Human Powered

For this special edition of Human Powered, we are sharing an episode produced by our friends at The Community. 

The Community is a multi-dimensional nonprofit based in Milwaukee. It connects and empowers people on all sides of the criminal legal system through its Pre-entry and Correcting the Narrative strategies. The Community has been awarded  Wisconsin Humanities grants for their work, and founder Shannon Ross was featured in an earlier episode of  Human Powered.

In this episode of All In All Out from The Community, you’ll hear founder Shannon Ross in conversation with trauma therapist Simmone Kilgore, LPC. Shannon and Simmone both work with people who are justice-impacted and formerly incarcerated. They discuss 'leaving space for hope,' learning to carry our baggage gracefully, and the language needed to talk about the realities of trauma, shame, and guilt. Their conversation offers insight into the important work of building connections and empathy for stronger, healthier individuals and communities. 

The right to vote is a core building block for our democracy. We are taught that our vote matters and that voting is integral to our communities and our country. In this final episode of Humanity Unlocked, we confront a fundamental issue: roughly 45,000 people ‘on papers’ in Wisconsin do not have the right to vote, even though they are no longer in prison. Jerome Dillard, Executive Director of EXPO (Ex-Incarcerated People Organizing), calls this being “locked up on the outside.”

In this episode, we talk to Jerome and his colleague Tamra Oman about the implications of the disenfranchisement of individuals who have been incarcerated. After serving prison sentences themselves, they learned first-hand that civic health and community health depend on knowing that you belong.

Visit the Episode Extras on the Wisconsin Humanity website to read an essay from Robert Taliaferro and to learn more about voter disenfranchisement and the work that EXPO is doing.

When James Price first learned how to bead, he was incarcerated at the Stanley Correctional Institution in Wisconsin. He had been told his whole life that he was not patient, but as he is tutored in beadwork by a group of Native American men, he discovers a history he wasn't taught in school. And, “bead by bead,” he also learns new things about himself. 

Once he was released, James attended a college course on Native American history as part of the Educational Preparedness Program (EPP) at Marquette University. This humanities program integrates students on Marquette’s campus in Milwaukee with currently and formerly incarcerated students to create blended classrooms where all kinds of knowledge and experience come together, offering everyone a chance to see themselves as an intellectual. In this episode, we talk with professors and program co-founders Teresa Tobin and Rob Smith. As Prof. Smith tells us, the work of the humanities — understanding the human condition — is critical in today’s conversation around prisons.

Visit the Episode Extras on the Wisconsin Humanities website to learn about EPP, and to hear a bonus interview with Brian Rindfleisch and Wade Fernandez, who co-taught James's EPP class. 

People in prisons are cut off from their families, their communities, and in some cases their own feelings. Making art in prison — even with very few resources — can be a way to affirm your humanity in a place that is so often dehumanizing. So when the organizers of an exhibit of prison art put out a call for submissions, they were flooded with responses from incarcerated artists working without support, formal programs, or materials. 

In this episode, we meet Joshua Gresl, John Tyson, and Sarah Demerath, three of the more than sixty artists whose work is part of an exhibition called “Art Against the Odds.” We also talk with Deb Brehmer, the co-curator of the exhibit, which opened in January 2023 in Milwaukee and included 250 works by currently or formerly incarcerated individuals. The artworks ranged from a series of concentric circles made daily with pencil on typing paper, to highly detailed portraits, to creatures shaped by hand from scraps of food packaging.  But no matter what materials they were using, each artist told us that these art practices helped them get through their time inside.

Visit the Episode Extras on the Wisconsin Humanities website to see images of Joshua, John, and Sarah's artwork, and to learn more about the exhibit.

Started in 1887 by three well-known convicts, The Prison Mirror is often considered the best prison newspaper in the United States. But it is just one of many. In the 1980s, Robert Taliaferro was a writer and editor for The Mirror, as it was called in those days. Shannon Ross is a writer who started The Community in 2014 when he was in prison. The newsletter, which he still edits today, reaches half of Wisconsin's prison population. With hosts Adam Carr and Dasha Kelly Hamilton, Robert and Shannon come together to talk shop. We hear from them about why their work centers human-interest stories from people who are incarcerated and what we can learn from those who have an inside perspective. 

