BridgesVille
When we were younger C. and I (and a then very tiny Bigger E.) were lucky enough to live in Berkeley, California for a few years. Back then, one of the things we most liked to do, especially with visitors, was to take a counter-clockwise, three bridge trip around the north end of San Francisco Bay (see above).
Depending on traffic and sightseeing stops it could take one hour or it could take five.
One place we never stopped, but always noticed, was the series of low slung buildings surrounded by walls and expanses of grass that greet you as you come to the east end of bridge #1....
That sight, pictured in the lower left of the image above, is San Quentin prison which, at the time, we knew a little bit about mostly because of Johnny Cash's famous visit in 1969.
Now, though, folks are really getting to know what goes on in San Quentin because of a fantastic podcast called 'Ear Hustle' and two of the folks involved, Earlonne Woods and Nigel Poor.
The following is from a New Yorker piece by Sarah Larson that was published during the podcast's first season in 2017:
“Ear Hustle,” a podcast about life inside San Quentin State Prison produced by two inmates and a volunteer, might be the best new podcast I’ve heard this year. It’s co-hosted by Earlonne Woods, who is serving thirty-one years to life for attempted second-degree robbery, and Nigel Poor, an artist who has volunteered at San Quentin since 2011...
{snip}
...In prison slang, “ear hustling” is eavesdropping—“bein’ nosy,” Woods says—and the show covers day-to-day life at San Quentin in almost tender detail by interviewing prisoners. It provokes thoughts about mass incarceration, race, justice, regret, violence, and moral complexity through small-bore stories about cellmates, food, sibling rivalry, isolation, and even pets. Many interviews are gently funny; some are devastating in ways that sneak up on you. Poor and Woods record in the media lab and outside in the yard, often catching peripheral sounds of prisoners singing or joking around. “Ear Hustle” is in many ways about the creativity required to live a satisfying life—or even a sane life—in prison, and is itself a product of that creativity...
More recently, Earlonne was released from San Quentin thanks to a commutation from California governor Jerry Brown.
Last week he stopped by Nigel's house in San Francisco to drop off some new audio equipment.
For me, at least, their curbside conversation was an additional and mostwelcome further expansion of the theatre of the mind!
E and Nyge got a little visit in while following proper social distancing protocols, so Nigel could upgrade her 'home studio' (aka her closet) pic.twitter.com/TK1ZrI2DTn— Ear Hustle Podcast (@earhustlesq) March 25, 2020
If you haven't already, check out the Ear Hustle podcasts - you won't be disappointed.
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4 comments:
Thanks! This is terrific.It is so easy to de-humanize those that are incarcerated/marginalized.This type of podcast reminds us (which of course shouldn't be required)that there are so many genuine voices that we rarely hear.
Glen--
Every single E.Hustle episode is an ear (and eye) opening gem.
Regarding the matter of preventing/reversing de-humanization, the local Lotuslandian 'Crackdown' podcast is also outstanding.
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SQ was ever a looming and threatening presence when I grew up in the area. About the time Cash was doing his concert for the cons, friend Will and I were hired to clear a field of weeds and wild oats just outside the SQ perimeter, paid by the owner who was told to cut it because it was a hiding hazard. Marin landfill was also close by. More recently, other long-time friend Scott, a lawyer by trade, has been workshopping inmates on cartooning and all the thinking that goes into it. SQ just seems so, well, un-Marin, rather like the old shipyard denizens in Sausalito in the '50s.
Un-Marin, indeed!
Thanks Danneau.
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