Writing group Women

I think it is a fine idea to broadcast voices of inmates to the world, or to the immediate communities for starters. I am not a person who interacts with inmates on a regular basis and further do not assume they are all “heartless criminals,” but I sense that not everyone reacts the same way toward them. At length people are people anywhere they may be and at any moment in their lives. It is likely that at some instances though, we encounter people whom we do not appreciate sufficiently or like particularly. I am not trying to explain that I am learned in the precise facts, mentalities, settings, circumstances, and so on, that take flight in instances of intense violent actions because I simply am not. I do not think anyone is an apt judge for such things not even these women because every story is different, unique. All the same, those items must be great, frightening, and damaging because they obviously ignite tempestuous behavior. Yet it is a behavior that captures but a snap shot in a person's entire life, not quite accurately depicting a person's authentic character.

Ensler has done a great service to humanity by volunteering and promoting self-reflection in those women, I think. My heart goes out to those women for sharing their own words and how they view themselves now. The film makes certain that talking about things truly does set one at ease, even if only a few degrees lower than a previous state of mind. It is instructive for both the viewer and women involved, no question about it. Murder is a complex entity; often we are informed of stories taking place at home and abroad about people murdering by the tens, maybe hundreds (for example the university shootings of recent and the Rwanda Genocide), yet we do not feel great urgency to contemplate them much because they do not affect us directly. Distancing us further is the fact that we do not know much about the people involved, but in this documentary tries to abridge that distance. We become familiar with those women by listening to them explain how they feel about what they have done to merit imprisonment. We catch a glimpse of their guilt through their writing, and want to believe they would have acted differently given a second chance had they known how they would feel in retrospect.

The actors performing in place of the inmates certainly helps spread accurate information to people who do not involve themselves with correctional facilities and their residents. Regardless of their background (members of this group or that group), these women in the writing group now share similar stories and are hurting and healing together. And that is truly something worthwhile and that many do not have an opportunity to witness, let alone learn from.