Empowerment Avenue Writer’s Cohort
Co-founded by Rahsaan Thomas and Emily Nonko, Empowerment Avenue launched in June of 2020. The team pairs incarcerated writers with outside editors in an effort to permeate the inside-outside divide of the carceral state, provide folks inside with supplemental income, and platform their expertise in mainstream media. Through this program, I workshop byline ideas, edit pitches and articles, and oversee contracts with writer Kunlyna Tauch in the effort to publish his work.
Life While Incarcerated Is Dehumanizing. Crochet Has Made All the Difference.
Over the course of a few months, Kunlyna and I worked to place this piece, finding its home in a series on art as a tool for abolition. The story spotlights crochet connoisseurs Michael Arreygue, Frank Garcia, Sebastian Rodriguez as they depend on their craft as an outlet for joy and freedom in an otherwise confining carceral context. These men are crocheting for themselves—not because CDCR mandated it. This is their transformation, on their own terms.
For many Asian Americans, increased police ‘protection’ feels more like unchecked power.
In this essay, Kunlyna writes about his identity crisis as a Cambodian American, how he was justifiably reared to distrust American authorities, and why we need to be listening to the AAPI community (particularly those inside) directly to come up with progressive solutions (i.e. not having the administration deport more folks who identity as AAPI).
I've been incarcerated for 15 years, and my $1,200 stimulus check was the first time I felt I could give back.
This piece is featured in the personal finance column. With the Supreme Court's ruling that it was unconstitutional to exclude incarcerated residents from receiving stimulus, Kunlyna writes about how incarcerated individuals have been financially empowered to support their community for the first time; through bouquets of flowers for Valentine's Day, grocery stipends for siblings, and happy nappers for children, to name a few. They're finally able to give back to those who have been financially and emotionally supporting them since conviction.