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Natalie San Luis

Natalie San Luis is a feminist, writer, and activist living in Houston.

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As Americans, we have inherited some pretty huge problems with our criminal justice system.

People of color face incarceration at disproportionate rates compared to white people, and many people go to jail or prison when they should be getting mental health treatment instead.

A lot of these problems remain under the radar because for many Americans, prisons are out of sight and out of mind. Lately, thanks to the hard work of activists, filmmakers like Ava Duvernay, and other advocates, criminal justice reform has been in the spotlight.

But there are still plenty of injustices that take place behind the walls of prisons and jails that we don’t talk about enough.

A prime example? The way most pregnant people are treated when they are incarcerated.

Here are five things you may not know about being pregnant and incarcerated.

1. Thousands of incarcerated women are pregnant, and access to prenatal healthcare in prison is abysmal.

There’s no official, comprehensive data on how many people in prison are going through pregnancy. But what we do know is that there are 210,000 women who are currently incarcerated, and the vast majority of them are of reproductive age. The ACLU estimates that around 12,000 of these women are pregnant.

People in prison, pregnant or not, receive inadequate healthcare, but pregnancy exacerbates the need for quality, holistic healthcare and support — especially for people who are facing high-risk pregnancies. Unfortunately, many incarcerated women lack access to healthcare providers who are trained in obstetrics and gynecology, and one report found that almost half of pregnant inmates don’t get any prenatal care at all.

2. There are huge barriers to getting an abortion while incarcerated.

Your right to have an abortion doesn’t disappear when you go to jail, but for many women in prison, there are huge barriers to ending a pregnancy. Often, healthcare providers in jail and prison don’t inform their patients about their termination options. Many incarcerated women have had to go to court to secure access to abortion, but even more have been forced to continue their pregnancies.

3. Pregnant women who are incarcerated often have to deal with dehumanizing, dangerous practices like shackling.

Historically, pregnant inmates have been subjected to degrading practices like being shackled — even during labor. Although many states have now outlawed this practice, six states have no regulations that protect pregnant and birthing women — and their babies — from harmful physical restraints.

If you’ve ever seen anyone in labor, you know how huge of a problem this is. Laboring women need freedom of movement to work through their contractions, and their healthcare professionals need to be able to step in quickly in emergency situations. It’s a matter of safety, and it’s a matter of dignity.

4. Giving birth while incarcerated can be a nightmare.

Feeling supported, safe, and respected during birth can turn a challenging, scary experience into a positive one. Unfortunately, many women who give birth while incarcerated are denied even the most basic accommodations and support. Incarcerated women often aren’t given the opportunity to make decisions about their birth plans. Recently, one Texas woman went into labor prematurely while she was in a jail cell — and guards refused to assist her until her baby was born. These scenarios are unacceptable.

5. Mothers are separated from their newborns almost immediately.

Most prisons only allow mothers to stay with their newborns for 24 hours before the child is removed to be placed with relatives or in foster care. These abrupt separations can cause serious health issues for the baby, and unsurprisingly, can be emotionally devastating for the mom.

The bottom line is that the way we deal with pregnant and laboring mothers in prison is simply not working.

It’s inhumane, unhealthy, and traumatic.

The good news is that there are people who are fighting hard to make real, tangible improvements for incarcerated moms.

One program in Indiana has established a nursery so incarcerated moms can take care of their newborns, bond with them, and avoid the trauma of separation. Studies have found that the kids in these types of programs face fewer mental health problems, and the moms are less likely to return to prison.

Reproductive justice organizations like SisterSong are fighting hard to make sure that shackling pregnant inmates is a horrifying practice that we leave in the past.

The only women’s prison in Minnesota has partnered with a nonprofit that provides incarcerated pregnant people with doulas for their pregnancy and birth. The program has significantly reduced C-section rates among women who participate in the program.

And Black Lives Matter has partnered with organizations across the country for National Black Mamas Bailout Day, which raises money to bail black women out of jail for Mother’s Day. About 200 moms have been bailed out thanks to their efforts.