Find episode extras, resources, and more information about prison newspapers and our guests on our website.

Voices in this episode:

• Shannon Ross is the founder and Executive Director of The Community and the Correcting the Narrative Campaign, which uses story-telling to promote acceptance of people with criminal records. Shannon was born and raised on Milwaukee’s north side, where he received a 17-year prison sentence when he was 19 years old. Over the course of his incarceration, he acquired his bachelor’s degree, created and ran a mental health program in the prison for 2 years that still exists, and published his own and others' writing. Since his release in 2020, he helped to found Paradigm Shyft, is an Education Trust fellow, a Marquette University EPP fellow, and a graduate of the Masters in Sustainable Peacebuilding program at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee.
• Robert Taliaferro is a working journalist, graphic artist, and community activist currently living in Minnesota, after serving over 38 years of confinement. He edited The Prison Mirror newspaper at the Minnesota Correctional Institution at Stillwater from 1985-1989. His work is published in News and Letters Committees and he is the author of Always Color Outside the Lines: Freedom for the Artist Within (2018). He recently graduated from Metro State University in St Paul, MN where he was the Outstanding Student Award recipient for the College of Individualized Studies and also gave the Commencement address. He is beginning a graduate degree program in the fall and will be studying Urban Developmental Initiatives and Adult Education.
• Dasha Kelly Hamilton is a writer, performance artist and creative change agent. She applies the creative process to facilitate dialogues around human and social wellness. She is the author of novels, poetry collections, spoken word albums, and a touring production called Makin’ Cake. She was Poet Laureate for both the City of Milwaukee and the State of Wisconsin. Her A Line Meant project is a statewide poetry exchange for traditional Wisconsin residents and residents of Wisconsin prisons.
• Adam Carr is a storyteller, artist, filmmaker, radio producer, urban explorer, community organizer and historian. He is also a lifelong Milwaukeean and works at the intersection of community and communication. He helped organize events to acknowledge the 50th anniversary of the open housing marches in Milwaukee and is the author of “Explore MKE: Your Neighborhood, Our City,” a children’s book made in collaboration with third graders. He works for the Milwaukee Parks Foundation as the Director of Strategic Partnerships.

Some would say that storytelling is what makes us human. In this episode, we are going to hear some great stories.  We are heading to Oak Hill Correctional Facility, where the University of Wisconsin Odyssey Beyond Bars Project offers storytelling workshops each semester for incarcerated students who are in the English 101 course. This is UW-Madison’s first face-to-face credit-bearing course inside any Wisconsin state prison since 1917. We will hear from Peter Moreno, the founder and Director of the program, Kevin Mullen, who designed the curriculum and teaches the course, and Mark Español, a former student. And, we get to hear the story Mark told at the English 101 graduation inside Oak Hill!

Find episode extras, resources, and more information about Odyssey Beyond Bars and our guests on our website.

Voices in the episode:

• Mark Español is a DJ, artist, and barber currently living in Madison, after serving 9 years in prison. He is an alumnus of the University of Wisconsin Odyssey Project and Odyssey Beyond Bars.  
• Kevin Mullen is an Assistant Professor of Continuing Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Director of Adult Education for the UW Odyssey Project. Kevin’s academic work focuses on expanding access to higher education for low-income adult students from marginalized communities. In addition to the core Odyssey class, he teaches English 100 (Introduction to College Writing) courses for Odyssey alumni and incarcerated students in the Odyssey Beyond Bars program. Nothing makes him happier than seeing people pick up the mic and use their voices to impact the world around them.
• Peter Moreno is the Director of Odyssey Beyond Bars Director. He is an attorney and former clinical law professor at the University of Wisconsin and University of Washington, where he represented incarcerated clients in wrongful conviction cases.  He created the Odyssey Beyond Bars credit-bearing course program in 2018 and is thrilled to introduce students in prison to the transformative power of Odyssey courses.
• Dasha Kelly Hamilton is a writer, performance artist and creative change agent. She applies the creative process to facilitate dialogues around human and social wellness. She is the author of novels, poetry collections, spoken word albums, and a touring production called Makin’ Cake. She was Poet Laureate for both the City of Milwaukee and the State of Wisconsin. Her A Line Meant project is a statewide poetry exchange for traditional Wisconsin residents and residents of Wisconsin prisons.
• Adam Carr is a storyteller, artist, filmmaker, radio producer, urban explorer, community organizer and historian. He is also a lifelong Milwaukeean and works at the intersection of community and communication. He helped organize events to acknowledge the 50th anniversary of the open housing marches in Milwaukee and is the author of “Explore MKE: Your Neighborhood, Our City,” a children’s book made in collaboration with third graders. He works for the Milwaukee Parks Foundation as the Director of Strategic Partnerships.

