by redclay | Sep 3, 2021 | Creative Writing, Detention Center Writing Contests, Non-fiction, non-fiction
Second place, Nonfiction, Heard/Arlington County Detention Facility writing contest, August 2021
As a child I have a very vivid imagination. My thoughts and dreams were clear pictures of everything from cowboys and Indians to moonwalks in outerspace, nothing wasn’t fun. With a little time and mental energy my brothers and I could defeat Dragons or swing through the jungle with Tarzan leading our way.
As our boyhoods left us we turned our thoughts to older exploits like who would get the first kiss, how would we make it through jr high, or was it possible to be the running back on the school football team?
Now that I’m a man wounded and scared by my hard life I’ve lossed the ability to recall old thoughts, play mind games like chess, or just find pleasure in remembrance of last nights dreams.
Age has brought me a long way, now that I’m here I’d give a fortune to return to the times when I could be anyone, go to any place, or just draw out my days activities based on last nights journeys.
Our minds are wonderful things we can use it to be the greatest of thinkers of plotter of heinous crimes. No child lays in there beds at night with ill thoughts hoping they’d come true. As adults we need to return to our boyhoods in remembrance of the kids who played with giants, flew with Eagles and swam with Dolphins.
Thats the minds we can use to live inside these old bodies on this Hard unimaginable cold world.
by redclay | Sep 3, 2021 | Creative Writing, Detention Center Writing Contests, Non-fiction, non-fiction
Nonfiction, Heard/Arlington County Detention Facility writing contest, August 2021
She’s here born April 20,2008 weighing 8 ads 10 oz A beautiful little girl name Damariah Waller. If it was up to me she would have my last name, unfortunately at the time me in my daughter mother wasn’t in A great place, so by her giving my daughter he[r] last name she felt as though she was getting back at me, but that’s another story.
Damariah was born A beautiful healthy little girl at Fairfax Hospital, after spending 3 or 4 days in the hospital we were able to take my heart in human form home with us, the was probably the second best day of my life, the first best day of my life was when my daughter was born. The first couple of months of my daughter being home, I can admit it was hard, but with the help of all of the grandparents we managed to get by.
Our parents took some leave from their jobs, in it was truly appreciated because without them I wouldn’t know where we would be, at the time when my daughter was born I was just starting my job with A construction company so I couldn’t take off so soon, but my supervisor was understanding because he was once in my shoes, so he started letting me get off early. Which was A blessing because not only could I take some pressure off of my daughter mother, but the grandparents as well, but most important I had time to bond with my daughter in get the hang of things with an infant, I also got to learn my daughter more, so I appreciate everything, in everybody that help me out with the transitioning of my daughter being born in the world.
My daughter has made me grow alot, in mature, now I understand what my parents went through raising me in my sister, because raising A child isn’t easy, and the saying time flies, it really does because before I knew it my daughter was starting Pre-School which was A task within itself but I loved every moment of it. She was still A kid., my kid but she was growing, and in a way it was scary, but these were the moments I cherished because as you sit there in reflect about how you can create something so small that looks exactly like you, it really is A gift from God, and how they evolve into being everything you’ve ever wanted while being themselves is A beautiful thing.
Damariah has grown to be quite the young lady, smart, talented, great personality, and beautiful, she’s the perfect child in my eyes. Damariah has been on the cheerleading team since the age 6, in she has also been on the dance team since the age 6, in she’s good at both of them, she has actually made the AAU team for both cheerleading in Dance. She enjoys dancing in cheering with her friends also, but most importantly we make sure her grades are right, in school work is done.
And if she’s not cheering or dancing, she’s playing her DSS with her friends, she only has two game she plays Fortnite, or WWF Wrestling, which me in her mother don’t mind as long as her school work is completed. Damariah is A really good kid, and as she was about to graduate 4th grade in go into the 5th Grade, me in her sat down in had a talk in I told her that she was going to be a big sister, she always wanted a sister or brother, so when we had our talk she was very excited that she was going to have a little sister, she actually started suggesting baby names, in one day she came to me in said daddy can we name my little sister Destiny which I thought was the perfect name, because she chose a name that started with the letter D. Just like her name, and my middle name starts with the later as well which is DaJuan so it was perfect.
