• The Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP)
• A Brighter Way (ABW)
• Utilizing Poetry as an Outlet
• The Detroit Street Filling Station
• Music Recommendation:
  • “What Friends Are For” by Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, and Elton John
    • Would always sing this song at the end of PCAP meetings with Buzz Alexander

• “We don’t allow time to do us, we do the time. Because if you allow time to do you, you are really going to be in a lot of trouble.”
• “People become imprisoned within themselves”
• “In Prison, you befriend people and they go home or they die. It takes a part of you
  away”
• “I came out of prison, I had no political awareness whatsoever. I was politically incorrect about everything, I had no idea about anything. But my friends helped me to understand some of the political aspects about the BLM movement. A preacher’s daughter took me to vote for the first time .. and so I was well schooled when I made my first vote I was so happy.”
• “It is very hard coming out of prison to say “help me” or “can you give me this” because in prison there’s always an angle. But when you see people who genuinely care about you and want to support you in your endeavors, it’s very humbling.”
• “I am proud of being able not to have relapsed, I am proud of the fact I am able to continue striving towards completing my parole, I am proud of the friends I have made and been able to keep, I am proud of the fact that I still remain honest in my daily activities, I am proud of the fact that I am going through training to improve my visual impairment, and I am proud of the fact that I can still be independent.”
• “I always want to honest about being me, who I am, what I am”

Black Lives Matter Movement:

• “Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement protesting against incidents of police brutality and all racially motivated violence against black people.”

• At first Val didn’t totally understand the Black Lives Movement as he was confused as to why everyone riots when a cop kills a black guy and not when a random guy down the street kills a black guy. He did not understand what makes a cop killing him more important than the guy next door killing him. Val still holds some of these beliefs but now understands the meaning of BLM and the institutionalization behind it more once a friend of his explained the situation to him further. He thinks BLM is a very important organization.
• Importance of the voting experience - Romando took pride in telling his friends who could not vote about his experience doing it.

• Ashley Lucas and the PCAP group came and sat and talked with Val on the night he fully lost his sight and he has deep love for them.
• Cozine Welch - helped Val find an outlet in poetry. “Cozine is the same now as he was inside - humbling, caring, and always wanting to help somebody.”
• Phillis operates the Detroit Street Filling Station - When Val came to Ann Arbor he was looking for work and he went to Phyliss and in 20 minutes he had a job. He worked until he lost his sight and when she lost his sight she Phyliss was still right there, getting him a paycheck and bringing him to dinner.
• Students both involved in PCAP and not involved in PCAP were great motivators to Val.