INSIDE STORIES: PERSPECTIVES ON INCARCERATION II
Ages 16-29
Summer 2021, Online

In this online workshop, student fellows will work with instructors to gather personal accounts from the formerly incarcerated and from chaplains and others who have worked inside prisons.  These accounts will be shared in their entirety on the program website, contributing to a public record of this important and too often hidden aspect of the American experience.  Fellows will learn to conduct productive, respectful interviews--advance preparation, open-ended questions, active listening; to log content for possible future use in documentary storytelling or other projects; and to identify story arcs and other points of interest for brief excerpts to be featured along with complete accounts. Consideration will also be given to achieving quality image and sound in a Zoom interview.  All work will be exhibited at a virtual screening and on the program website.  This workshop builds on the spring workshop Inside Stories. Limited to 8 student fellows.                     

Greg Carpenter has worked in reentry for twenty years.  He is a 2015 Open Society Institute Fellow (OSI) and owner of the 2 AM Bakery, which houses his program Eye Can B-More.  Eye Can B-More offers returning citizens work experience, job training, and a range of support services.  He also co-chairs the Greater Baltimore City Grassroots Network, which is comprised of more than forty service providers and advocacy groups that assist the formerly incarcerated.  

Darian Jones is currently a student at the University of Baltimore, majoring in digital communications with a focus in media design and production. Teaching at Wide Angle Youth Media allows him to work with Baltimore’s future; his goal as a filmmaker and teacher is to help others re-discover their voices. 

Stan Saunders is a retired broadcaster for WJZ-TV Baltimore.  He mentors youth in the Baltimore City Public Schools through his nonprofit program, Baltimore Area Sports and Entertainment (B.A.S.E.). He also creates community-impact documentaries, leveraging his more than thirty years telling Baltimore stories. 

Michelle Mokaya is a Johns Hopkins University undergraduate in the School of Engineering. Although her concentration is still undecided, she is passionate about using her degree to work on sustainable projects that could help improve the lives of those in marginalized communities.