CROSSING STATE LINES
In June 2025, Schlapp & Wilson travelled to Santa Fe, New Mexico to present the PonyXpress writing project at Museum of International Folk Art’s exhibition, Between the Lines: Prison Art and Advocacy. The team also had the opportunity to bring concerts and writing workshops to Penitentiary of Santa Fe’s minimum security facility, as well as the prison’s supermax facility. Read the story on The PonyXpress.
Leading workshop at Penitentiary of New Mexico in Santa Fe, June 2025. Image thanks to MoIFA
PRISONS HAVE A LONG MEMORY TOUR
“Prison is traumatic. Multiple forms of violence are ever-present. Living with this daily norm for nearly three decades results in the hypervigilance frequently associated with PTSD. In an environment where the tiniest conflict can escalate to a riot, or the wrong word to an officer results in the torture of solitary confinement, this extreme alert is an adaptive behavior. Despite the long-term adverse consequences of constant stress, it helps one survive day to day in hostile environments; however, exercised in the Cheesecake Factory it is just paranoia.”
Sterling CunioIn addition to the published anthology, the stories of the men inside Oregon State Penitentiary were broadcast through a book tour sponsored by Oregon Humanities and Spirit Mountain Community Fund. The social life of the book included community members in towns across Oregon to gather and listen to the testimony of the OSP writers, to ask questions, to learn more about the conditions of our fellow Oregonians who are incarcerated. As part of the tour, editors Tracy Schlapp and Danny Wilson presented inside neighboring facilities for readings, conversations, and writing workshops. When possible, writers who were recently released joined Schlapp and Wilson at the podium. Prisons Have a Long Memory released inside the Oregon State Penitentiary August 27, 2020.
Wilson and Schlapp presenting in the Museum of International Folk Art Museums’s auditorium. Photo supplied by the MoIFM.
Koi illustration by Toshio Takanobu
Schlapp & Wilson with Roseanne Cash at the 2019 Cash Heritage Festival, Dyess, Arkansas
The story of the first Oregon prison tour written by Tracy Schlapp, published by Cumbersome Multiples
CASH: Music, Legacy, & Redemption
“The concert was relaxing, and brought back a lot of memories of my childhood, listening to Cash and having breakfast with my parents before school.”
ADULT IN CUSTODY, OREGON STATE PENITENTIARYAccoustic PERFORMANCE &
STORYTELLING“CASH: Music, Legacy, & Redemption” describes the first Oregon prison tour experience by using select Cash songs punctuated with stories about people inside. The Folsom50 shows were designed to broadcast the experience of folks inside in order to educate people about the needs of adults in custody. The lecture was designed to cultivate an audience of students, artists, and citizens willing to advocate for adults in custody. In 2019, Schlapp & Wilson travelled to the John Cash Heritage Festival in Dyess, Arkansas to present the lecture as part of the academic seminar.
CHAPBOOK ESSAY
Folsom50 co-producer, Tracy Schlapp wrote an essay that unfolded the year of rehearsals and performances with the band Luther’s Boots. The book was published thanks to a grant from the Oregon Arts Commission.