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Your Call

If I Give You My Sorrows illuminates the lives of incarcerated women

Photo by RJ Muna of Jhia Jackson
Photo by RJ Muna of Jhia Jackson

On this edition of Your Call, we're discussing If I Give You My Sorrows, a Flyaway Productions aerial dance performance addressing the devastating impacts of mass incarceration. The performance highlights the voices of three formerly and currently incarcerated women.

The United States is the world’s leader in incarceration. There are two million people in the nation’s prisons and jails, a 500 percent increase over the last 40 years, according to the Sentencing Project. Women are the fastest growing segment of the incarcerated population. Despite this, the experiences of incarcerated women, trans, and nonbinary people are not well documented.

You can see the show at Space 124 inside Project Artaud in San Francisco from October 6 - 15. The performance begins at 7:30 pm on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday. An additional 9 pm performance will take place on Saturday, October 7 and 14.

Guests:

Jo Kreiter, San Francisco-based choreographer and artistic director of Flyaway Productions

Betty McKay, incarcerated for 27 years, organizer with the Essie Justice Group, motivational speaker, policy organizer, and healing to advocacy facilitator

Lisa Strawn, incarcerated for 25 years, writer, activist, and 2023 Impact Fund Hall Of Fame Inductee

Web Resources:

Flyaway Productions: Upcoming Events

The San Francisco Chronicle: ‘If I Give You My Sorrows’ explores the pain of prison through dance

The Prison Policy Initiative: Women’s Mass Incarceration

Rose Aguilar has been the host of Your Call since 2006. She became a regular media roundtable guest in 2001. In 2019, the San Francisco Press Club named Your Call the best public affairs program. In 2017, The Nation named it the most valuable local radio show.