So the morning of September 24, 2017 I sent Damaria off to school, in as soon as I back in the house I had to rush my soon to be wife to the hospital because her water broke, so while I was in the process of rushing to the hospital, I had to call my mom in fill her in on what was going on, and to have her pick Damariah up from school. Now I’m sitting here in the Labor room, the same place Damariah was born 9 yrs ago at Fairfax Hospital, waiting on the arrival of baby Destiny. Destiny was born at 5:26 pm weighting 7 pds 13 oz, looking exactly like Damariah in her father, I thought Damariah looked just like me but when Destiny was born she was a spitting image of me, it’s kinda of scary because when I look at both of my daughter, I looked exactly like the both of them when I was younger in my baby pics, and as I’m older seeing the both of my daughters grow from when I watched the both of them birthed we still look exactly alike.
In the both of my daughters have me in the palm of their hand, they most definitely have the keys to my heart. When Damariah got to the hospital in seen her little sister, I think she was more happier than me that her sister was here, in I love the bond they share, she’s really playing the big sister role in you can tell she loves Destiny. My two hearts in Rare Form. Destiny tries to do everything she sees Damariah doing in if she can’t she will throw a fit, eery dance move her big sister does she tries to do it, it’s cute in funny at the same time, you have to see for yourself to actually know what I’m talking about.
At this current time Damariah is 13 going to the 8th grade, in Destiny is 3 about to turn 4 yrs old this September getting ready for Pre-School. I miss you guys so much that words can’t describe and I’m truly sorry for being away from you all this long. I promise it won’t happen again. I’ll see the both of you sooner than you think, but until then I Love you guys in stop giving mommy a hard time.
by redclay | Sep 3, 2021 | Creative Writing, Detention Center Writing Contests, fiction, Fiction
LF
Second place, fiction, Heard/Arlington County Detention Center writing contest, August 2021
Chance is a 13 year old boy from Arlington, VA. Growing up, Chance always wanted to [be] someone great, somebody who makes a difference in the world. He wanted to be known as someone other than the Fairwell family’s odd ball, that wouldn’t amount t[o] anything. The other members of the Fairwell family all had something they were known for. They were always showing up in the county paper for their accomplishments.
Chance’s older brother, Tommy (16) was known for his athleticism. He’s one of the top best football players and track and field stars in the Northern VA region. Along with 2 other guys from our rival school. Tommy’s won so many metals, trophies and awards that his mother ran out of space on their many bookshelves that line there living room walls. He gets calls from scouts from all over offering him all kinds of stuff for him to join there team.
Zion (14), Chance’s second oldest brother, is a science wiz. At just 14, he is already known for creating a model of a human brain that showed which parts of the brain effects the different parts of the body, [which] parts effect emotion and if damaged (say in a car crash) how it effect the persons behavers. Zion has studied under some of the world’s top [neuroscientists] who he still considers his mentors and close friends to this day.
Chances brother weren’t the only ones in the family with a [passion] and drive to do and be something great. There parents David and Karla Fairwell were also very talented and driven people. Mr. Fairwill [is] known as a no nonsense lawyer. With his track record of an almost 95% [conviction] rate speak from itself. As for Miss. Fairwill, shes known for not only her beauty but also for her delicious pies. Her number one being apple. That has numerous blue ribbon over the years.
Always finding joy in helping others, Chance would volunteer at the local homeless shelter. Almost every day after school and sometimes even on weekends. They was one person in particular that he was drawn to and that person was Chuck.
