Looking for a volunteer with an unusual aim to inspire you? Look no further than Kendall’s Quest - Kendall has organized both a writing workshop for prisoners in Texas and the publication of the writing of prisoners edited by members of that group.

Prisoners in Texas can receive free subscriptions to this magazine which comes out twice a year; free world people can purchase a one-year subscription – for themselves or for inmates in other states – for $10 (if sent to a US address) to $13 (if sent internationally).

An abridged excerpt of a story from the magazine:

She’ll be Tired
By Anthony Alegría
I don’t know when I first realized how hard my Mom worked while trying to raise Mando, my kid brother, and me… For a long time we didn’t have a car, so Mom had to ride the bus to and from work five days a week. The bus passes by our house by only about 100 feet, but the actual bus stop, a bench with a glass enclosure, is a little over a city block away. It made no difference if the weather was nice or if it had been raining or even snowing, by six a.m. Mom was waiting for the bus that would take her halfway to work. At the end of this bus’s route Mom had to transfer to another which still left her with a little over a mile to walk before she finally reached her job. The two bus trips and walk took a little over an hour. Years later, after driving to Mom’s job myself, I learned the trip can be made in about twenty minutes.
Mom spent nine hours a day at work… Mom would get off work at four in the afternoon and make her mile walk and the two bus rides home. Mando and I knew she’d be home around five and she’d be tired, so we always tried to have dinner made and at least a glass of ice water waiting…

Mando and I are both in prison now, and Mom lives alone. She’s had a Blazer for years, and she comes to see me at least once a month. It’s a six to seven hour round-trip plus the two hours for our visits. Every time she leaves I can’t help wishing Mando or I could be at home to have dinner made and at least a glass of ice water waiting. I know she’ll be tired.

“Checks for donations should be made out to “TUUC” (which stands for Thoreau Unitarian Universalist Congregation) with “Midnight Special” on the memo line and an address, of course, for the subscription. Send subscription requests to: The Midnight Special, P.O. Box 18814, Sugar Land, TX 77496. Also please note we are only offering free subscriptions to prisoners in Texas, so if you would like to give a gift subscription to a prisoner in another state, please send a donation for that, along with his or her address.”