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by Mark Salzman

Mark_Salzman Writing_Research_and_Publishing_Guides English

Writing Research & Publishing Guides

Author:

Mark Salzman
ISBN:

0375413081
ISBN13:

978-0375413087
Genre:

Reference
Publisher:

Knopf; 1 edition (September 16, 2003)
Pages:

352 pages
Subcategory:

Writing Research & Publishing Guides
Language:

English
FB2 format

1886 kb
ePUB format

1717 kb
DJVU format

1527 kb
Rating:

4.6
Votes:

732
Formats:

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Mark Salzman has written yet another book with his customary sensitivity and fine writing.

It soon becomes apparent that he is as skillful as a teacher (although his instruction methodology for his students is not revealed) as he is a writer. Mark Salzman has written yet another book with his customary sensitivity and fine writing.

When Mark Salzman is invited to visit a writing class at Central Juvenile Hall, a lockup for Los Angelesâ€™s most violent teenage offenders, he scrambles for a polite reason to decline. He goesâ€ expecting the worstâ€ and is so astonished by what he finds that he becomes a teacher there himself.

When Mark Salzman is invited to visit a writing class at Central Juvenile Hall, a lockup for Los Angeles’s most violent teenage offenders, he scrambles for a polite . A Writer's Year at Juvenile Hall. Narrator: Paul Boehmer.

When Mark Salzman is invited to visit a writing class at Central Juvenile Hall, a lockup for Los Angeles’s most violent teenage offenders, he scrambles for a polite reason to decline. Imprint: Books on Tape Genre: Biography & Autobiography - Personal Memoirs. Release Date: October 10, 2006 9 Hours and 17 Minutes. Play Clip: audioEmbed.

When Mark Salzman is invited to visit a writing class at Central Juvenile Hall, a lockup for Los Angeles’s most violent . He goes-expecting the worst-and is so astonished by what he finds that he becomes a teacher there himself. Through it, we come to know his students as he did: in their own words.

True Notebooks by Mark Salzman. 42 people like this topic. Want to like this Page?

True Notebooks by Mark Salzman.

About True Notebooks. In 1997 Mark Salzman, bestselling author Iron and Silk and Lying Awake, paid a reluctant visit to a writing class at . s Central Juvenile Hall, a lockup for violent teenage offenders, many of them charged with murder. What he found so moved and astonished him that he began to teach there regularly. In voices of indelible emotional presence, the boys write about what led them to crime and about the lives that stretch ahead of them behind bars.

True Notebooks - Mark Salzman. Guess what - the kids in his class really want to learn, and in their hearts they are still kids, no matter what they've done, and their writing is deeply moving and echoes the harrowing losses they've already experienced and the fear of what's to come.

In 1997 Mark Salzman, bestselling author Iron and Silk and Lying Awake, paid a reluctant visit to a writing class at .

Books for People with Print Disabilities. Internet Archive Books. Uploaded by Lotu Tii on January 3, 2012.

When Mark Salzman is invited to visit a writing class at Central Juvenile Hall, a lockup for Los Angeles’s most violent teenage offenders, he scrambles for a polite reason to decline. He goes—expecting the worst—and is so astonished by what he finds that he becomes a teacher there himself. True Notebooks is an account of Salzman’s first years teaching at Central. Through it, we come to know his students as he did: in their own words. At times impossible and at times irresistible, they write with devastating clarity about their pasts, their fears, their confusions, their regrets, and their hopes. They write about what led them to crime and to gangs, about love for their mothers and anger toward their (mostly absent) fathers, about guilt for the pain they have caused, and about what it is like to be facing life in prison at the age of seventeen. Most of all, they write about trying to find some reason to believe in themselves—and others—in spite of all that has gone wrong. Surprising, charming, upsetting, enlightening, and ultimately hopeful—driven by the insight and humor of Salzman’s voice and by the intelligence, candor, and strength of his students, whose writing appears throughout the book—True Notebooks is itself a reward of the self-expression Mark Salzman teaches: a revelatory meditation on the process, power, and meaning of writing.

