My father has been running longer than I’ve been alive. As his son, without understanding or explanation, he expected me to run with him. He was a Marine, but he’d been running long before he enlisted. He escaped from an abusive, alcoholic home in North Carolina at age 16. He eventually found safety and structure […]
Writing Seminars
Posted inReflections
A Marine Fights a New War. This Time With Her Own Body
Marine perseveres through health problems after service
Posted inReflections
Air Force Veteran Didn’t Need Permission to Drink—or Find New Path to Sobriety
Air Force veteran, who faced backlash from Alcoholics Anonymous, tries psychedelics to stay sober
Posted inReflections
Four Siblings Joined the Military. Almost 30 Years Later, Only Two Remain
Army veteran vows to keep living after one brother was killed in the Iraq War and another committed suicide after returning with PTSD and injuries.
Posted inReflections
Inside San Quentin Prison a Marine Found a New Kind of Family
In San Quentin’s veterans’ group it doesn’t matter what you look like, all that matters is that you served.
Posted inReflections
At Six, He Stared Down the Muzzle of a Tank. In Prison, He Faced His Biggest Enemy
Navy veteran who lived through the 1967 Detroit Uprising confronts the choices he made that led to his incarceration at San Quentin.
Posted inReflections
The Berlin Wall Would Soon Tumble, Divided States Would Reunite. My Work Was Done.
During the Cold War in the 1980s, tanks and nuclear missiles crowded against the Iron Curtain needed a counterforce, the ground-launched cruise missile.
Posted inReflections
Leg Irons, Memories of Service, and What Might Have Been Echo From Behind Bars
Incarcerated Air Force Vietnam veteran serving life sentence ponders his military service during a prison transfer to San Quentin.
Posted inReflections
I Thought the Marine Corps Would Offer a Better Life. It Was Another Place I Didn’t Belong.
Essay: Incarcerated veteran hoped enlisting in the Marines as a young man would be an escape from street life, but his trauma only grew worse.
Posted in2024 Writing Seminar for Incarcerated Veterans
San Quentin Incarcerated Veterans Share ‘Proud, Poignant, and Painful Episodes’ during War Horse Writing Seminar
In a peaceful setting inside the chapel at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, 18 members from Veterans Group San Quentin who served in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines gathered to reflect, assemble, and tell their stories at a four-day writing workshop. At the heart of the storytelling event, held exclusively for incarcerated veterans at […]
Posted inReflections
My Father Wasn’t Coming. It Was the Story of My Life.
I’m not using my relationship with my WWII veteran father as an excuse for my crimes. But after 46 years in prison, I’ve had a lot of time to reflect.
Posted inReflections
Each Episode in Life Is Just a Moment. Ten Years of Incarceration Is My Last.
Each episode in my life is remembered as just a moment. Finally, 10 years of incarceration is my last moment—but not my least moment.
