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Marvin Wade, also known as The Spiritual Activist, discovered his passion for storytelling while sewing underwear in prison.

He was at the beginning of his 25-year sentence and worked at a sewing machine for hours each day. As he sewed, his mind wandered and he formed short stories and riddles to tell his fellow inmates during their breaks. His friends encouraged him to write his stories down, and was disappointed whenever he hadn’t come up with something to share during lunch.

“I started writing poems, and then from there, essays when I came home,” Wade said. “I became more socially conscious and wanted to put into words what we went through, to be the voice for the street and the voice for the people inside.”

Now, along with running workshops at Fortune Society and hosting open mic readings, Wade writes for Project Mend, a magazine showcasing the art, poetry and essays of incarcerated people.

Project Mend started in 2022 and released its 2025 issue on Feb. 15. The project is made possible through a grant from the Center for Community Alternatives and through a Humanities New York Post-Incarceration partnership.

Project Mend also receives funding and support from Syracuse University Libraries, the SOURCE, the SU Humanities Center, the Engaged Humanities Network and SU’s Department of Writing Studies, Rhetoric and Composition. Patrick Berry, a professor of that department, leads the project and organizes its editorial board.

Berry said Project Mend stands out because it amplifies voices of formerly incarcerated people, instead of pushing them to tell a predetermined story or cater to a narrative.

“You see people navigating life after prison, you realize the struggles they face, the barriers,” Berry said. “But you also get a chance to celebrate their humanity. You get to see people assume identities that go beyond the crime.”

Courtesy of Patrick Berry

José A. Pérez, a contributing writer to Project Mend, acts out a scene. The magazine is an outlet of creative expression for those affected by incarceration.

The effects of mass incarceration ripple beyond just those in prison, which is why the Mend staff is made up entirely of formerly incarcerated people or people who have been affected by it. The issue is personal to Berry, as his father spent most of his adult life in and out of prison.

Charlee Crosby, an editor of Mend, pored through the submissions and made decisions about what to include with her colleagues. Crosby has worked at Early Head Start for seven years, with a focus in literacy programs. This was her first year working with Project Mend.

Crosby was motivated to participate in the project because of her love for reading and commitment to promoting literacy in her community. She said that the magazine provides an personal outlet for those impacted by incarceration as well as a way to raise awareness.

“The Mend program is a voice for the voiceless,” Crosby said. “You got people, our neighbors, that’ve been incarcerated 25, 30 years, and the only thing that they have is a pen and paper to communicate and to let society know that they are still alive and well.”

José A. Pérez published two poems in the 2025 issue of Mend. Pérez works as a program strategist for the Children’s Defense Fund. He developed his love for poetry while exchanging letters with his mother as a teenager while they were both in prison.

Pérez said at times, he resented his mother because she had been in prison since he was 3, leaving him in the child welfare system. When Pérez went to jail at 16, his mother nurtured their relationship by writing him poems and letters expressing her love, and encouraging him to respond.

For Pérez, Project Mend is a “process of humanity” that helps people get back in touch with parts of themselves they may have lost as a result of incarceration. He hopes that readers of Mend will understand that formerly incarcerated people have the same human experiences as they do and see them as more than their time in prison.

“These are not poems from individuals who come from prison,” Pérez said. “A person is not from a place that they’ve been caged in. A person is from their mother, from their father. A person is from land. A person is from their culture.”

One of Pérez’s poems published in Mend is titled, “Man Skin, Boy Mask: A Love Poem.” Pérez said the poem is a recognition of his younger self that was forced to age too quickly while in prison. He addressed his confusion about his actions and the whiplash feeling of being released from prison at 38, only having experienced the world through the eyes of a 16 year old. The poem also mourns the loss of Pérez’s childhood dreams.

“You tell a little kid that they could be anything they want to be,” Pérez said. “But after you commit a crime, that’s over, you’re going to prison for the rest of your life. You get expelled from society.”

Wade and Pérez said that working with Project Mend has grown their writing skills and they see what other creatives in their community are producing. Pérez added that Project Mend creates an exchange of skills, so that everyone comes out learning about something new.

The community of writers has helped Pérez understand that the experiences of an incarcerated person are relatable because they speak to a larger human struggle.

Wade hopes that through sharing his experiences, he can make the struggles of those affected by incarceration more relatable to those who don’t have knowledge on the topic. By bridging this gap, Wade hopes to lift some of the stigma surrounding incarceration and spread positivity to those around him.

Wade published an essay titled, “Time and Prison: Are They Mutually Exclusive?” in Mend’s 2025 issue. The essay was inspired by Wade’s experience hearing other formerly incarcerated people reflect on how prison saved their lives. Wade argues the institution of prison didn’t heal these people or change their lives, but how they spent their time there did.

Wade distinguishes prison as the system that abused him and others, and time as the elusive ingredient that heals people from their trauma and helps them improve. He emphasized that if he had taken the same time to focus on himself before he went to prison, he would’ve saved himself blood, sweat and tears.

“It’s a horrible place, and you got to fight, I mean literally, figuratively and spiritually, to get out, save yourself, save your mind, your spirit,” Wade said. ”It shouldn’t be that way.”

Now that he understands the value and power of time, Wade uses his to spread a message of positivity at every opportunity. His name, Spiritual Activist, comes from his mission to inspire others.

“I want to be that spark, that light for somebody, to be able to show them that they have the opportunity to do better … to make them think, ‘Oh, I am somebody. I can do this. I do have time,’” Wade said.

Published on February 26, 2025 at 11:27 pm

Contact Charlotte: cprice04@syr.edu