True Notebooks

True Notebooks: A Writer’s Year at Juvenile Hall

by Mark Salzman
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Mark Salzman is writing a novel, and he wants to make one of his characters more lifelike. The character is supposed to be a young criminal, but all the personality Salzman can give him is tattoos and a shaved head. What do you expect, since Salzman had never actually met or talked to anybody like that. Then one of his friends, Duane, convinces him to attend a writing workshop he runs in juvenile hall. Salzman isn’t thrilled by this, but he gives it a try.

Salzman has two major objections to going to a writing workshop in juvenile hall. First, he doesn’t really want to hang out with criminals. Second, he really hates writing classes. He taught one before, and he hated it. However, when he actually shows up and pays attention to what the 17-year-old murderers write, he is amazed. After one hour with the class, he said, “if my college students had made this kind of effort, I might still be teaching.” Naturally, he ends up running his own writing class for high-risk offenders, or teenagers who are facing life without parole.

The writing class is good for his students. It gives them a chance to express themselves, explore complex ideas, and be creative, and they’re pretty good at it. Through their writing, we get to see what kind of people they are. Obviously, they’ve got their problems. Most of them are in for murder or something similar. They’ve made some pretty bad choices and done some pretty bad things, and they probably won’t ever get out of jail. However, they aren’t the kind of human waste that a lot of people think they are. If they hadn’t been screwed over by life, they could have done some impressive things. For that matter, some of them may even be able to do impressive things from within jail.

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Where to Find It

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