In the first episode of Human Powered 'Humanity Unlocked,' we are stepping out with the remarkable and singular Dasha Kelly Hamilton. Dasha wields words to make magic happen, whether on stage herself, in writing sessions like Prose & Cons, or while chatting with co-host and public historian Adam Carr. We'll drop into one of her workshops and talk with Josh and Fontaine, both students and writers who have responded to Dasha's challenge to find courage in their own unique relationship with words. The result is poetry like you've never heard before. Dasha says that most of the people who meet her didn't know what they were getting into, so get ready. This is going to be good!

Find episode extras, to listen to poetry, and to learn more about our guests on our website!

Voices in this episode:

• Dasha Kelly Hamilton is a writer, performance artist and creative change agent. She applies the creative process to facilitate dialogues around human and social wellness. She is the author of novels, poetry collections, spoken word albums, and a touring production called Makin’ Cake. She was Poet Laureate for both the City of Milwaukee and the State of Wisconsin. Her A Line Meant project is a statewide poetry exchange for traditional Wisconsin residents and residents of Wisconsin prisons.
• Adam Carr is a storyteller, artist, filmmaker, radio producer, urban explorer, community organizer and historian. He is also a lifelong Milwaukeean and works at the intersection of community and communication. He helped organize events to acknowledge the 50th anniversary of the open housing marches in Milwaukee and is the author of “Explore MKE: Your Neighborhood, Our City,” a children’s book made in collaboration with third graders. He works for the Milwaukee Parks Foundation as the Director of Strategic Partnerships.
• Josh Wells is a poet and spoken word artist, a guitarist, a singer, and a songwriter,  and self-proclaimed "incurable coffee snob with eclectic music obsessions and a passion for great art of all kinds."  While he was in the Wisconsin prison system, he was part of Prose & Cons, a writing group led by Dasha Kelly Hamilton. Prose & Cons uses both written and spoken verse to restore voice to people who have been rendered voiceless.
• Additional poetry and conversation with Fontaine Baker, Adron Lane, Caliph Muab'El, Servant Ventae Parrow Bey, and Jeffrey Bodine.

Human Powered—the podcast from Wisconsin Humanities—is back for season 2. In these six episodes, we are talking with people who have been impacted by the justice system. With our hosts, Dasha Kelly Hamilton and Adam Carr, we are digging into the importance of the humanities as tools for searching for meaning and understanding. Dasha is 2021-22 Wisconsin Poet Laureate and a creative change agent who has led poetry workshops in and out of prisons for years. Adam Carr is a public historian and journalist. Together, they reflect and question, make connections to the larger social and cultural issues around imprisonment, and introduce us to people who encourage us all to think differently about incarceration.

The show is brought to you by Wisconsin Humanities and Love Wisconsin, and produced by Field Noise Soundworks.

To learn more, visit wisconsinhumanities.org/podcast.

This episode spotlights Tracey Robertson, a nonprofit leader and community organizer who was tired of hearing her neighbors repeat stereotypes she knew were not true. She figured that to change the narrative, people needed to be able to see each other more clearly, as complex individuals each with a story to share. In this episode, we learn about a project called Color-Brave that evolved from conversations in a coffee shop to a traveling exhibit and book. You'll meet Mushe and Shawn, featured in Color-Brave, and the photographer and museum curator who made it possible.

