows folks to go in and record. Set specific time that day and time that they can call you.

I have emailed and called Victoria Law, the creator of Tenacious, a zine filled with articles, essays, poetry and art by formerly and currently incarcerated women across the United States. Their works cover subjects like the health care (or lack of health care) system, being HIV-positive inside prison, trying to get an education while in prison, sexual harassment by prison staff and general prison conditions, and giving up children for adoption. 

Kassie Bracken and Jessica Naudziunas, "Keeping the Poor Out of Jail,” The New York Times Video (October 25, 2015):
http://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000003995541/keeping-the-poor-out-of-jail.html

Those of you doing research on the school to prison pipeline may find of interest a recent
TED talk by Alice Goffman, "How we're priming some kids for college--and others for prison":
http://www.ted.com/talks/alice_goffman_college_or_prison_two_destinies_one_blatant_injustice

For my project I'm continuing to look into prison reformation and abolition movements, though I'm shifting my focus into examining the intersections and compliments to each other rather than the differences. While I appreciate the goals and ideology of prison abolition, I personally find it an unattainable goal at this time, though rather than dismissing the movement outright I want to examine if it can in any way aid prison reformation. As for my container I'm very interested in the idea of blackout poetry, taking passages from authors/activists on both sides of the issue and blacking out portions of the writing in order to distill it down to a different form, one that hopefully highlights something meaningful.