Chuck was a 62 year old Vietnam vet who everyone swor was crazy and had lost his mind because of the war and years of drug and alcohol abuse. Chance found him to be very sane and actually very smart. They would sit, talk and play chess for hours. Chuck shared with Chance how he was once married to a beautiful woman named Nancy. Nancy unfortunately passed away almost ten years ago.
That is when Chuck started going downhill. The loss of his beautiful wife put Chuck in a dark depressed place. He would drink until he passed out and then he would wake up and drink some more. This cycle continued untill he lost his job and the house that he shared with his wife [which] is how he ended up on the streets.
Since meeting Chance something changed in Chuck. He began to clean himself up. With help from Chance Chuck got into therapy. Found some NA/AA meeting in the area. Chance gave Chuck in his future. He motivated him to change for the better and get clean and on his feet to want better out of life.
Chance would go on to help others in the shelter get there lives back. By the time he graduated from high school Chance had help over 30 people get out of the selter and liveing better lives. He started a nonprofit to help people with finding the help that they needed. From mental health, substance abuse, or even housing. He would even help supply thing like food, toiletries, blankets shoes and socks and other clothings.
Chance had finally found his calling and went on to help many more. Always with a smile on his face, open mind and ear for anyone who needed to talk. He has touch the hearts of so many people over the year. The number one thing he would always let them know was that its never to late for a second chance at life…
The End
by redclay | Sep 1, 2021 | Creative Writing, Detention Center Writing Contests, Non-fiction, non-fiction
Michael D. Nash
First place, nonfiction, Heard/Arlington County Detention Facility writing contest, August 2021
With over 7.5 billion people on this earth, each and every one of us possesses many different characteristics that uniquely separates us from each other. Because we process and react to life’s mysterious experiences at our own individual pace(s), there are exponential amounts of risk factors that must be considered so that we can know how to best move forward with our lives. More often than not, especially through negative and/or violent experiences, the average person tends to suffer from some form of mental health illness at some varying level. If severe enough, the effects of those traumas will produce a plethora of debilitating physical and psychological deficiencies upon the person(s) affected.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t help either how commonplace it is, especially as Americans, to shun and ridicule people who are probably already hesitant to either actively seek the proper help; let alone even admit that they may have a problem. I felt compelled to write about this issue because I’m empathetic to the despair of others’ concerns during these highly uncertain times. With great uncertainty comes great misery. Imagine free-falling into a vast, infinite void that you’re never sure of when/if you’ll ever make it out. So who’s going to bare the weight of the millions of people suffering from depression? Or the many victims of drug, alcohol, verbal, physical, and sexual abuse?
I commend those that are courageous enough to put themselves out there to help someone else in their time of need. Some of the largest advocates in the movement are celebrities and professional athletes. Shout-out to tennis star Naomi Osaka, Olympic Gold Medalist and swimmer Michael Phelps, former NFL Quarterback Andrew Luck, NBA Champion Kevin Love, and up-and-coming track star Sha’Carri Richardson for putting several familiar faces on the subject of mental health. Their valiant efforts have provided a powerful voice for the voiceless. Singers like Mary J. Blige and Toni Braxton understand that having fame and wealth doesn’t automatically guarantee us peace of mind. With prior underlying issues either present or dorment, additional adversity may materialize from such circumstances.
A wise man once made mention that with more money, there comes more problems. Another thing all of the people mentioned before can relate to is how painful it is to be trapped in that dark place. Conjuring up negative, harmful thoughts/intentions. Although I’ve never had any suicidal thoughts, even up to this point in my incarceration; I understand how overwhelming life can be in every facet. One thing to never be mistaken is the significant psychological toll it takes being an inmate. Not everyone is built for the jail/prison environment.
My first few weeks being locked up did not come easy. Never in a billion lifetimes would I have envisioned myself in my current situation. There were many times throughout this experience when I’ve felt confined to and conflicted in a deep funk. I felt extremely betrayed by someone special to me. Someone I would have done anything for. Nothing made any sense whatsoever. So when I was having those terrifying nightmares early on, they really got to me. The worst part was being reminded by my cell lights waking me up every morning that I was living in a 24/7 nightmare. I was going through it.
