Janeal Turnbull Ravndal

What is it like to spend time in prison for demonstrating for a cause we believe in? In this essay, Janeal Ravndal writes of her week in Philadelphia’s Federal Detention Center after she chose to ignore orders not to block entry to a courthouse as the U.S. began to attack Iraq early in 2003. A long-time beloved member of the Pendle Hill community, Janeal shares movingly of joyful moments and discouraging times, of shared prayers and music-making, and of the satisfaction of creating art from the sparse “found” materials in a cell. Yet conscious of the dramatic contrast between her “very good week” and the days of a typical inmate, Janeal was acutely aware of what a different world prison would be for those who found little joy or companionship there and had no supportive and prayerful community waiting to welcome them home.… (meer)

What is it like to spend time in prison for demonstrating for a cause we believe in? The author writes of her week in Philadelphia’s Federal Detention Center after she chose to ignore orders not to block entry to a courthouse as the U.S. began to attack Iraq early in 2003. She shares about joyful moments and discouraging times, of shared prayers and music-making, and of the satisfaction of creating art from the sparse “found” materials in a cell. Yet conscious of the dramatic contrast between her “very good week” and the days of a typical inmate, she was acutely aware of what a different world prison would be for those who found little joy or companionship there and had no supportive and prayerful community waiting to welcome them home.… (meer)