During our visit with Lori Stone, Outreach Director for the NC Innocence Project, we learned a lot about Jack’s case. We also learned that he was exonerated very recently, on October 11. Here is the video footage of his release that we watched in class: https://www.10news.com/news/local-news/man-exonerated-of-murder-after-spending-almost-34-years-in-prison
Together, Lori and I are excited to introduce this writing project: we are going to write letters of hope to send to Jack. Why are we writing letters of hope if Jack has been exonerated and is out of prison? In Wednesday’s class, we watched a video about exonerees coming together to help each other deal with PTSD and the many other challenges they face. “The Price of a Life” is an article in the New Yorker by Ariel Levy that tells the stories of several exonerees in order to convey how the loss of so many years to life in prison harms people in ways that exoneration and even millions of dollars in compensation cannot fully alleviate. I urge you, strongly, to read the article and let it sink in before writing to Jack.
Details
- You can type/print or write our your letter by hand. Your choice. We will send him hardcopies of our letters.
- Address your letter “Dear Jack,” or with a similar greeting that you prefer.
- Introduce yourself to Jack in any way that you’re comfortable with.
- Write 2 pages or more that communicate to Jack hope for his future, joy, and what he can look forward to. For example: you might talk about some of your favorite things to do. What do you like to eat, or bake, to treat yourself? What books, movies, and music do you recommend that you find moving or uplifting? You might tell him a story about something great that happened to you recently. What places have you visited that affected you deeply? How is Jack inspiring you, personally, especially after learning about his case, what it means to be an exenoree, and the difficulties of transitioning to life after prison (e.g., see Levy’s article “The Price of A Life“).
- Sign the letter and include your address or email address if you would like a reply. Including your address is for continued correspondence is optional.
- If you would like, you can put your letter in your own personal envelope, but an envelope is optional. You can also just fold it up. All of our letters will be delivered at once, in a package, to Jack. You do not need to provide postage. Lori and I will take care of postage.
- Due date: You must hand your letter in to me next Wednesday, October 30th, in hardcopy. You can hand it to me during class or turn it in to my mailbox in St. Joseph’s by midnight. On the 31st, I will deliver all of the letters to Lori Stone by hand. She is delivering them all at once.
Grading
This letter assignment will count as 5% of your participation grade, the same way that your letter to a Tenacious author did. It will be graded as Complete (100 %) or Incomplete.
Due Date: Your must hand your final letter in to me in class on