By Darla Shelden, Metropolis Sentinel Reporter
STILLWATER, OK — The Osher Lifelong Studying Institute at Oklahoma State College (OLLI at OSU), in partnership with the Oklahoma Humanities Council, the OSU Michael and Anne Greenwood Faculty of Music, and the McKnight Middle for the Performing Arts, will host a particular sequence starting this month specializing in the work of anti-death penalty advocate, Sister Helen Prejean.
Prelude to Justice: Artwork, Reform and the Work of Sister Helen Prejean can be centered on jurisprudence, the legal justice system, and restoration by way of artwork.
The five-week, six-session sequence begins July 29 and is open to the general public.
All occasions can be held on the McKnight Middle on the Oklahoma State College campus in Stillwater. Participation by way of livestream can be out there for these exterior Stillwater.
Tickets are $40 for OLLI at OSU members and $50 for non-members. To be taught extra and to register, go to okla.st/prejean.
Creator of three books, Lifeless Man Strolling, The Demise of Innocents, and River of Fireplace, Prejean has ministered to these on loss of life row. Her activism has been instrumental in elevating nationwide dialogue on capital punishment.
Prejean is the religious advisor to Richard Glossip, who has been on Oklahoma’s loss of life row for 23 years.
In January 2015, Prejean obtained a name from Glossip. She mentioned, “he had put me down as somebody he needed to be current when he was executed.” She accepted as a result of she believes the loss of life penalty is fallacious even if she thinks an individual is responsible. “Nonetheless, on this case, I consider he’s harmless,” Prejean mentioned.
The Prelude to Justice sequence will function a screening of the movie Lifeless Man Strolling together with panel and e book discussions. Prejean will be part of by way of livestream for 2 courses, together with an interactive question-and-answer session.
A New Orleans Roman Catholic nun from Louisiana, Prejean skilled a religious transformation and renewed her dedication to a lifetime of social justice within the early Eighties. Coming from a privileged background, she moved to the St. Thomas housing initiatives in New Orleans, the place she witnessed crime and social inequality.
Whereas there, Prejean was requested to write down to loss of life row inmates as a part of the Order’s neighborhood outreach program. After exchanging a number of letters with Pat Sonnier, who had been convicted of the kidnap and homicide of two youngsters, Prejean turned his religious advisor and was with him to the top witnessing his execution by electrocution on the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.
Within the following months, she turned religious advisor to a different loss of life row inmate, Robert Lee Willie, who was to fulfill the identical destiny as Sonnier.
Sister Prejean realized executions are shrouded in secrecy, and due to her life altering expertise and her perception that the loss of life penalty is morally fallacious, she felt it was her calling to share the troublesome particulars of her expertise with the general public.
The outcome was her e book,Lifeless Man Strolling: An Eyewitness Account of the Demise Penalty in america
In response to New Yorker Journal, in 1993, the e book, “Lifeless Man Strolling” spent thirty-one weeks on the New York Instances best-seller listing and was translated into ten languages.
Thebook later becamea function movie starring Susan Sarandon as Sister Helen (a task for which she received the Academy Award for Greatest Actress) and later the Lifeless Man Strolling Opera.
“Artwork helps us discover alternate options, permits us to make new selections, and brings us to a deeper place the place all this reflection can occur,” Prejean mentioned. “This opera is especially useful as audiences navigate the ethical dilemmas that encompass capital punishment.”
Jake Haggie, director of the Lifeless Man Strolling Opera acknowledged, “Because the San Francisco Opera premiere in 2000, the opera has obtained greater than 300 performances by 70 worldwide corporations on 5 continents.”
“My delight is you could take an artwork type like opera and you’ll assist individuals go on a very deep religious journey of conscience a few ethical situation, and that’s what Lifeless Man Strolling does,” Prejean instructed The Metropolis Sentinel.
She additionally instructed this reporter that “this very morning” she was placing “pen to paper” on her new e book, Using the Mighty River (working title).
“This Journey,” the aria from the opera Lifeless Man Strolling, is all about unfolding your conscience and making your approach into unchartered waters after which studying the place it takes you, which is what occurred to me once I acquired concerned with loss of life row inmates,” Prejean mentioned. “The journey – that’s the core of it.”