The root of the problem — the discriminatory, dehumanizing practices that make up our prison system — still exists. But these efforts show that we can make real change if we refuse to accept injustice.

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Family

Nature does wonders for your brain. Here's how to escape if you're stuck in a city.

When I sit on a pillow on my bedroom floor to meditate, the first thing I notice isn’t my breath, or a sense of peace, or my inner voice — it's the sound of cars zooming past my window.

Normally I can tune out the noises of the city. I have to. I live in the middle of an urban area, so at all moments of the day, I can close my eyes and listen to cars honking, brakes squealing, and airplanes flying overhead.

No matter how long I’ve called cities my home, the urban din still induces anxiety in me. It’s a claustrophobic reminder that I’m surrounded on all sides by concrete, cars, and buildings.

Sometimes, I need an escape.

Lately, I’ve been finding that escape in small pockets of nature: the veins of green space that run through my city, the elements of the natural world that persist amid the concrete, and the sights and sounds of living things that are often drowned out by city life.

Learning how to connect to nature while in a dense urban area has worked wonders on my mental health, and it probably could help your head, too: There’s tons of research on how nature is medicine for the soul.

Here are a few of my strategies for connecting to the natural world when you live in a city.

Images via iStock.

1. Take advantage of green spaces inside the city.

Your city probably has more public parks than you realize. The next time you have a free Saturday afternoon, check out your city’s Parks and Recreation website instead of binge-watching the third season of "Parks and Recreation" on Netflix (no shame, I do it too). If you really want to put some distance between yourself and urban life, check out a nature preserve or find a trail that leads away from busy roads. If you’re feeling more social, see if your city’s Parks department has volunteer days, so you can explore a green space while meeting friends.

2. Think smaller.

Sometimes, you can’t disappear into a peaceful island inside the city, but you can still find some peace in the outdoors wherever you go.

A 2017 study from the University of British Columbia looked at the effects of connecting with nature on a smaller scale: noticing a flower, watering a houseplant, watching the sunset. Researchers found that even these seemingly minor encounters made people feel happier and more connected.

So the next time you’re feeling stressed or upset, take a walk to visit your favorite tree. It may seem silly at first, but it works.

Image via iStock.

3. Get out of town.

I know, I know — this isn’t always an option, especially if your transportation options are limited. But if you can rent a car or take a bus out to some nearby campgrounds or a state or national park, you should do it.

Spending time immersed in nature can literally change the way your brain functions. If you can find a spot without cell service, even better.

4. Spend more time noticing.

When you walk to the subway station, how many types of trees do you pass? The birds you hear outside your window — are they all the same species singing the same song, or is there variation?

You may not always have the time to physically escape the city to find nature, but you can take a few moments every day to let nature find you. No matter where you are, you can sit and listen and watch. You don’t have to be an expert birdwatcher or a trained biologist to engage in this exercise. But if you lean into your curious side, you will find yourself wanting to know more about the family of doves who live on your block, or how to distinguish between a sycamore tree and a maple. The more you discover about your non-human neighbors, the more connected you will feel to them. And that’s a relationship worth nurturing.

So get out there and find your peace in some nature! Sit quietly, observe, and listen to what the outdoors has to say.

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Heroes

He plays music to roaring crowds, but his best shows are for a much different audience.

Freddie Fuller is a country and folk music singer-songwriter who has entertained audiences at venues in and around Austin, Texas. He has recorded two albums, created a one-man show on the history of the Texas cowboy, and even performed for troops overseas. But some of the most profound performances of his life have also been some of the smallest, quietest shows.

Freddie performs personalized, acoustic concerts for people who are dying.

For the last four years, Freddie has worked with a small nonprofit called Swan Songs to bring the gift of music to people facing terminal diagnoses. Freddie and other Swan Songs musicians have played over 500 intimate concerts as a celebration of life for people nearing death, as well as their loved ones.

