Daily Deacon

Alexander Literary Organization Profile — Chris Caswell

Once a month, members of Alexander Literary Organization, a student organization at Wake Forest, pile into their cars and drive an hour west to Alexander Correctional Institute. Once inside, the students trade their IDs for a visitor’s pass. Then, they make their way through a series of secured doors, across the yard and into the chapel. And then they begin class.

Alexander Literary Organization is a men’s maximum security prison, and according to Daniel Redding, clinical chaplain II at the prison and coordinator of the literary program, approximately 50 percent of inmates are in for murder, 25 percent for habitual felonies and the remaining 25 percent, for sexual crimes.

The literary organization was founded by senior Alex Gibson. He says he was introduced to Alexander Correctional Institute by Ulrike Wiethaus, professor of Religion and American Ethnic Studies during his freshman year in Religion 111, a course on Native-American traditions. Students were required to do a project on an aspect of Native-American culture and present it to the Native-American group at Alexander Correctional Institute. Wiethaus is heavily involved at the facility with the Native-American group there. Since then, Gibson has felt obligated to help inmates at the prison.

“I always felt that I had to do more for those people, because they were so amazingly engaged, interested and kind, and it really shattered my preconceptions of what a prison is and who prisoners are,” said Gibson. “So, I felt that it was my job as an educator to do what I could to help them express educational interest to employers in the future.”

According to Gibson, each month, about seven students visit the prison and a member of the group – changing every session — leads a program that they believe inmates will value and that will enrich their education. The organization has led a large variety of events such as one focused on theater, one on poetry and one on debate.

Gibson, even on his first visit to the prison, was surprised by how interested and engaged the inmates were.

“These students – [the inmates] – were more engaged in what I was doing than in any class at Wake Forest,” said Gibson. “They remember it, too. When you go back, they say ‘I was really thinking about this, and I found a book about that topic and I’ve been reading it, and what do you think of this.'”

Junior Corinne Sugino, a member of the organization, is majoring in Politics and International Affairs and Religion. She is also a member of the debate team at Wake Forest, so she chose to lead a session on debate. She says she sent materials on the debate to the prison ahead of time, allowing the inmates time to prepare.

“The value of that workshop was in gaining advocacy skills,” said Sugino. “And some of them came with pages of notes, some of them had done their own research outside of the articles that I had sent them.”

DeWayne Warren, 51, from Greensboro, N.C. is an inmate at Alexander Correctional Institute, and he explained why these sessions are so important to them.

“[They] allow us to be interested in some subjects that many of us have never even considered,” said Warren. “Without [Alexander Literary Organization] coming in and without some of the programs that are offered here, there is no rehabilitation in the penitentiary.”

Inmates like Warren do not just appreciate the content of the programs, but they also appreciate the different context in which they see each other.

“We get to see ourselves and see others in a totally different light. A lot of times, we see each other based on the crimes we committed, so when we’re in these initiatives, we get to see each other outside of [that context],” said Warren.

Warren isn’t the only inmate that appreciates the program. The Alexander Literary Organization asks inmates for anonymous feedback and it is overwhelmingly positive.

For instance, on a theater-themed session, the average score out of five of inmates’ overall satisfaction was a 4.9 while the level that the program affected them was an average of 4.8.

In response to a question asking for general comments on the session in the qualitative section, one inmate enjoyed the session so much that he shared it with friends and loved ones.

“This was so cool that I sent the cover of the program name with a letter about my experience and had my grandpa read it and email it to everyone, family, friends, etc,” the inmate said.

Feedback on other sessions are similarly impressive according to the organization’s surveys. Gibson is graduating this spring, but Sugino will take over his leadership position in the fall.

Emily Eisert Profile – Caswell

Sophomore Emily Eisert did not expect to study journalism; in fact, she was not sure if she wanted to attend college at all.

Her original plan was to continue with ballet since attending college would mean missing out on crucial years of training if she wanted to be a professional ballet dancer. However, she decided to attend Wake Forest, and though she dances less than she did in high school, she continues to pursue it at school.

Eisert planned to go to medical school when she entered the university as a freshman, but she decided to switch and major in communication and minor in journalism, instead. Her community journalism class was a major factor in her decision.

“Going out into the community and doing actual reporting, researching, interviewing and writing gave me a pretty good taste of what a career could be like in this field and I still like learning about science, but I could never see myself doing that as a career,” Eisert said. “After taking this one class, it felt right.”

Though she has not decided exactly what she wants to do after college, Eisert said that she would ideally like to do something in broadcast journalism though she enjoys writing, too.

Chris Caswell #2 — Hanes Mall robbery

On Sept. 1, around 10 PM, two employees of BUCKLES, located in Hanes Mall, were robbed by an unknown suspect with a handgun, according to a Winston-Salem Police Department report.

The two employees, Amanda Eversole, 23 and Deidra Power, 19 were leaving for the day when the suspect approached then from the bathroom and demanded the bank deposit bag, the report states.

The report describes the suspect as approximately 20 to 25 years-old and six feet tall, wearing a black hoodie and black sweat pants. He fled on foot towards the woods near the nearby Days In.

Officers with the Winston-Salem Police Department responded. An attempt to track the suspect using K-9 dogs was unsuccessful according to the police department.

Follow up questions:

How much money did the suspect get away with?

Does the mall plan to increase security after the incident?

Chris Caswell Post #1 — Electrocution

On Sept. 23, police were called to property of Norfolk Southern Railroad after a railroad worker found a deceased man on the west side of the property according to a police report filed by the Winston-Salem Police Department.

The body was found by a Norfolk Southern Railroad worker who was checking the tracks along the train yard. The worker found the deceased at the base of a utility poll, the police report says.

The report identifies the deceased as Johnnie Lee Reed, 59, and police believe the cause of death was electrocution after Reed attempted to remove copper wire from the utility poll after preliminary investigation. This conclusion was supported by the presence of wire cutters and other tools.

The Winston-Salem Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division continue to investigate with the help of the Medical Examiner’s Office.

Follow up questions:

What is the name of the worker who found the body?

What was his reaction?

What kind of security measures does Norfolk Southern have to prevent people from trespassing?

Chris Caswell — Lede

Wake Forest students watching Thursday’s Republican debate thought that the debate was more a series of personal attacks between candidates than a discussion of important issues.

Several students thought that the moderators and their questions were partly to blame. They thought the questions posed to the candidates provoked a personal attack rather than a discussion of the candidate’s view.

Junior Lindsey Graham thought the debate seemed to be designed to create drama to boost ratings rather than inform voters about each candidates stances on important issues and noted that “It’s really uncomfortable to watch a cage match.”

Freshman Catherine O’Connor had a similar reaction.

“The candidates were not entertained by the moderators questions and were pinned against each other when they would have rather talked about the issues,” she said.

Students thought, in particular, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz traded personal attacks for much of the night rather than discuss their own ideas. However, some students found the back-and-forth revealing of the two candidates.

Sophomore Kelly Dugan decided that Trump is a “hothead, which would not be ideal for a President.”

Dugan was not the only one who found the personal attacks revealing. The attacks changed her mind about the two candidates who dominated the debate. She found that Cruz excelled in his public speaking skills, but that Trump was more transparent.

“Ted Cruz is sly, but while Donald Trump can be unrefined, he is straightforward,” she said.

Republican Debate

Sophomore Emma Vivlamore was disappointed in the candidates’ avoidance of certain questions. “They would get asked a question then go off on a tangent about something completely different,” she said. “It’s hard to see where candidates stand on certain issues when they don’t actually answer questions…”She thinks the moderators should do a better job of keeping candidates on the issue at hand in future debates.