Finding myself at the brink of self-implosion on more than several instances and overcoming those burdens has humbled me in ways I almost may have never imagined before. One thing I can certainly attest to is that it takes extraordinary patience in dealing with so many different and oftentimes difficult personalities. As well as the strange, adverse situations. There have been plenty of memorable events in my time away from society. Whether it was competing in a Backgammon tournament, learning to break dance from an ex-NFL Cheerleader, knowing a guy who killed himself in jail, or receiving the news that I lost a family member at the age of 27 a few months into my stay here. I felt really vexed in knowing that he was coming in and out of a coma before eventually being taken off of life support. Some things just can’t simply be forgotten. To this day those occurrences are still surreal. They’re harsh but necessary reminders that life moves faster than we could ever realize and can change in the blink of an eye.
I’ve learned not to take anyone or anything for granted. My journey has forced me to see how much of a mental battle imprisonment is. On the plus-side, however, I’ve been blessed with the contentment of knowing how and when to just sit back and stay still. Something seemingly as simple as taking time away from stressing about the things out of our control and just focusing on being grateful and recovering from tragedy is greatly overlooked and undervalued by many inmates because they aren’t in the correct frame of mind and maybe lack the discipline. I had to realize for myself before anything else that I am stronger than this situation and eventually I did.
Having a solid support system in all of this has played a major contributing role in my ascension as well. Knowing that there’s someone to confide in means so much to me because sometimes it’s not about searching for answers or seeking advice. It’s about speaking your mind and expressing your thoughts, your joys and your frustrations. It’s about being heard. To me that’s one of the greatest feelings in the world.
I take life one day at a time and continue to actively challenge myself physically, mentally, and spiritually to remain sharp. Regardless of whatever happens in my near and distant future, I do not have many worries about prosperity. I am optimistic because of my faith and I encourage everyone going through hardships to become more spiritually involved and connected. It may not change instantaneously, but your life will get better. Be proud of who you are. Remember where you came from and never be ashamed in yourself. Let me reassure you that there’s nothing wrong with making yourself vulnerable sometimes. As long as it is with the intent to learn and grow. And it’s perfectly okay to not be okay right now. Seek the proper professional help when necessary and lend a helping hand to a loved one or someone in need. Realize and utilize your talents and your purpose in this world. Always count your blessings and thank the Lord for them any chance you get.
There’s so much to live for so find that inner-strength whenever you’re in doubt. Once you stand firm in your beliefs and set/achieve realistic goals for yourself, your success will shine through your personality. So stand strong and never give up. The universe has an intriguing way of giving back to you what you put in. Soon enough you will reap the sweet fruits of your labor.
by redclay | Jul 30, 2021 | News
It’s been super busy lately so we were really happy to be able to send our newsletter out to our subscribers. What? You didn’t know you could do that? Well please let us fix that for you. Click, complete, DONE! Now that our newsletter will be sent directly to your inbox, you can relax and read our July newsletter at your leisure. Enjoy that art and all that we have accomplished with your help! If you want to click on a link (and we hope you do) to see where it leads you, try this. Happy reading and as always, thank you for your support!
by redclay | Jul 25, 2021 | Visual Arts
I don’t know who had more fun this week – our artist art, or the kids at Casa Chirilagua. Once again Sharmila asked the kids (4th, 5th, and 6th graders) to create their superhero with special superpowers that the world needs. And as always, the most important part of our work is the voluntary sharing the last 20 minutes of the class. Who is your superhero? What are its superpowers? Why? Even the volunteers got into the act and as Sharmila said on her Facebook page: “There are a lot of healthy social skills that can develop when kids feel safe and free to engage with older adult/mentors during such creative endeavors.” Check out these world-saving creations!
This superhero can instantly teach you any kind of music or any musical instrument instantly.
