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Overview
At the age of forty-five, Deborah Tobola returns to her birthplace, San Luis Obispo, to work in the very prison her father worked in when he was a student at Cal Poly. But she’s not wearing a uniform as he did; she’s there to teach creative writing and manage the prison’s arts programa dream job.
As she creates a theatre program for prisoners, Tobola finds plenty of drama off the stage as well. Inside the razor wire she finds a world frozen in the ’50s, with no contact with the outside except by telephone; officers who think prisoners don’t deserve programs; bureaucrats who want to cut arts funding; and inmates who steal, or worse. But she loves engaging prisoners in the arts and helping them discover their voices: men like Opie, the gentleman robber; Razor, the roughneck who subscribes to The New Yorker; charismatic Green Eyes, who really has blue eyes; Doo Wop, a singer known for the desserts he creates from prison fare.
Alternating between tales of creating drama in prison and Tobola’s own story, Hummingbird in Underworld takes readers on an unforgettable literary journeyone that is frank, funny, and fascinating.
As she creates a theatre program for prisoners, Tobola finds plenty of drama off the stage as well. Inside the razor wire she finds a world frozen in the ’50s, with no contact with the outside except by telephone; officers who think prisoners don’t deserve programs; bureaucrats who want to cut arts funding; and inmates who steal, or worse. But she loves engaging prisoners in the arts and helping them discover their voices: men like Opie, the gentleman robber; Razor, the roughneck who subscribes to The New Yorker; charismatic Green Eyes, who really has blue eyes; Doo Wop, a singer known for the desserts he creates from prison fare.
Alternating between tales of creating drama in prison and Tobola’s own story, Hummingbird in Underworld takes readers on an unforgettable literary journeyone that is frank, funny, and fascinating.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9781631525056 |
---|---|
Publisher: | She Writes Press |
Publication date: | 07/23/2019 |
Pages: | 256 |
Product dimensions: | 5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.70(d) |
About the Author
Deborah Tobola is a poet, playwright, and coauthor of a children’s book. Her work has earned four Pushcart Prize nominations, three Academy of American Poets awards, and a Children’s Choice Book Award. She earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from the University of Arizona in 1990 and has worked as a journalist, legislative aide, and adjunct English faculty member. After teaching creative writing in California prisons, she became the Institution Artist Facilitator at the California Men’s Colony. Her students won writing awards, published their work, and appeared on local and national radio. Tobola retired at the end of 2008 to begin Poetic Justice Project, the country’s first theatre company for formerly incarcerated actors. She teaches creative writing and theatre at the California Men’s Colony and serves as artistic director of Poetic Justice Project. She likes reading, gardening, traveling and spending time with her family and friends.
Table of Contents
I The Joint 1
II Lighthouse 9
III The Blue Building 18
IV The Real World 28
V Dream Prison 38
VI 911 48
VII Milk and Cookies 58
VIII Lockdown 66
IX Blossom 76
X Blue Train 88
XI Chow Call 99
XII Where on Earth? 109
XIII Who Are You Talking To? 121
XIV It's All Good 132
XV The Border 141
XVI The Green Wall 152
XVII Yesterday's New Arrivals 160
XVIII Something's Rotten in Denmark 170
XIX Black and White 181
XX Red Door 188
Epilogue 198
Acknowledgments 201
About the Author 205
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