Voices in this episode:

Tracey Robertson co-founded and directed Fit Oshkosh, Inc from 2014-2020. Fit Oshkosh, Inc. was a non-profit social justice organization with the mission to promote social transformation, race equity, and justice through Color-Brave conversations, education, advocacy, and research. Tracey specializes in anti-racist curriculum development and has delivered workshops to clients across the United States and Canada. Her 2017 TedX Oshkosh Talk, “Black Girls Aren’t Magic,” received a standing ovation and has been viewed worldwide. She is currently a trainer with Quad Consulting DEI Consultants.

Colleen Bies was born and raised in Wisconsin. Prior to her role as Regional Project Director for Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation (WWBIC), Colleen served in the Army National Guard, worked in finance, and created 2 businesses as an entrepreneur. Married for 14 years and a big believer in community, her work is dedicated to servicing her community and supporting her family. You can find Colleen's 2019 TEDxOshkosh talk on Why Children of Immigrants Work so Hard here and her photography here.

Mushe Subulwa is the Director of SEPO Zambia, a non-profit dedicated to sustainability, education, and progress in western Zambia. Subulwa received the Daisy Frazier Social Justice Award in 2019 for his work with SEPO Zambia.

Shawn Anthony Robinson, Ph.D. is a leading scholar on African American boys with dyslexia. Dr. Robinson has over 40 publications and is a public speaker, consultant, and educator. He is affiliated with Wisconsin’s Equity & Inclusion Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin Madison, Madison Area Technical College, American University, and an active Board member with the International Dyslexia Association. His goal is to change the narrative around dyslexia. His website can be found here.

Aaron Sherer has served as the Executive Director of the Paine Art Center and Gardens since 2002. Sherer leads a varied exhibitions program, including shows by artists such as Dale Chihuly, Normal Rockwell, and Ansel Adams, as well as lamps by Louis Comfort Tiffany and costumes from the television show Downton Abbey. Sherer also initiated the annual Nutcracker in the Castle holiday presentation, now preparing for its 15th year, and he has overseen more than $10 million of historic preservation and capital improvements to the historic estate. Sherer lives in Oshkosh with his husband and four sons.

This episode starts with a meal around a fire, in a place where people have been cooking and eating for more than 5,000 years. Our hosts are Marvin Defoe and Edwina Buffalo-Reyes, members of the Red Cliff band of Lake Superior Ojibwe in Bayfield County. For the last three years, the Red Cliff Tribal Historic Preservation Office has been collaborating with two archaeologists helping excavate sites on tribal lands. Listen to hear what they are doing to reclaim and revitalize the deep history and culture of their people—and to help train a new generation of scholars committed to centering indigenous knowledge.

Voices in this episode:

• Marvin Defoe is an educator, teacher, birch bark canoe builder, and Red Cliff elder. He grew up in the Red Cliff community and is part of the sturgeon clan. Named Shingway Banase in Anishinaabe, he is passionate about maintenance and revitalization of the Ojibwe language. Marvin is past Vice Chair on the tribal council and has been the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for four years. Learn more about the Red Cliff Ojibwe from Marvin in this video from PBS and Wisconsin First Nations educational resources.
• Edwina Buffalo-Reyes is from Red Cliff and of the eagle clan. In her words, "Ziigwaanikwe nindizhinikaaz. Miskwaabekaang nindoonjibaa. Migizi nindoodem. I am a mother first and always. I have three children - one adult and two still living at home. My passion is serving my community in all aspects and spectrums of need. I am currently the Assistant Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for my community. My life path has come full circle and has returned me to my community to raise my children and learn as much as I can about the history and ways of life of my people, the Anishinaabe - past and present."
• Heather Walder is a lecturer in the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, and a research associate at the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois. Since 2018, she has co-directed Gete Anishinaabeg Izhichigewin Community Archaeology Project, a collaborative endeavor of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and academic archaeologists. Her research interests include copper metallurgy and glass bead studies to better understand Indigenous trade networks of eastern North America.
• John Creese is an anthropological archaeologist in the department of Sociology and Anthropology at North Dakota State University with research interests in archaeological theory, landscape and settlement archaeology, GIS, personhood and the body, and community and Indigenous archaeologies. His current fieldwork focusses on collaborative Indigenous archaeology in the Western Great Lakes region of North America. He has published on topics such as rock art and relational ontologies, emotion-work and material culture, and Iroquoian architecture and settlement organization. Dr. Creese is also currently serving as the Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal of Archaeology.