The Prelude to Justice sequence concludes Aug. 28 with a dwell operatic efficiency by OSU Greenwood Faculty of Music mezzo-soprano and occasion co-organizer April Golliver-Mohiuddin, together with collaborative pianist Megan Barth Argo and assisted by Erin Murphy (flute) and Emma Draves (up to date dance). The efficiency will function works composed by Jake Heggie and phrases by Prejean.
“I wish to encourage individuals to attend this distinctive expertise that I consider will encourage and educate,” mentioned April Golliver-Mohiuddin. “I’ve at all times been fascinated by the work of Sister Helen Prejean and much more so after watching the opera Lifeless Man Strolling, composed by Jake Heggie with a libretto by playwright Terrence McNally. Music touches souls. Thus, the idea of mixing music’s therapeutic and rejuvenating energy with an academic sequence centered on our legal justice system and restoring humanity to all individuals turned my inspiration.
She continued, “Creating this sequence has modified my life ceaselessly and I hope it should encourage others to ‘catch on hearth’ by turning into engaged residents inside our communities. I’ll finish my recital with a hymn titled ‘He’ll collect us round.’
She added, “As we collect for this sequence, might all of us unite and work in direction of a extra loving and compassionate world.”
Collection sponsors embody the Oklahoma Humanities, the Oklahoma Arts Council, OSU Division of Sociology, OSU Workplace of Institutional Range, School of Arts & Sciences, and different area people companions.
Robbin Davis, OLLI Director mentioned, “April invited Darin Williams from the McKnight Middle to hitch us and we turned a merry band of three and we’ve been planning and scheming for the larger good ever since. Throughout the planning of this occasion, now we have all had transferring experiences as we proceed to uncover methods to carry gentle to the legal justice system and people incarcerated. We would like the members of Prelude to Justice to have comparable experiences and every of the periods have been designed with that intent.”
To order tickets for Prelude to Justice: Artwork, Reform and the Work of Sister Helen Prejean, contact OLLI at OSU at 405-744-5686. Study extra at olli.okstate.edu.
Prelude to Justice Collection Schedule:
Session 1, Thurs., July 29, 6 p.m. – Collection introduction with Sister Helen Prejean, April Golliver-Mohiuddin, Darin Williams, Robbin Davis and Arthur “Artwork” LeFrancois, jurisprudence scholar.
Session 2, Thurs., Aug. 5, 6 p.m. – Film viewing of Lifeless Man Strolling with a cinematic introduction by OSU emerita Dr. Vickie Sturgeon. (The film won’t be out there by way of livestream).
Session 3, Thursday, Aug. 12, 6 p.m. – Panel Dialogue
Moderated by Artwork LeFrancois
Panelists:
Vicki Behenna, Govt Director, Oklahoma Innocence Challenge.
Kris Steele, Govt Director, TEEM (The Training and Employment Ministry), 2011-2013 Speaker of the Oklahoma Home of Representatives
Christy Sheppard, Ada native, licensed household therapist. Christy’s cousin was murdered in 1982 and the boys convicted of her homicide had been later discovered harmless. Christy will inform about her household’s expertise.
Michelle L. Estes, Graduate Analysis Assistant and PhD Candidate, Division of Sociology-Oklahoma State College (becoming a member of by way of dwell streaming)
Oklahoma State Rep. Mauree Turner – legal justice reform advocate.
Session 4, Thur., Aug. 19, 6 p.m. – Ebook Research Wrap-up and Presentation
“Ache, Therapeutic and Restoration Via Artwork” with April Golliver-Mohiuddin and Dr. Shelia Kennison, OSU Professor of Psychology and Affiliate Editor, Present Psychology.
Session 5, Thur., Aug. 26, 6 p.m. – Dwell Q&A with Sister Helen Prejean and April Golliver-Mohiuddin
Protecting Sister Helen’s life’s work and advocacy for the abolishment of the loss of life penalty, wrongful conviction, unjust jail sentencing and her ministry of loss of life row inmates. Dialogue will embody her books River of Fireplace, Lifeless Man Strolling and The Demise of Innocents.
Session 6, Sat., Aug. 28, 7:30 p.m. – Dwell Efficiency
Music & Humanity – music by Jack Heggie and phrases by Sister Helen Prejean.
