nature @slrpnk.net natural gardener, anti-authoritarian
avatar—green onion scapes, seeds, dandelion, sprouts
banner—Experimental Farm Network seed packets: pretty neat & simple, black & white graphic art
Meet the prison book project helping to save lives
> #### In this Q&A with Prism, the Appalachian Prison Book Project’s Lydia Welker discusses the barriers prisons place on books and why access is worth fighting for
August 28th, 2024
>For two decades, the Appalachian Prison Book Project (APBP) has mailed books to people in prisons and jails across six states in Appalachia. More than 70,000 reference, nonfiction, and fiction books have reached people behind bars who would not have otherwise had access to them.
>Lydia Welker is the digital communications coordinator for the project, which is run by an all-volunteer team in Morgantown, West Virginia. In 2021, the Appalachian Prison Book Project expanded by creating a pen pal program, facilitating book clubs, and supporting an associate’s degree program at a prison in Pennsylvania. In December 2024, the organization will publish a book of art and letters by incarcerated people with West Virginia University Press.
>On the 20th anniversary of the project, Prism’s Ray Levy Uyeda spoke with Welker by phone about the work that has—as she said—changed her perspective on everything she encounters and her outlook on her “entire life.”
> ...
>Ray Levy Uyeda: What does it take to send a book to someone in prison?
>Lydia Welker: Sending anything—especially books—to people who are incarcerated is extremely difficult. Federal, state, and county governments each have different rules about what can be mailed inside. Individual wardens also have a say, and then it often comes down to the discretion of someone working in the mail room.
>The Appalachian Prison Book Project keeps very detailed records about different prisons and jails in the region that we serve. We keep careful records about what books have been rejected and why. Most prisons won’t accept hardback books and won’t accept books that aren’t in “good” condition. If a book has a ripped cover, torn pages, pencil or pen marks, it will get rejected. There are also content-based reasons for rejection. We’ve learned that violence, nudity, and maps are all reasons books won’t be accepted, which can include action books or art books like Michelangelo’s David.
>What’s in the package is just as important as what’s on the outside. You have to include the person’s name and their ID number and then their mailing address, and then inside we include a note that says, “This book is free and yours to keep.” That is a very important language that we have to include in each package so it’s not seen as an exchange where someone would need to pay us for that book.
> ...
Incarceration and community supervision pose additional obstacles to abortion access
> Since its founding in 2003, the legal services and advocacy organization If/When/How has been working to fight back against state intervention in people’s reproductive lives. In addition to training lawyers, working with law students, and maintaining a legal defense fund, the organization also operates a free and confidential helpline designed to help callers navigate legal emergencies and pose questions regarding their right to access abortions and other forms of reproductive care.
> ... Since Dobbs, If/When/How has received more than 5,000 inquiries, with more than half of them pertaining to the caller’s legal rights to use abortion pills, the risks of using pills, or judicial bypass, which allows minors to petition a judge to grant them permission for an abortion without telling their parents.
> The report, “State Violence and the Far-Reaching Impact of Dobbs,” ... also focuses on calls from those currently under carceral control, whether detained in jails and prisons or on probation or parole.
> #### Barriers to care
> Abortion access varies depending on where incarcerated pregnant people are detained. Even prior to Dobbs, some states did not allow incarcerated people to have abortions, while many others only allowed abortions during the first trimester. Pre-Dobbs, only four states had laws ensuring abortion access to incarcerated people; just 23 states had some standard or regulation regarding abortion access for incarcerated pregnant people.
> ...
Suspected arson at Atlanta construction site of Brent Scarborough and Company, Inc.
picture of burned excavator
in Atlanta early Wednesday at a construction site of a company previously targeted in similar incidents over its role in the building of Cop City
City officials said earlier this year site prep work was almost finished and that actual construction of the facility would soon begin.
They have targeted December of this year for completion of the project. Schierbaum said Wednesday morning a ribbon-cutting ceremony in December is still in the works.
Yes, but mines ruin villages and their water supply; and if the villagers protest, then the company may kill them
I feel the need to clarify that these types of projects usually don't bring "generational jobs and careers" but usually bring outside workforce who will leave when damage done.
I was just talking about an alternative to those farmers. The whole thread was about those farmers, not the vote. If they want to restore the damaged landscapes, they could leave that to us as well, because we could cover the damaged landscapes with humanure compost that will break down most toxins. (Kitchen scraps also go into humanure compost.)
Also, besides mulch and native plants, we could grow drought-tolerant crops instead of irrigating, and to the degree that we can make gardener communities, we can scale up our gardens to farms.
We could garden and farm by ourselves and the communities we can make, staying as close to nature as possible, without tilling, irrigating, or using chemicals, and by using mulch and some native plants instead.
Yeah, but from an anthropologist view, cities (and specialization) have basically been the downfall of our species. I don't know; I guess bolo'bolo mentioned some city-like places supported by farms. (and Çatalhöyük)
Don't do it. Quit fighting nature. Move inland. Quit living in cities! Okay, I know no one is going to do any of this.
I like this UI better because it's more compact than Photon, but I like both so far because it's easy to turn on dark mode. I also like the previews better than old.slrpnk. I like how Alexandrite discussions open up in something that lays over the rest of the content, and I could close the sidebar to get a better view. I'd like it better if I didn't have to scroll back up to the top to close the discussion, but maybe that's a work in progress or something I could post as a wish on their development site.
PS—Oh, I can just press Esc. Oh, I think there's also a navigation bar that will let me close the thread.
Also, I like how it shows the number of unread posts since my last visit, but I don't think there's a way to either take me to these posts or to highlight them while I'm scrolling the thread.
Privet also does just fine as a hedge, and people in the UK actually use it for this purpose. Ironically, that's where I've seen privet growing—along borders, so people who hate privet might as well leave the stuff unless it's in their way.
For biodiversity, for example, if the rate at which species disappear is less than 10 times the average extinction rate over the last 10 million years, that is deemed acceptable.
In reality, however, extinctions are occurring at least 100 times faster than this so-called background rate, and 10 times faster than the planetary boundary limit.
Will the miracle of life actually survive our self-induced extinction?
I would just do the cover crops along with some nitrogen fixers for several years.
PS – I would keep getting the lawn clippings and use them to mulch my plants.
Try clover again for the fall and winter. You can sow clover seeds until late spring. If necessary, you can start back again in mid summer.
I don't wait for rain, but when I see there's going to be a few days of rain, I try to get some seeds out there before it rains. A few days of rain might give the seeds a good start, and then, you could mulch the seedlings to help them make it to the next rainfall. You could use a handheld tool to cut competing plants like grass and use them as mulch. If you can spend a little time every day or week, then you'll figure out what works.
Many people without land can practice with a flower pot. They can learn all about germination, how a plant looks, harvesting, and collecting seeds! Sometimes, people are sharing land or renting out parcels for gardening, and sometimes, people use an abandoned lot.