PONYXPRESS combines workshops and newsletters to create writing communities in prisons across the state. An online journal will publish the collected works of writers who are incarcerated. www.theponyXpress.org
ANTHOLOGY: Poetry, essays, and memoir written by incarcerated writers. Cover artwork by Tracy Schlapp
BRIDGEWORKS PRESENTS: Films and workbook for the film series are shipped to prisons statewide to be viewed on intra-prison television channels. Printed on letterpress by Cumbersome Multiples.
BRIDGEWORKS PRESENTS: Companion workbooks provide conversation and writing prompts to promote active engagement for adult in custody film series participants. Printed on letterpress by Cumbersome Multiples.
The band Luther’s Boots performs concerts in prisons statewide. photo: Steve Steckly
A SUITE OF PROGRAMS
Bridgeworks Oregon on Edovo.org, 2024-ongoing
Bridgeworks Oregon has designed writing modules that are available for free use on prison tablets across the US through the content provider Edovo. The courses focus on writing prompts and encourages a journal writing practice. Written poetry, memoir, and essays from currently and formerly incarcerated writers provide textual prompts. Enrolled adults in custody work in their personal journals. From introspective writing, they distill their ideas into short responses recorded on the tablet to earn credits. Certificates of completion demonstrate evidence of a person’s effort to engage in educational experiences, which is included in their files when they appear before a parole board.
PonyXpress, 2023-ongoing
Bridgeworks runs on-site workshops to mentor adults in custody as they organize writing communities across the state; to that end, they publish the PonyXpress — an online journal created for Oregon writers. Subscribe for free: theponyXpress.
The Ground Beneath Us, 2019-ongoing
Located at Oregon State Penitentiary, the Ground Beneath Us group of writers met monthly until COVID required that they pivot to a correspondence model, during which the group developed writing for the anthology Prisons Have a Long Memory: Life Inside Oregon’s Oldest Prison. The men have formed an editorial board tasked to select, edit, and provide feedback on submissions for the ponyXpress.
Hecate’s Lantern, 2022-ongoing
A sister writing project, Hecate’s Lantern was designed to mentor women at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility. The Regional Arts & Culture Council provided support for the pilot program and publication of a chapbook. This group continues to meet regularly as part of the PonyXpress writing workshops.
Project: Bridgeworks Presents Film Fest, 2020-2022
As a COVID response, Bridgeworks created a film series that explored themes (such as feminist icons or director Hayao Miyazaki.) A workbook accompanied each series and provided background reading, discussion questions, and writing prompts. Oregon Humanities funding made it possible to extend the program to additional prisons across Oregon.
Folsom50 Oregon Prison Tour, 2017-ongoing
Live concerts produced in prisons statewide, led by Danny Wilson with the band Luther’s Boots.
CASH: Music, Legacy, & Redemption, 2019-2020
A musical lecture that broadcasts stories of the people the Bridgeworks team met during the first Oregon prison tour, alongside the songs Johnny Cash performed in his “At Folsom Prison” concert in 1968. The piece has been presented in schools, colleges, prisons — and at the Johnny Cash Heritage Festival in Dyess, Arkansas, in 2019.
Project: Luther’s Books Book Drive, 2018
Special event to help stock the library at South Fork Forest Camp in Tillamook with nonfiction books. The 200-man camp trains adult in custody to do forest restoration work in winter and firefighting during the wildfire season.