A robot who looks mean but actually is very nice and cares for his family. His hands shoot stones and laser so he can protect his loved ones.
A super hero that saves people from hurricanes and calamities.
Meet Forest Man and Plant Dog. They keep planting and guarding trees so our earth always remains green.
A superhero that has magic powers in his hands. He has bionic eyes with laser sharp focus and can zap you.
Delicate girl made with floral petals. She is gentle and kind.
They both created the sunflower sisters and their superpowers are camouflaging and tele-transporting and also distracting people.
A super hero that just wants to go hug people and spread love.
by redclay | Jul 18, 2021 | Visual Arts
We’re happy when our artists are happy! Bonus if our partners and clients are too. So we hit the trifecta earlier this week when our visual artist Sharmila Karamchandani was able to go back onsite at Friends of Guest House. While Zoom classes allowed us to survive the pandemic, it wasn’t the same. We (and all of us) struggled with blurry images, poor connection, not enough cameras at our partner sites, people leaving mid-class because of connectivity, lack of supplies, etc. “What a relief it was to feel that joy again to see all the women face-to-face!” Sharmila wrote on her Facebook page.
To celebrate her return to Friends of Guest House, Sharmila chose one of her (and my) favorite projects – masks. Each of the women made two masks where one side shows what she feels on the inside and the other side shows how she seems on the outside. The women were honest with themselves and put it all on paper, Sharmila said, and they credited Friends of Guest House with helping them to dive deeper and really get to know themselves. Don’t you just love nonprofits? What do you think of their masks?
by redclay | Jul 16, 2021 | Improvisation
It’s hard to capture the power of improvisation with one photo (especially if the photographer is me) but this is what we have. Despite the air conditioning giving out in 95 degree heat, our improvisation teacher led 10 really cute little kids through an hour (!) of improv scenarios at Casa Chirilagua. Many Latino families live in this part of Alexandria, and this area (called “Arlandria” since it borders Arlington) was hit hard by the ravages of COVID-19. The disease, job loss, income loss, food insecurity, struggles with at-home schooling, etc., all showed up in force in Arlandria, and the Alexandria community as a whole really focused their efforts to help our neighbors living here.
By the time I arrived, improv class was ending, but I was able to capture the last game where the kids were pretending they had just landed in Guatemala. Some of these kids or their parents were born there, and these kids seemed to really enjoy an imaginary trip home. Not sure why one little girl in denim overalls is lying on the floor. It must have been part of the game. Or maybe she was just worn out?
by redclay | Jul 4, 2021 | Visual Arts
Wednesday, July 1, was an exciting day, and not just because it is July! We held our first event with the Alexandria nonprofit Space of Her Own – a wonderful mentoring program for preteen girls. What better way to kickstart our new relationship than our She-Art project? We got to know each other over Lena’s Wood-Fired Pizza & Tap (one of my fave Alexandria pizza places, btw) then our amazing Alison McHugh led 12 girls and mentors through creating their own avatar with their own motivational phrase(s) on a 6″ x 6″ tile.
Over the next two hours the girls selected “She creates from her heart” “She turns her dreams into reality” “She makes everyone feel loved” and more as they focused on phrases that resonated with them while creating themselves with colored paper, scissors, glue, and imagination. We ended our session – way too soon – with everyone sharing their new masterpiece and why they chose and created what they did. Til next time, SOHO! We loved hanging out with you and can’t wait to do it again!
by redclay | Jun 30, 2021 | Visual Arts
June 28, 2021 – Who doesn’t need an affirmation every once in awhile – or every day – to remind us of our awesomeness? Sometimes it’s hard to remember our unique and special selves, especially on those days when the rest of the world seems to say otherwise. So, our Heard artist Alison McHugh led the Friends of Guest House women through this wonderful papercraft class where they each chose their own affirmation (pre-printed, or they could create their own) and designed cards that they can place on a dresser, vanity, or desk to remind them of their greatness or to motivate them with love. What do you think?
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