A collectionTIME of Nancy B. Jefferson TO Alternative GO. School student art and creative writing. COVER ART BY KYLE W. MISSION STATEMENT The Thread of Development Literacy and Creative Media Program provides deeply personalized print literacy tutoring, as well as opportunities for creative expression through writing, visual art, and music production to youth incarcerated in the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center. We produce this annual anthology of student writings and a number of other publications throughout the year. We serve as a resource to the Nancy B. Jefferson Alternative School, housed in the C.C.J.T.D.C. Your support can help us provide this critical programming inside the jail. Please consider making a contribution. To support our work, you can make a donation to: Thread of Development Literacy and Creative Media Program c/o Chicago Lights 126 E. Chestnut Chicago, IL 60611 Or contact us at
[email protected] Thanks! INTRODUCTION “They can turn the lights out/But it’ll still shine in you.” is set up to define the young people we work with as - Sanova D. “criminals,” “gangbangers,” and “thugs.” Often we see our students based entirely upon their deficits, the skills The Thread of Development Literacy and Creative Media they lack, rather than by their talents and gifts. Program at the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center serves Illinois’ most vulnerable children. Our students In fact, we rarely know anything of the histories of the are between the ages of 10 and 19 years and are awaiting students who come before us. Rather, their assets are trial, awaiting sentencing, or serving time in jail.