Hummingbird in Underworld: Teaching in a Men's Prison, A Memoir

by Deborah Tobola

Overview

At the age of forty-five, Deborah Tobola returns to her birthplace, San Luis Obispo, to work in the very prison her father worked in when he was a student at Cal Poly. But she’s not wearing a uniform as he did; she’s there to teach creative writing and manage the prison’s arts program—a dream job.

As she creates a theatre program for prisoners, Tobola finds plenty of drama off the stage as well. Inside the razor wire she finds a world frozen in the ’50s, with no contact with the outside except by telephone; officers who think prisoners don’t deserve programs; bureaucrats who want to cut arts funding; and inmates who steal, or worse. But she loves engaging prisoners in the arts and helping them discover their voices: men like Opie, the gentleman robber; Razor, the roughneck who subscribes to The New Yorker; charismatic Green Eyes, who really has blue eyes; Doo Wop, a singer known for the desserts he creates from prison fare.

Alternating between tales of creating drama in prison and Tobola’s own story, Hummingbird in Underworld takes readers on an unforgettable literary journey—one that is frank, funny, and fascinating.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781631525056
Publisher:	She Writes Press
Publication date:	07/23/2019
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Deborah Tobola is a poet, playwright, and coauthor of a children’s book. Her work has earned four Pushcart Prize nominations, three Academy of American Poets awards, and a Children’s Choice Book Award. She earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from the University of Arizona in 1990 and has worked as a journalist, legislative aide, and adjunct English faculty member. After teaching creative writing in California prisons, she became the Institution Artist Facilitator at the California Men’s Colony. Her students won writing awards, published their work, and appeared on local and national radio. Tobola retired at the end of 2008 to begin Poetic Justice Project, the country’s first theatre company for formerly incarcerated actors. She teaches creative writing and theatre at the California Men’s Colony and serves as artistic director of Poetic Justice Project. She likes reading, gardening, traveling and spending time with her family and friends.

Table of Contents

I The Joint 1

II Lighthouse 9

III The Blue Building 18

IV The Real World 28

V Dream Prison 38

VI 911 48

VII Milk and Cookies 58

VIII Lockdown 66

IX Blossom 76

X Blue Train 88

XI Chow Call 99

XII Where on Earth? 109

XIII Who Are You Talking To? 121

XIV It's All Good 132

XV The Border 141

XVI The Green Wall 152

XVII Yesterday's New Arrivals 160

XVIII Something's Rotten in Denmark 170

XIX Black and White 181

XX Red Door 188

Epilogue 198

Acknowledgments 201

About the Author 205

Editorial Reviews

2020 CIBA Hearten Book Awards 1st Place Winner
2020 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Winner in Social Justice
2020 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist in Memoirs (Career)
2020 WILLA Literary Awards Finalist in Creative Nonfiction
2019 Nautilius Book Awards Silver Winner in Heroic Journeys
2019 Bronze Medalist, Readers' Favorite Book Awards—Non-Fiction (Social Issues)

“She doesn't romanticize the system, or her position . . . instead, she's frank and even wry about its myriad challenges. . . . Tobola's dedication to keeping these inmates attuned to their creative spark is what gives this humble memoir its powerful shine. There are people like Tobola who never give up on the forgotten.”
—The Los Angeles Times

“Written in clear, occasionally lyrical prose . . . the book is a compelling portrayal of education in prison. . . . Tobola’s chronicle of her years teaching poetry and directing plays in prison reveals that art also asks something of us. It demands that we make friends with ambiguity, with vulnerability. It calls on us to attend to the vital creative capacity of others. Art asks that we leave the door open for beauty, whatever its travels have been.”
—Los Angeles Review of Books

“With Hummingbird in Underworld, Deborah Tobola has found what Rumi calls, ‘the infinite moment when everything happens.’ It is luminous and tender. The reader is given passage to poetry and humanity; to compassion and even to a bright proposal to change our prison system. Remarkable.”
—Gregory Boyle, Founder of Homeboy Industries, a non-profit organization rehabilitating previously incarcerated men and women

“. . . a deeply moving reflection. . . beautifully wrought . . .”
—The Indypendent

“Deborah Tobola is a change agent, an authentic visionary pioneer in the field of arts in corrections in the United States, first as a prison arts practitioner for twelve years; then, post-retirement, as founder of Poetic Justice Project, a theatre company of formerly incarcerated actors. Deborah's stunning memoir skillfully weaves her family's personal story with her professional life experience, delivering a lucid, up close, and deeply personal view of bringing art a la carte into the belly of the beast of California Corrections. Deborah continues to be a lighthouse, shining a beacon of redemptive light in the reclamation of human souls once lost in the darkness of despair.”
—Curt L. Tofteland, Founder of Shakespeare Behind Bars

“Riveting! Tobola moves between her maverick childhood and outlier life teaching art in prison with the eye of an anthropologist and the pen of a poet. Much more than a memoir.”
—Sheila Toomey, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist

“Deborah Tobola has spent most of the last 30 years in California prisons, more time inside than the average bank robber. In Hummingbird in Underworld she takes us on an adventure most people would never imagine, from her rough-and-tumble childhood to her considerable artistic accomplishments. This beautifully written book shows us an inside view of daily life behind bars, and how Tobola changes lives by engaging prisoners in the artistic process. What a joy to read!”
—Claire Braz-Valentine, poet and playwright

“Like a hummingbird, Deborah Tobola's story flutters effortlessly from her bohemian upbringing to her work in prison. It is her poetry, and the poetry of her prison students, that ‘knows no boundaries of geography or language.’ Hummingbird in Underworld vividly depicts the life of an artist working in prison.”
—Leah Joki, author of Juilliard to Jail and Prison Boxing

“In Hummingbird in Underworld, Deborah Tobola writes with lean precision, guiding us through prison like a kind scientist. This book is about attitude and inspiration: her passion for the arts is matched by empathy for the imprisoned. I was a student and employee of Ms. Tobola's in 2000. As an aspiring poet and novelist, she is my mentor once again.”
—"Opie," former student“In her fearless flight inside and outside the bars of prison, Tobola shows us that ‘the emergency is beauty in harsh places.’”
—J. H. Nuñez, poet

“Tobola came to the California Men’s Colony with a dream to make the arts program a lighthouse in the dreary sameness of prison life. With open-mindedness and empathy, Tobola explores how systemic issues play out in individuals’ lives as they grasp for light in the darkness.”
—Booklist

“. . . a treasure of a book in multiple ways.”
—Foreword Reviews

“Tobola describes her early awareness that ‘misery’s persistent whisper’ could ‘turn into a collective groan.’ It spurred her to develop a poetry program that encouraged her students to develop and express their talent. . . . The vivid style sustains a lively pace . . .”
—San Francisco Book Review

“On one level, Hummingbird in Underworld is a narrative of teaching art in prison. On another, the book is a memoir of vocation, that we are formed by our families is the subtext: for better, for harder, for good. . . . The lengths to which Tobola will go for her students are stirring, astonishing, heart-rending.”
—Angelus News

From the Publisher