Thanks to free calling policies, incarcerated people made nearly 600 million more calls, totaling 6.4 billion mins, than they otherwise would. Call usage jumped 80% in prisons and doubled in jails. This is Finding 1: Increased Connection of our new report. Visit connectfamiliesnow.com/poweroffree.

In prison, the cost of a phone call made me think twice before making one. Incarceration was a financial crisis — every moment of connection had a price. Where I work now, we fight to make calls free for impacted families like mine. Our new report shows what a difference that makes, for everyone.

Join Split This Rock for Shaping the Pulse of Your Work, a virtual writing workshop where we will explore revision as a path toward uncovering the hidden heartbeat of our poems. Led by Ra Avis on 2/25/26, 6:30-8 pm EST. Open to all levels. Register: bit.ly/4pw3z0z #Poetry @rarasaur.substack.com

Choose your writing adventure from our newest slate of virtual writing workshops Jan-Feb 2026! Join us to explore modern fairy tales, what makes a poem a poem, how poets can conduct language as symphony, blues poetry & revising to uncover your poem's hidden heartbeat. Learn more: bit.ly/4i3UBEK

before the fire // handcut paper collage on recycled paperboard [mail art], october 2025 #collage #queerart #abstraction #mailart

Today was a hard day. Regulations that we passed unanimously last year, after 7 years of advocacy, were largely gutted. The FCC capitulated to the correctional telecom industry in roughly doubling rate caps for prison and jail calls. I'm truly sorry. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/u...

"The national food insecurity survey is a critical, reliable data source that shows how many families in America struggle to put food on the table.”

Yoshimasa Tsuchiya’s sculptures are so full of wonder and whimsy, I just want to befriend this little guy! #art #beautifulbizarre #yoshimasatsuchiya #sculptor #sculpture #surrealism #surrealart #fantasycreature #artlovers #sculpting

Zine submissions open for Biggest Little Zine Fair -- it works distro style, so there are no fees, and you don't have to be there, and you make 100% minus the 3% credit card fees. BiggestLittleZineFair.com/#apply

Just noticed this on the checkout notification I get from the Chicago Public Library. I think it’s new and I love it!

there are over 8 million people in this city and the fact that bananas shit doesn’t happen more often is a testament not to cops or politicians but to the fact that people aren’t as violent or scary as some would like us to think

Me at @quimbysbookstore.bsky.social in Chicago even though I have a whole zine fest worth of zines out here in Long Beach. Was willing to chuck a shirt to make room in my travel bag. 😂

open.substack.com/pub/rarasaur... "I don't know what to do with all this life - a journal entry about not dying after all" (audio reading available)

Tomorrow 7-9 PM at Page Against the Machine in Long Beach, CA. Megumi's amazing art pieces from her "faces of mass incarceration" project will be on display.

Federal workers: We understand you may be taking a risk in contacting us, and we take your confidentiality extremely seriously. To collect tips, we use encrypted forms and apps, so messages cannot be read by anybody other than you and ProPublica. ➡️ Reach out here: propublica.org/tips

🙏🏽 grateful

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Public library energy is the best energy. Like here is all the knowledge we could find, it's been meticulously organized and catalogued and it will cost you nothing today, welcome to the absolute pinnacle of human civic evolution, feel free to pull up any bean bag chair you like :) 📚❤️

I am now, more than ever, reminded how important art is, for so many things.

BiggestLittleZineFair.com is open to zine submissions from all around the world. Til 3/29 for a fair on 5/31 in Long Beach, CA. Makers get 100% of what they sell, no attendance required, after fees. Check the site for FAQs and the Instagram for vibes. 🙂

websites are so cool anyone can just make one about anything

Organizing something small and chill and not political on the surface is how to build community and talk to people, which are the two things we need most to do any type of other action. Make a children's book club, truly anything counts.

9 Years by Ra Avis, filmed by Theron James youtu.be/Hp1NBGmcl-4?...

Read CURB's Overview of the 2025-26 Corrections Budget to learn how billions in wasted prison spending could be redirected towards areas proven to keep us safe 📲 tinyurl.com/25-26proposed In this era of systemic oppression & unchecked tech power, CA must divest from incarceration + invest in care

⚠️ DETENTION 101 TRAINING ⚠️ As the Trump admin threatens to expand immigration detention drastically, understanding how the system works will be crucial to stop detention expansion. 🗓️ 1/29 @ 1pm PT Session will be recorded & posted afterwards @detentionwatchnetwork.org Register here: bit.ly/det101

I got really drunk and emotional about comics and art tonight. Make ‘em!! Do em!!! Nothing to it but to do it!! MAKE COMICS. MAKE ZINES!!!

"The short of this is, I want to read your zine. I want to own it. I want to hold it in my hands and know a little something about you and your world." open.substack.com/pub/rarasaur...

New post, about wanting my loved ones to decide for themselves when to share with their friends that I did time: open.substack.com/pub/rarasaur...

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My friend Evan’s poem about the personal part of restorative practice (Towards Something by Evan Chelsee): youtu.be/Nos8JCzLwaA?...

My reading of my poem about prison. (Flushed by Ra Avis”) youtu.be/pX-CoaC2u1s?...

I just made a free PDF of my Public Collectors publication "The Meal-Based Artist Residency Program" available for download. Thanks to @prisonculture.bsky.social for talking up the project, which gave me the needed nudge. halfletterpress.com/the-meal-bas...

“Hope is not a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky. It is an axe you break down doors with in an emergency.“ - Rebecca Solnit

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