A graphic poster featuring a stylized butterfly with intricate patterns on its wings. At the center, a raised fist emerges from a flower, symbolizing empowerment and resistance. Below the imagery, the bold text reads "TAKE BACK THE POWER!" against a light blue background, with a red star positioned beneath the butterfly, adding to the overall message of activism and change.

Never Made (Francisco Reyes, Jr.). (2021). Take Back The Power! Courtesy of the Richard F. Brush Art Gallery.

JSTOR Access in Prison Second Chance Poetry Submissions by Alazaron “Laz” Sargeant

About the author/artist: I’m Alazaron “Laz” Sargeant, and I love my name. I have earned an Associate degree in Science from Middlesex Community College in 2023 through CPE-Wesleyan, and I am currently working towards my Bachelor’s degree.

From Laz:

Dear Reader,

The following two poems are inspired by the Arabic political poet Mahmoud Darwish. I first came across Darwish in September 2024 when Freedom Reads put a library inside the prison housing unit of which I live. Although I have earned a General Studies Associate in Science degree, and I am currently working towards a Bachelor degree, I didn’t find a need to use JSTOR outside of class assignments, that is until, I read Mahmoud Darwish’s The Butterfly’s Burden. Reading The Butterfly’s Burden gave rise to a desire to know who this poet is, where did he come from, what life did he live, did he really gain freedom through his poems and prose, or were they just meant to be the tomes that he laid his roses in. Even with JSTOR as my tool, I still don’t know the answers to any of my open ended questions. I don’t think anyone can intimately know the person through what has been written about them, thus, I suppose why it’s the butterfly’s burden.

Enjoy,

Alazaron “Laz” Sargeant”

Read Laz’s poetry here:

“I pray Pt.2” by Alazaron “Laz” Sargeant

“The Burden of Butterflies” by Alazaron “Laz” Sargeant

“Survival or Love” by Alazaron “Laz” Sargeant

“Untitled” by Alazaron “Laz” Sargeant

“If I was another Pt.2” by Alazaron “Laz” Sargeant

From the editor:

When Laz shared his poems with us, we were inspired to realize his fullest vision and created the audiovisuals accompanying his readings.

Laz had a very specific vision, in his own words:

“Thank you for everything and I am totally onboard with the audiovisuals that are accompanied by subtitles. That is something that I and my niece have been working to accomplish with some of my other pieces. I apologize for writing this in such a rush right now but i have to be to class in five minutes!!! These are my audiovisual ideas, I will get you the rest later on this tonight when I get out of class. Once again thank you for giving myself and many others the space to reclaim our identities and show the world who we truly are.

For “I Pray pt.2” I’ve imagined having a video of a black mother walking through a field at either dawn or dusk(possibly both) that is filled with lavender, and various shades of pink blue, and yellow tulips and roses towards her black teenage son rolling dice in a patch of the field that’s barren and seems to be an ocean that has an overcast.

For Survival or Love, my audiovisual thoughts have always been of video of an evening neighborhood shootout that has people scattering into the night with a group of women in what seems to be daylight at the opposing end of the street. The back ground audio to this video would be my labored heartbeat accompanied by someone’s peaceful breathing and poem being read aloud with the each line flashing across throughout video.”

We did our best to bring this vision to life, yet limitations in access to Laz himself, and the implications of AI generation bias resulted in our inability to fulfill his artistic vision in full.

A Slack conversation between Elizabeth Shatswell, Stacy Burnett, and Grace Cope in a dark-themed interface. The messages read: Elizabeth Shatswell (1:10 PM): “Sorry was on a meeting with all the media for second chance month. Thank you for taking care of this, I appreciate it and am excited to see it 🙂” Stacy Burnett (1:11 PM): “I am sad that whatever I make for Mr. Sargeant will not meet his vision he is VERY precise” Elizabeth Shatswell (1:13 PM): “I think we can incorporate this into the blog so he is heard.” Grace Cope (1:14 PM): “Thanks for making the effort, Stacy. That means a lot in itself 🔥”

We reached out to Laz.

He responded: “I trust you.”

We hope that the following reflects his artistic vision.

In an upcoming post, we will revisit Laz’s work to explore the process of creating these videos, the implications of AI image generation, and the barriers to access that arise when working with those who are currently incarcerated.

The opinions and views expressed in these recordings, art, and posts are those of the authors and do not represent, reflect, or imply endorsement by ITHAKA.

About the editor and contributors

Elizabeth Shatswell serves as the Correctional Education Manager at JSTOR Access in Prison. A strong advocate for the transformative power of storytelling, she believes community is created through the sharing of our collective tales. Elizabeth is an alumnus of the Freedom Education Project Puget Sound (FEPPs), the Sunshine Lady Foundation, and the University of Puget Sound.

A close-up portrait of Grace Cope, a young person with long, wavy brown hair, smiling softly. Grace wears a blue scarf, gray sweater, and has a septum piercing. The background features a wooden railing and a clear blue sky.

Grace Cope is a designer and researcher at JSTOR Access in Prison and JSTOR Labs who works to build more accessible and intuitive user experiences. Continuously informed by art, collective storytelling, and political education, Grace teaches Jewish songs in carceral spaces.

Stacy Lyn Burnett has managed JSTOR Access in Prison for the past three years, ensuring people in jails and prisons have access to academic resources. Currently, more than one million incarcerated learners have JSTOR access on three continents. She took her first-ever college class as a student of Bard Prison Initiative, and post-release, she earned an MBA in Sustainability from Bard Graduate Center.