If we’re calling this the sixth episode of RELEASE: Life Beyond Bars, the five-month old podcast I created with my prison pen pal-turned-IRL pal Gerjuan “Ge-Cue” Harmon, then enjoy the SHORTEST ONE YET!
But we pack a punch in these four minutes.
The story of how Gerjuan and I were seemingly fated to cross paths exactly when we did is one I told in a from January titled “My Firefighting Prison Pen Pal.” I would suggest going back there to get the full scope, but you can also start here with this video we made to introduce the GoFundMe page that was setup to support Gerjuan as he struggles to cover basic living expenses as well as the associated costs of his film school studies.
Believe it or not, but Gerjuan is the only member of his New York Film Academy cohort to have enrolled forty days after being released from serving 12 and a half years of a 17-year state prison sentence. It’s been hard enough reintegrating into free society following such an extensive period of incarceration; now imagine contending with an intensive, one-year cinematography program that has him spending six days a week either in a classroom or on set.
We’re asking for your support so that Gerjuan and I may not only continue the documentation of his post-incarceral journey, but so that Gerjuan can achieve his goal of making a documentary film about his arrest, conviction, sentencing, time served, personal transformation, spiritual rehabilitation, creative evolution, artistic ambition, and ultimately, the story of how he ended up in film school, courtesy of the cosmos.
Please visit the page and spare a few shekels if you can. And if you’d like to commission or purchase art from Gerjuan, the man can be reached on Instagram at @crushederasers.
And stay tuned for more episodes of RELEASE. They’ll be coming around the mountain when they come…
