This event was held on Tuesday, September 3rd, at 7:00pm, at Moon Palace Books. We discussed, among various reentry & local arts community topics, another podcast that talks about the experience and obstacles of reentering society from incarceration. We also spent some time rolling poems for the MPWW poetry gumball machines.

Our conversations & activities were followed by an open mic period. This month’s discussion and open mic were hosted by Erin Sharkey & Davi Gray.

This month we listened to the Free World podcast. A brief description from the website:

FREE WORLD is a podcast about women reconstructing their lives after incarceration. In this series we hear stories from women and non-binary individuals about the ways prison tears at the bonds of family, the triumphs of resilient human beings, and what’s it like to put a life back together in freedom. Hosted by Norma Cumpian and Shone Robinson of the Anti-Recidivism Coalition (ARC).

We selected four episodes, which you can find on the website, or on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. (We also created a Spotify playlist with just these four episodes.) The four episodes we were focusing on:

• When Are You Coming Home?
  On Apple Podcasts
  On Spotify
• Transitioning to the Free World
  On Apple Podcasts
  On Spotify
• Free World Frustrations
  On Apple Podcasts
  On Spotify
• Inside Scoop with Shone
  On Apple Podcasts
  On Spotify

Better Things is a series of events sponsored by the ReEntry Lab, in partnership with the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop (MPWW), the Longfellow Community Council, and Moon Palace Books, with funding from the City of Minneapolis‘s Partnership Engagement Fund.