Marr

I had zero expectations reading this book and it took me by storm. Partially for research on juvenile offenders and partially for philanthropic reasons, author Mark Salzman taught a writing class at a juvenile detention center in LA where most of the teenaged boys were awaiting trial for murder. What follows is in equal terms alarming, hilarious, and sad.

What's alarming: the reader gets to know these boys well and even sympathize with them, but the bottom line is that they are killers. In a few cases details about their crimes are provided. Are they deserving of our sympathies? Yes and no. Salzman seems aware of the pitfalls himself, providing perspective occasionally by offering asides about society's point of view (as well as the victims' points of view).

What's hilarious: the badinage between the boys. The profanity-laced ribbing they deliver at each other, typical of teenaged boys everywhere, is realistic and merciless. Every weakness is attacked; every mistake is magnified; and yet, they give each other his due when it comes to letting the defenses down to write about feelings.

What's sad: the fate of these boys. Almost all are convicted with the maximum sentences with little if any serious defense on the part of their appointed legal representatives. As you hear the stories of their misspent, abused, and neglected youths, you see that the picture is bigger and more complicated than you'd expect.

Keep your eye on Mr. Sills, a corrections officer who is hard as nails on the outside, but caring on the inside. He's one of those "sleeper" minor characters that can really make a book, and he offers the boys the tough, structured guidance that many of them lacked at home. I'm going to miss this book now that I'm done, but at least I have a bunch of other Mark Salzman titles to check out now. If you care about humanity, reading, writing, teaching, crime, rehabilitation, and overcrowded prisons, this is your book. And if you don't, this may well be your book anyway. Check it out.

Phenade

True Notebooks is an insightful account of Salzman's volunteer experience as a writing instructor for juvenile offenders. It soon becomes apparent that he is as skillful as a teacher (although his instruction methodology for his students is not revealed) as he is a writer. The penetrating essays of his students are riveted with emotions of anxiety, guilt, revenge, remorse and love. Neither Salzman nor his students make excuses for their actions, but they too are challenged with their search for an explanation of their criminal behavior. The nature of the beast is self-analyzed, then exorcised through the newfound elixir of writing.

Interestingly, the spoken language of the inmates is loaded with expletives; every response has one. Yet, expletives do not appear in their written essays!

Salzman writes with such straight-forward, digestable language; it is hard to accept his revealing admission that he struggles greatly as a writer. His struggle is rewarded in the final product.

Bludsong

I fully understand the pull to intervene in no matter how small or large a way with the boys. Having been involved in Epiphany juvenile prison ministry since 1995, I am so glad to be present to the young inmates. We have completed 48 weekends at Western Youth Institution in NC and were back to have 'reunions' with them twice a month from 1998 until October of 2013 when the state closed the prison. Kudos to Mark for drawing out their creative side and being there with the boys to encourage them.a

Ziena

For fans of Mark Salzman's prose--and they are many--True Notebooks is like a grand homecoming: the spare, elegant prose, the hard-headed wisdom, and the down to earth compassion that characterizes so much of this author's literary corpus--they are all here. But there is more. True Notebooks is so hard to put down ( I read it in two days) because Salzman has dared to enter a realm long fraught with trouble for literaray adventurers, namely prison. Yet Salzman's unforgettable encounters with kid murderers rings true, as does his work with them in his juvenile hall workshops. When I finally put the book down I could not stop thinking about them. The ultimate book group book.

Varshav

This memoir is something else. I was a TA in a freshman English class that was assigned this book. It is a true store. My favorite part is that the boys' work is in the book unedited and their language is unedited. It adds so much to the story. You end up really caring for the boys and wishing the best for them. Strong characters. Well written. Great detail. Plus it's an easy book to read so you fly right through.

Berenn

This book was less about Mark Salzman's journey than it was about the journeys made by the boys he comes in contact with at Juvenile Hall. Even though you know that these boys have already made a train wreck of their lives, you learn to respect and even love them and hope that somehow, through the literary connections they are making, they will find a way to make a better life for themselves. Highly recommended.

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