The Journal of Ordinary Thought is published by The Neighborhood Writing Alliance in Chicago. It is founded on the propositions that every person is a philosopher, expressing one's thoughts fosters creativity and change, and taking control of life requires people to think about the world and communicate their thougths to others.


The JOT is published quarterly; this issue, theme-based, focuses on Criminal Justice. As most of the contributors live in highly underserved Chicago communities and have a great deal of contact with the system, it's a topic of great interest.

Will send this within the week [June 15?] to the first on the ray. I absolutely encourage notes, thoughts, underlining in the margin. Some of the stories, poems, prose, are affecting me greatly, and I find myself called to take pen to paper. Quite a project.

NOTE - as soon as you receive this ray, please PM next person on list for their address, so we don't have to worry about waiting for lost/no interested, etc. and remember, you have one month! 3 readers in 9 months is ridiculous!

Ray list:
enidq IL
Nicole4 IL
Mlbish IL

WritinReader KY
evalowrain KY
calvarez4 CA [asked to be skipped]
tuff517 TX, shipping int'l

ENGLAND!
manda77 [skip]
Seanan
billhookbabe

Brazil
Metropolitan

Australian Leg of the Journal/Journey...
gooby
newk
oneocean
readinator
I will offer up the Housing issue as well.

The ray is off!!! Please journal your receipt and thoughts, add anything you wish to the book, and send it along! Please don't keep the book for more than one month!! If you have problems, back-ups, etc., we can skip you and come back!

Just received in the mail and is next on the list.

The book is going a tad astray. Enidq, if you get this, it means that the journaling system is working!

Enidq - please send on the book. I'm having a hard time reaching you. Nearly 4 months is too long for this book!

Can't wait to read...shouldn't take long!

Wow! This book will make you smile, make you angry, make you sad, just about hits it all. Reading these pieces of lit that have come straight from the source really makes the problems hit home. It's a real eye opener. Thanks for passing it around!

Sent to mlbish 2/10/05

Caught finally after a long trip in the mail. Thank you! I will read and keep it moving ASAP.

I was interested in The Journal of Ordinary Thought because I have spent the last five years going to school in downtown Chicago, very near many large housing projects. As a small-town girl, communities like these were foreign to me (although I had seen them when traveling of course, and knew they existed), so I developed somewhat of an interest in what life was like in the 'projects'. Although Shades of Gray book was not specifically about this topic, it was similar enough that I found it fascinating.

I was surprised and pleased at the quality of the writing in the journal. I preferred the prose works (just because I prefer prose over poetry). Like many, I frequently get frustrated and angry about the crime problems that occur in big cities, particularly in poor areas. And I think, "Why can't people just not break the law? That would solve a lot of problems." But then I remember that many children do not grow up in situations where they can learn how to behave. I think a lot of people just don't know anything else. So it's almost like they can't help themselves. And this book also brought to light the fact that people, particularly the poor, are just not treated fairly by the criminal justice system. So they don't have any faith in it. That probably contributes significantly to the crime cycle.

Another similar book (and an absorbing, if unsettling, read) is called There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America by Alex Kotlowitz. Amazon says: "There Are No Children Here, the true story of brothers Lafeyette and Pharoah Rivers, ages 11 and 9 at the start, brings home the horror of trying to make it in a violence-ridden public housing project. The boys live in a gang-plagued war zone on Chicago's West Side, literally learning how to dodge bullets the way kids in the suburbs learn to chase baseballs. "If I grow up, I'd like to be a bus driver," says Lafeyette at one point. That's if, not when--spoken with the complete innocence of a child. The book's title comes from a comment made by the brothers' mother as she and author Alex Kotlowitz contemplate the challenges of living in such a hostile environment: "There are no children here," she says. "They've seen too much to be children." This book humanizes the problem of inner-city pathology, makes readers care about Lafeyette and Pharoah more than they may expect to, and offers a sliver of hope buried deep within a world of chaos."

If Shades of Gray speaks to you, I would recommend this one too.

Sent out to WritinReader.

It has arrived safely.

A very touching and thought provoking book. Thank you for sharing it.

RELEASE NOTES:

Mailing to Evalowrain in the morning.

The journal arrived safely. I'll probably skip around since I'm pressed for time these days, but will start on Sunday or Monday. I'll also PM the next person now.

It's interesting to see the works of victims and "offenders" listed together. I put offenders in quotes, because so many of the offenders were also victims.

I was a cop reporter. I have to say, you do learn to be cynical. There are so many people out there who never take any responsibility for their actions and who lie about what they've done or not done. I think it'd be very difficult to be a cop in an area where even the victims feel they can't trust you. Definitely, I'm not saying they're aren't crooked police. On the contrary, I think this field attracts a lot of the wrong type of people who are in it for an ego or power boost. But there are also a lot of good cops trying to do the right thing.

For the most part, I thought the writing and voices were a bit disappointing - just from a literary perspective here. There are some true gems though. Fear I and Fear II were just brilliant, I thought, in terms of telling a too-common story and showing how the victim can quickly become the perpetrator.

Thank you for sharing it. I think this is a great use for lit journals. They're meant to be shared, after all, and journals aren't really something designed to be kept on your bookshelf. Also, this is a very interesting concept for a journal. I liked the idea tremendously.

I've PMed SoLittleTime, who wanted to be contacted again after I read the book. I'll PM again now and keep everyone posted...

This is going out to Tuff517 on Monday. Everyone else asked to be skipped.

Sorry for the delay. I actually just mailed this today to Tuff517.

Received this today. I'm VERY MUCH looking forward to reading it and will start it in.... ten minutes.

I LOVE these journals. I really need to subscribe. "Our Secret" was awful - the content. "Jury Duty" made me laugh and remember my own time at jury duty in a hot office with a bunch of strangers and a pile of papers. "No Receipt, No Return" made me mad. When I read these I can smell the city, I feel brick and concrete against my hands, I see the liquor stores on every corner. It opens something up inside me, something scabbed over but not quite healed.

Thanks for sharing! This will go to Seanan tomorrow.

EDITED TO ADD: DC# 0103 8555 7494 1786 5510

I had forgotten about this book, and am delighted to have it in hand.