37-year-old Elizabeth Hagerty was scheduled to come home on August 2nd after a 4-yr prison sentence for probation violation. She was transferred to the un-air conditioned Murray Unit in June and died last Friday.

Being incarcerated in Texas can be a death sentence because of unresponsiveness to climate change. 32 people have died in the last month because most Texas prisons have no air conditioning.
truthout.org/articles/in-br…

Debra Schlegel, a 64-year-old who used a wheelchair, and Tommy “TJ” McCullough, a 35-year-old, are just two of the at least nine people who died in Texas prisons in the midst of a heat wave in recent weeks.
trib.al/AP7FKMx

my student loan providers could be gay therefore i refuse to give them my business

Renowned economists Michael Hudson & Thomas Piketty meet on the anniversary of Graeber’s death to debate the most serious problems facing today’s finance-capital economies - and what to do. thersa.org/events/2021/09… Ann Pettifor Frances 'Cassandra' Coppola Positive Money Renegade Inc.

From an incarcerated friend:

“I read so much. I've read The Wretched of the Earth, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, and so much more. … Any time u think of a book I should read, let me know, and I'll try to order it. Although now I think they are rejecting hard cover books. Idk why.”

And 71 prisons in Texas have no air conditioning.

RESCHEDUELED
East Village Zine Fair rescheduled due to weather ☔️

We are sorry to announce this but...
The East Village Zine Fair which was supposed to happen this Sat, June 24 is being moved to Sat, July 8. That's two Saturdays from now.
buff.ly/3pfwcFf

🧵How did PEN America defend and celebrate #FreeExpression this week?

On Wednesday, we urged school officials in Nixa, #Missouri , to retain Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel Maus and two other books that were flagged by as 'sexually explicit.' pen.org/press-release/…

Glad instances like this are finally getting media attention. Censorship of this kind has happened for way too long in public education.
charlotteobserver.com/news/local/edu…

'Free expression is the lifeblood for a free society. Without the ability to speak our truth we cannot negotiate the conditions of our existence.' lithub.com/if-prison-offi…

A South Carolina teacher has been told to halt an AP class on racism in which students were scheduled to read “Between the World and Me,” a 2015 memoir by writer Ta-Nehisi Coates. thestate.com/news/local/art…

.ARC (Artists at Risk Connection) and #DontDeleteArt will lead a Day of Action from 11am-4:30pm on 6/15. Supporters will gather outside NYC museums to highlight artistic censorship on social media and urge technology companies to protect artists’ free expression online. pen.org/press-release/…

Texas bill #HB900 requiring book ratings in schools 'creates new government power to limit what books can be available in schools for all to read — a power that could easily be exercised subjectively and influenced by political motives,' says Jonathan Friedman 📚 pen.org/press-release/…

'There’s an indifference to the plight of the vulnerable,' says Cornel West. The philosopher just announced he is running for president in 2024 with the People's Party. democracynow.org/2023/6/7/corne…

'I think people like Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump ... have correctly identified #literature as the font of imagination'— Ta-Nehisi Coates, speaking to PEN America prior to his May 11 lecture at PEN World Voices Festival.

New York’s Prison System Abruptly Halts a Policy Censoring Artists and Writers

“If they have the aim of rehabilitation, it seems antithetical to limit creative arts,” said Moira Marquis, PhD, senior manager of PEN America’s FreeWrite Project. thenation.com/article/societ…

'This is not the first time prisons have attempted to limit or prevent people from publishing or receiving compensation for their work. Moira Marquis, PhD noted that several incarcerated authors that PEN works with cannot get free copies of their own work.' thenation.com/article/societ…

New York has rescinded its outrageous policy restricting speech by prison journalists and other writers behind bars, thanks to reporting by New York Focus and pressure from groups like @PENAmerica and NYCLU.
nysfocus.com/2023/06/07/doc…