Our Writing
Octopodes (yes, that’s the proper plural) are both fluid and uniquely evolved. Each arm functions as its own brain, bending and reaching for any useful fuel or tool, but all in service of the collective being. And its future. So, too, the multifaceted realms of The Humanization Project. The different realms of our writing vary in acadence and sound but all harmonize collectively to bring dignity and memorably alter public perception. They provide an outlet to display the voices that make us human.
Scientists say we’re the only species to communicate aurally by controlling both rhythm and tone, making ours the most complex form. Our voices are powerfully unique and central to us as human beings, reflecting our textured identities and experiences. They are how we build and maintain connections and share ourselves and our ideas with the world.
Thus we present these many human voices, with varied rhythms and tones, hoping to reach you, reader, whatever your preferred sound. Some belong to our founders themselves, some to permanent content creators, and some to the many decent, good, and great people we’ve met who are counterproductively stuck in the system. Some are poetic, some are revolutionary, some are technical and academic, but they all focus on and present the human side of mass incarceration.
Academic Research
Science, too, has often overlooked the human side of mass incarceration. Even as social science has (recently, at least) studied causes and effects to produce copious evidence of systemic inequality and discrimination, fueling calls for reform, much has been left unmentioned or inaccessible.
One of our founders was part of that effort even before experiencing the system’s brute injustice personally. Yet even he was shocked to his core by the human strengths and diversity found inside. With the help and encouragement from colleagues outside, he embarked on a mission to put to use his unprecedented (literally) combination of academic training and full subcultural immersion to advance sociological dialogue surrounding imprisonment.
Creative Writing
Every voice is valuable, even when not shouting specifically about the struggle. Often in the face of such an entrenched, resistant system, the best way to stay sane is to think about, and write about anything else. Sometimes it is to share the rainbow of emotions evoked by life in the system. Often just the expression of self and being heard matters most. Such has been the case for our founder and many other contributors.
We offer this outlet as a venue for the free and freeing expression. We hope it shows the world just how much creativity is caged along with the millions of people. Imagine what these voices and minds could do fully unshackled.
The Fighting Tree
Everyone deserves to be treated humanely and seen as human. Simple and obvious as that sounds, when it comes to criminal justice there remains a lot of resistance to that notion. Most stems from uninformed misperceptions through transmitted mass media which we counter with many gently humanizing projects. However, some stems from informed malice and political expediency. Thus, there are times that call for more direct work, when the pen must be used as a sword in battle for second chances and equality.
Luckily, we have advocates fierce in their commitment to change. One founder’s outspokenness is even the root of his prison time, the other his partner. Having already faced that nightmare and come out better for it, even having written and passed major reform legislation already, we are dedicated to the good fight.