Telling our stories can help stop violence, one word at a time

Chicago police investigate the scene of a shooting in Washington Park in January. Learning to tell our stories can be part of the solution to gun violence, a participate in the Contextos program writes. (Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times)

I grew up on the East Side of Chicago and, like so many others, I got caught up in the street life. Eventually, it led to prison. Everything changed for me, however, when I discovered the power of the written word.

I was in the Cook County Jail awaiting trial on a variety of charges, when I attended a program called ConTextos that invited us to write down our thoughts and our stories. I was nervous and unsure what to make of it, but the staff was patient and encouraging and eventually chipped away at the walls I had built up around myself.