The House of Ash

A letter from Troy Davis:

To All:

I want to thank all of you for your efforts and dedication to Human Rights and Human Kindness, in the past year I have experienced such emotion, joy, sadness and never ending faith. It is because of all of you that I am alive today, as I look at my sister Martina I am marveled by the love she has for me and of course I worry about her and her health, but as she tells me she is the eldest and she will not back down from this fight to save my life and prove to the world that I am innocent of this terrible crime.

As I look at my mail from across the globe, from places I have never ever dreamed I would know about and people speaking languages and expressing cultures and religions I could only hope to one day see first hand. I am humbled by the emotion that fills my heart with overwhelming, overflowing Joy. I can’t even explain the insurgence of emotion I feel when I try to express the strength I draw from you all, it compounds my faith and it shows me yet again that this is not a case about the death penalty, this is not a case about Troy Davis, this is a case about Justice and the Human Spirit to see Justice prevail.

I cannot answer all of your letters but I do read them all, I cannot see you all but I can imagine your faces, I cannot hear you speak but your letters take me to the far reaches of the world, I cannot touch you physically but I feel your warmth everyday I exist.

So Thank you and remember I am in a place where execution can only destroy your physical form but because of my faith in God, my family and all of you I have been spiritually free for some time and no matter what happens in the days, weeks to come, this Movement to end the death penalty, to seek true justice, to expose a system that fails to protect the innocent must be accelerated. There are so many more Troy Davis’. This fight to end the death penalty is not won or lost through me but through our strength to move forward and save every innocent person in captivity around the globe. We need to dismantle this Unjust system city by city, state by state and country by country.

I can’t wait to Stand with you, no matter if that is in physical or spiritual form, I will one day be announcing,

“I AM TROY DAVIS, and I AM FREE!”

Never Stop Fighting for Justice and We will Win!

No, not this Oz...


This one.

I suppose I'm jumping on this band wagon a little late... 7 years late to be exact. However, I'm absolutely undone by this show and will most likely be writing a few more blogs about it before my obscure little summer obsession runs its course.

I'm in the middle of watching the series via dvd (currently at the beginning of season 4). It's hands down one of the best episodic drama series that I've ever seen. I will have more comments as soon as I'm through the entire series as there's A TON to say, about the writing, performances and the issues it raises. I think the storytelling is superior and am personally interested in how the structure (narrative/narration) affects the way the audience understands the various issues that it raises about the prison/legal system, gender, race and class. It's a structure I've seen done both successfully (and not so successfully) in theatre and something I would like to work with a bit more in my own work, though adapting the structure of Oz to the theatre could end up creating a very pretentious/didactic theatre piece. Though on the flip side, it's incredibly Brechtian, which I think is another reason why I'm so captivated. I haven't had the chance to read any criticism/discussions on the series (I'm holding off until I'm done in a sad attempt to not spoil the ending) but I imagine all of these points have been raised.

Oz successfully puts a face onto statistics, the rather large and insane US prison incarceration statistics. Not only do we get to know, attempt to understand and empathize with the characters but Tom Fontana (the writer) skillfully weaves in larger humanitarian/ethical themes and statistics through narration by a character named Augustus Hill (played by Harold Perrineau) who breaks the 4th wall and addresses the viewers.

With facebook, twitter and the other social networking sites that dominate our lives and the way we watch television, I wish this show was still on the air not only for the crazy comments everyone would be posting at the end of each episode, but to get a sense first hand of the way that people are interpreting the ethical issues jam packed into every episode. Does it make people want to take action? How does one view the prison system after watching this series? How does the structure affect the way the information and storytelling is coming through? I may be digging deep but I'm hooked (and for good reason...). I would love to hear the dialogue on this one.

And one final thought for tonight ... How the heck does Simon Adebesi keep that hat on?

(Simon Adebesi [played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje] and his infamous hat)