☉ Over / Under ☉ is an invitation to imagine ourselves beyond the carceral state into right relation, through brave connection, grief practice, the fire of forgiveness, and radical care.

꩜ backstory:
From February 2009 until Covid, inside the Iowa Medical and Classification Center, commonly known as Oakdale Prison, Dr. Mary Cohen led the Oakdale Community Choir — composed of half incarcerated singers and half singers from the local community. When the project was abruptly paused because of COVID19, she pivoted and paired up musicians outside with musicians inside as pen pals, to pursue collaboration. Lyndsey met Mary at an Iowa City sing, while touring with her album Well Held. Mary shared a land acknowledgement written by incarcerated musician A-Rhodd, a member of the Otoe-Missouria nation, and asked if Lyndsey wanted to become his penpal. A-Rhodd and Lyndsey immediately clicked around a shared passion for transformative justice and began a prolific correspondence in October 2022. The first guitar rif A-Rhodd played for Lyndsey through the phone sparked this song. Lyndsey instantly caught the words and brought the bones to producer Michael Linder, who made magic through percussive and sonic layers, finishing with a community chorus demanding: We do this 'til we free us.

★ Tithe for song proceeds goes to: Inside Out Reentry
www.insideoutreentry.com
whose mission is:::: to support people involved in the criminal legal system in changing from the inside out, and to educate the public,
in order to promote healing, restore relationships and achieve success in the community.

☞ (If you would like to collaborate with an incarcerated musician, please message me to be put in contact with Dr. Mary Cohen.)



❖❖❖ FROM A-RHODD ::::::

The U.S. criminal justice system, by design, severs community. This division causes spiritual and emotional trauma for those inside and those who love them. I have been incarcerated for 15 years, and this trauma lives in me as feelings of worthlessness, irrelevance, and fears of abandonment. Despite the effects of punitive culture, I have taught myself to feed my spirit and find healing and growth by connecting with people outside of prison walls – people who support me in higher education, relation to the Earth and spirit, and my music. Through this support, I find the courage and wisdom to radiate and translate the values of forgiveness, success, and love to those on the inside.

With these values in mind, I wrote the rhythm section for "Over / Under" on my electric guitar. I practiced the riff, revised it, and shared it with Lyndsey by placing a receiver from a prison phone near my amp while she recorded. This recording represents my commitment to bridge communities in and out of prison. It also reinstates my relationship to the community I once harmed, returning as one who now chooses to bring restoration.

Our song joins the work of prison abolitionists, whose refusal to consent to the U.S. criminal justice system continues to provide hope for those severed from their communities. I choose to highlight and work for our freedom to connect, grow, and heal despite the oppressive culture of U.S. prisons.



❖❖❖ FROM LYNDSEY ::::::

The lyrics for “Over/under….” fell from my lips without effort when I first heard A-Rhodd’s guitar riff. They relate from a shamanic journey I had shortly after starting work teaching art at the local juvenile detention center. In the vision I was sensing a big spiral of energy, traversing over the gnarly barbed wire fence to the inside, then from the inside back under the fence, over, under, over, under . . . . This spiral consisted of love and care and story and forgiveness, reaching and traveling, over and under, faster and faster, spiraling tighter until zzzzzzzzzzzip: it ripped out the fence like you rip off a bandaid, one clean motion.

The chorus similarly downloaded in one fell swoop: inspired by Miriame Kaba’s book title and the abolitionist street chant “we do this til we free us”, it points toward the personal shadow work that must complement policy transformation~ our systems follow our consciousness. Grieve, see, release: repair at the root.

My own prayers for abolition sparked in 2006 when my life intersected with the justice system for the first time. In court, I was facing the stranger who violently sexually assaulted me in my home in the middle of the night. Of course he needed a space away, to keep others safe. Of course my life was forever altered. But my spirit understood that what he really needed was support to transform the trauma which prompted his actions, not to be locked in a cage away from the earth and all love. So my aching journey of inquiry, what else can we do?, began and has grown through various chapters — sharing life stories while weeding at the garden project I started with formerly incarcerated men; feeling for the first time from inside the energy of the concrete box-cage while teaching art at the JDC. I know we can do better as a human family. I dream of a path that calls each other back into wholeness.

Meeting A-Rhodd was a doorway to deeper understanding. We braved up to share with one another from our respective opposite/parallel journeys, and chose to be daringly honest about the soul work required for each of us to heal. This process has opened our hearts and ignited vision for the potent possibilities of true reparation.

Will you learn with me about abolition?

Here’s a place to begin:
abolitionjournal.org/studyguide/

And here are action steps we can start to take:
bit.ly/9SolidarityCommits



❖❖❖ FROM Dr. MARY COHEN ::::::::::

My interactions with ARhodd and Lyndsey have consistently been filled with deep learning and growth both personally and professionally. When the Oakdale Choir was rehearsing and performing in the Oakdale Prison, ARhodd wrote and shared several poetic Native American land acknowledgements at concerts. He inspired me to learn more about Native American wisdom, the need for generational healing, and our deep interconnectedness to nature. Lyndsey has visited Iowa City to lead song circles that breathed Life into our voices, sparking new ways of thinking about our interactions and our connection to the Divine. This Over/Under collaboration breaks open unexplored possibilities for bridging society outside of prison with individuals and communities inside prisons, building social realization of our common humanity, and growing awareness for personal and structural transformations.