“The dominant way of thinking is – someone’s committed a crime, what did they do, and how should they be punished? But there is a different way to think about conflict. That question is – what harm has been committed, and how can that harm be healed?” – Dr. Mary Cohen
The setting is the auditorium in a medium-security prison. A group of men and women of varying ages are singing a concert for inmates. They sing original songs, written by members of the choir, as well as others’ compositions, on themes of healing, hope, community, and transformation. The premise doesn’t seem unusual, until I tell you that half of the choir are members of the community outside the prison, and the other half live here, inmates themselves of the Oakdale Prison, and many of them are the composers of the songs being sung.
Dr. Mary Cohen is the woman who founded this ground-breaking choir I’ve just described, and she will be speaking at Hope Church on Friday, March 1 at 7pm in the Commons. We are excited to be partnering with a diverse group of organizations and folks from the community to make this happen, including the Reconciliation Ministry at Hope Church, some departments at Hope College, and Calvin College, and even more excited that she will be speaking at Hope Church. If you’ve read The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in an Age of Colorblindness, you know that our prison system can give many reasons for despair. I think Dr. Mary Cohen will offer some rays of hope and light as well.
If you’d like to learn more about her work, check out this inspiring video produced by Iowa Public Television.
http://www.iptv.org/gfi/story/32612/episode-oakdale-community-choir-coralville-iowa
~Rhonda Edgington, Associate Director of Music and Organist