Trans march, letter writing, and much more!

Dear FoW community,
 
Happy June! We’re excited to be tabling at SF Trans March on Friday June 28th – be sure to find us at Dolores Park before the march (2-6PM) to decorate a postcard and send some love to our trans Black&Pink inside members. Afterwards, we’ll be heading to the official afterparty and annual fundraiser for TGIJP at El Rio, Bustin Out 14: Party Against the Prison Industrial Complex. Hope to see you there. 
We’ve also got SF and Oakland letter-writing coming up! Details and community events below.
Monthly Letter-Writing
 
San Francisco:
Join us THIS THURSDAY for letter writing in San Francisco! Every month on the 1st Thursday, we’ll have birthday cards to our LGBTQ members in nearby Norcal prisons AND penpal info, so join us for whatever your pleasure is (and invite your friends)! We will have info on folks to send letters to, all the supplies, and ways to get more involved in the movement to abolish prisons. Letter-writing is one incredible way we have to overcome the isolation intended by the PIC. This is an important way to show solidarity with our incarcerated LGBTQ+ and HIV+ community members.
 
Thursday, June 6th, 6-8PM
Wicked Grounds Cafe
289 8th St, SF. Near Civic Center Bart. Wheelchair accessible. 
 
More about Wicked Grounds: Some food and beverages are available for purchase from Wicked Grounds which offers coffee, community, and kink in an inviting and all-inclusive space. And please bring some dollars and change toward postage, if you can. Any money raised beyond the cost of supplies will be used to support both local & national Black & Pink projects. 
 
While this space is open to the public and not scent-free, please avoid wearing scented products in order to support folks with chemical sensitivities. More info: https://eastbaymeditation.org/resources/fragrance-free-at-ebmc/
 
 
Oakland:
Please join us for our regularly scheduled letter-writing night at Farley’s Cafe. Since we are covering lots of monthly birthdays at our SF event, we will send birthday cards to incarcerated folks who have not specified their birth date, and also work on mail processing. Please join with or without a laptop – there is work for everyone! If you’d like, we’ll train you to respond to letters or to enter and update penpal request forms in our database. Getting these forms into our database helps get our inside folks matched to penpals, so this is an essential part of our work (and we have so much mail!).
 
Monday, June 17th, 6-8pm
Farley’s Cafe
33 Grand Ave in Oakland near 19th St Bart. Wheelchair accessible, though outlets for laptops are on the 2nd floor only.
 
More about Farley’s: Beverages and some snacks are available for purchase from the cafe. Please bring some dollars and change toward postage, if you can. Any money raised beyond the cost of supplies will be used to support both local & national Black & Pink projects.
 
While this space is open to the public and not scent-free, please avoid wearing scented products in order to support folks with chemical sensitivities. More info: https://eastbaymeditation.org/resources/fragrance-free-at-ebmc/
 
Community Events 
Thursday June 13th Join the SFAC for a screening of  Criminal Queers (2015, 63 min, dirs. Eric Stanley and Chris Vargas) followed by a Q&A with Eric Stanley. “Criminal Queers visualizes a radical trans/queer struggle against the prison industrial complex and toward a world without walls. Remembering that prison breaks are both a theoretical and material practice of freedom, this film imagines what spaces might be opened up if crowbars, wigs, and metal files become tools for transformation.”
Friday June 28th After Trans march, follow us to El Rio and Virgil’s for the official after-party and annual TGIJP fundraiser, Bustin Out 14: Part against the PIC. Hope to see you there!
Thursday July 4th SF LA Queer Connection is hosting the 5th annual Queer as Fourth Radical Resistance Fundraiser at El Rio. “We are fundraising for MyRem, a local nonprofit whose mission is to assist in precluding eviction and foreclosure for individuals, families, and small businesses. This is not only a great opportunity to give back, but to be amongst other queers who believe that America isn’t worth celebrating until we are all living equitably. Come be amongst radical community in resistance with us!!”
Saturday July 13th The Green Life at San Quentin “invites the communities most impacted by the intersections of incarceration, re-entry, social identity and place, including youth of color and their families” to the Reentry Leadership Forum. This reentry community building leadership forum will bring together incarceral system impacted leaders, young people, and community partners. This forum will utilize and explore best practices in transformative and restorative justice to engage with intersectional challenges of race, gender, ageism, exceptional abilities, equity, and the need for community based solutions.
Our friends at TGIJP have mail night every Tuesday this month from 4-8pm at 234 Eddy St. More info here.
Exciting News!
We are honored to announce that Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom (BALIF), an LGBTQI Bar Association, has awarded Flying Over Walls with their annual Community Service Award! 
 
Our partner collective, ABO Comix, publishes the work of incarcerated queer and trans people with profits going back to them and their families. They currently have two comic anthologies written and drawn by LGBTQ+ prisoners as well as zines, artwork and merch. You can support the artists and buy copies for yourself or your penpals at www.abocomix.com
 
California Coalition of Women Prisoners (CCWP) announced that Governor Brown granted 73 more commutations for people with Life Without Parole (LWOP) sentences. Brown also granted 58 commutations for people with other sentences and 143 pardons. From their announcement: “Thank you to all who have supported the DROP LWOP campaign in so many ways! Let’s build the momentum in 2019 with Governor-elect Newsom to win commutations for all 5,000+ people with LWOP sentences and end LWOP and all forms of extreme sentencing!” Read more here.
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We are actively seeking new folks to get involved to help grow our Leadership Circle in order to help make sure this work continues. Email if you want to get involved and we’ll make a time to connect.

 
Prison visits are ongoing! We regularly visit San Quentin and Mule Creek, and are expanding our visitation program to other prisons in the future. Let us know if you’d like to be involved!