In addition to the news below, follow Project Mend on Instagram here.
Delighted to have Alex Anderson from Reentry Theater of Harem join us on Thursday, September 19.
Congratulations to Mend editor Ilhy Gomez Del Campo Rojas, whose article on the partnership between the Everson Museum of Art and Project Mend was featured in the Arts and Sciences News. We are grateful to the College of Arts and Sciences for highlighting this piece. Ilhy’s article discusses Project Mend’s poetry readings during the Everson Museum of Art event “A Day Without A Clock” and the workshop that followed, hosted by Jose Pérez. The article can be found here.
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On June 8th, 2024, Project Mend had the great opportunity of participating in the community festival United We End Racism, an event sponsored by InterFaith Works and Syracuse University. Editors of Project Mend were able to share the initiative with participants alongside the Engaged Humanities Network. Thank you to InterFaith Works and fellow sponsors for mounting the event and to the Engaged Humanities Network for providing Project Mend the opportunity to table at this community festival.
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On June 6, 2024, the Everson Museum of Art hosted an event by the DeepTime Collective titled “A Day Without a Clock” where Project Mend was invited to perform a series of poetry readings. Project Mend editors, alongside special guests Jose Pérez and Marvin Wade, read their original works depicting their personal experiences with time and how it is impacted by incarceration, growth, love, and family. We are grateful to the DeepTime Collective and the Everson Musem of Art for inviting us to partake in this event, and we give much thanks to Jose Pérez and Marvin Wade for joining us on stage with performances of their own.
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On May 3, 2024, the Engaged Humanities Network hosted its first annual community showcase, where Project Mend was invited to table and present its national publication to attendees. The event celebrated the work of EHN partners and projects, displaying the research, creative work, and programming created by each group through a series of presentations. Project Mend was able to present its own publication and perform a reading from the newest issue of Mend. Thank you to the Engaged Humanities Network for the opportunity to showcase our work.
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MEND JOURNAL LAUNCH PARTY
Thank you to Humanities New York for the Post Incarceration Humanities Partnership, which makes Project Mend possition. We had a wonderful event in New York City, where professor Patrick W. Berry alongside former Mend editors Michael J. Willacy and Brian T. Shaw were able to partake in strong conversations alongside other attendees.
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Project Mend is grateful to have been a part of New York State Association of Incarcerated Education Program’s 2024 conference, a three day event dedicated insightful discussions and workshops surrounding raising accessibility to educational and transformative programs for justice-impacted individuals. We thank the NYS Association of Incarceration Education Programs for inviting Project Mend, always dedicated to attaining higher education for justice-impacted individuals.
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MEND JOURNAL LAUNCH PARTY
Congratulations to Mend editor Rachel Raposas, whose article about the 2024 Mend launch and the impactful journey leadings to its release was featured in the Arts and Sciences News. Rachel Raposa’s piece features interviews with multiple Mend editors looking back on the experience of building the 2024 Mend issue and the many opportunities that came from such a journey, like meeting Michelle Alexander, a civil rights activist and author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. The article can be found here.
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Thank you to the Daily Orange for highlighting the work of Project Mend and its emotional impact on both the editors involved, the community, and its founder. The article features interviews with Project Mend editors as well as writers featured in the publication. The article can be found here.
____MEND JOURNAL LAUNCH PARTY
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. ET
SYRACUSE CENTRAL LIBRARY COMMUNITY ROOM
Our launch party will take place on Saturday, February 17, at the Syracuse Central Library, from 12-1:30 p.m. ET and on Zoom. Please consider joining us. The event is open to the public.
MEND JOURNAL LAUNCH PARTY
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. ET
SYRACUSE CENTRAL LIBRARY COMMUNITY ROOM
447 S. Salina St., Syracuse, NY 13202 and on Zoom.
You can register here: http://tinyurl.com/453s2krk.
Celebrate the work of incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, and their family members with the publication of the 2024 issue of Mend—a journal created by justice-impacted people in Syracuse, NY. Attendees will hear readings about the crisis of mass incarceration, the hidden truth of life before and after prison, and the creative power of the humanities. The event will feature readings and recognitions of this year’s cohort.
Project Mend is made possible through collaboration with the Center for Community Alternatives and through an HNY Post-Incarceration Humanities Partnership, which is generously supported by the Mellon Foundation. Also, the project has been supported at Syracuse University by the Engaged Humanities Network, the Humanities Center, the SOURCE, the Department of Writing Studies, Rhetoric, and Composition, and a CUSE Research Grant. For accessibility accommodations, please contact Patrick W. Berry at pwberry@syr.edu by February 9.
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FOLLOWING THE PERFORMANCE
JOIN US FOR A POST-SHOW PANEL DISCUSSION
WHEN & WHERE:
Feb. 16 following the 7:30 pm performance of Clyde’s at Syracuse Stage
PANELISTS: Emily NaPier Singletary – Unchained Daquan Noel – Unchained Patrick W. Berry – Project Mend
Julaun Richardson – Center for Community Alternatives
Rev. Lateef Johnson-Kinsey – Mayor’s Office to Reduce Gun Violence
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The Education Justice Project released "A New Path: A Guide to the Challenges & Opportunities After Deportation." This guide is for people who live with the threat of deportation to Mexico or Central America. Know your rights, learn where to get legal help and make a plan in case of possible deportation. Copies and more information are available here.
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Healing Rhythms: How I Used Poetry to Survive 20 Years in Prison
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 P.M. ET
SYRACUSE CENTRAL LIBRARY
COMMUNITY ROOM
447 S. Salina St., Syracuse, NY 13202 and on Zoom.
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MEND JOURNAL LAUNCH PARTY
THURSDAY, JULY 20 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 P.M. ET
SYRACUSE CENTRAL LIBRARY
COMMUNITY ROOM
447 S. Salina St., Syracuse, NY 13202 and on Zoom.
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Here is a photo of some of our editors at our last editorial meeting.
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Congratulations to Brian T. Shaw on the publication of "How Does One Cope?" in the 2023 issue of Intertext. Here is Shaw reading the piece at the 2023 Intertext launch on April 28, 2023.
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Read Brian T. Shaw's "How Does One Cope?" in the 2023 issue of Intertext. Art by Cormac Ganshirt.
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Spring 2023: A few of the Mend editors gather to take photos on the Syracuse University campus. From left: Brian T. Shaw, Troy White, Fátima Bings Martínez, and Patrick W. Berry.
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Fátima Bings Martínez presents on SOURCE Spring Symposium on March 31, 2023.