Why music? The answer is simple for Freddie: "Music is one of the few things that we as humans will allow to touch us in the deepest spots in our hearts."

In the United States, death is usually something that stays out of sight, out of mind.

Our conversations about the end of life are steeped in euphemism, and the actual process of dying seems to happen behind a veil — usually in a hospital or nursing home facility, rarely at home.

But treating death as taboo isn’t a recipe for having a "good death." Informed, nuanced conversations about the end of life can be helpful for both demystifying death and helping families navigate their grief. And a growing chorus led by health care professionals and social workers is calling for change in how we deal with death.

Swan Songs and its musicians are quite literally part of that chorus.

Since 2005, the nonprofit has fielded requests from the loved ones and caretakers of people with terminal illnesses and cultivated a community of local musicians who can help fulfill the recipient’s musical wishes.

When Freddie joined Swan Songs, he had already had the unique experience of playing music for his mother, who had cancer, as she approached the end of her life.

"I remember getting in bed with her in her hospital bed with a guitar, and I started singing to her," Freddie said. Years later, before his father passed away, he did the same thing — this time, with his five children in the room to share the experience.

The sense of hearing, Freddie noted, is usually the last sense to deteriorate at the end of life. So even if the recipient of his performance seems unable to respond or connect, they may still be hearing the music.

A recent Swan Songs experience reaffirmed Freddie’s believe that music has connecting power.

Another Swan Songs musician, Pam, had asked Freddie to perform a particularly special concert — one for her own dying father. When Freddie arrived at the hospital, about an hour outside of Austin, he found that Pam’s father was comatose and close to death. He gathered at his bedside with Pam and her sister and began to play.

"I played for 45 minutes or so," he says. "I played the last song, sang the last note, and hit the last guitar chord, and he took his last breath. We sat there very reverently and drank up the power of that moment."

That moment spoke to the essence of Swan Songs, Freddie says. Surrounded by music and love, his recipient passed on.

Freddie put his guitar back in his case and stepped into another role: that of a comforter and a friend. It was a short, soothing moment in time during a life landmark that is often cloaked in fear and despair.

That’s what Swan Songs is all about: bringing joy, connection, and peace to death, one of the most human experiences of all.

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A couple years ago, I had a conversation with some of my guy friends that I’ll never forget.

We were talking about whether there’s such a thing as "a good rape joke" (answer: no), and I mentioned that women tend to have “rape anxiety” in public. They didn't understand the concept, so I explained:

Sometimes, if we’re walking down a dark alley alone, we worry that we might get raped. That anxiety can even happen in more low-risk situations, like if we’re walking to work in broad daylight or even when someone rolls down the window of their car to shout something about our bodies.

My dude friends looked at me like I had just convincingly explained to them that the Earth was flat.

A protestor at a Take Back the Night rally in London. Photo by Charlotte Barnes/Wikimedia Commons.

They had no idea that I experienced this fundamental truth of my existence every day.

They had no idea this feeling was shared, to some degree, with most women (and other marginalized people who are threatened in public spaces). It had never even occurred to my favorite men that many of the people they interact with live with this form of apprehension all the time.

A few weeks later, after our conversation, my friend Eric told me a story.

He said he was walking down the street at night, about 15 feet behind a young woman. At one point, she glanced back at him — and he recalled our conversation. So he started walking slower and decided to take a different route home, in case he was unintentionally making her nervous.

I gave him a hug and felt lucky to have men in my life that take sexual harassment and gendered violence seriously. But even well-intentioned guys may be unaware of how their position of power creates intimidating situations.

To the dudes I love, the dudes who walk me home at night and care about me very much, here’s what your female friend wants you to know when she's talking about harassment and violence:

Photo via iStock.

1. I need you to listen to me.

Resist your impulse to "not-all-men" your way out of the conversation. If I'm talking to you about this issue, it's because I trust you and I think it's an important discussion to have.

Please understand that my experiences may change your worldview a little bit — and that yours might change mine. If both of us approach the conversation with the assumption that we have something to learn, chances are we will.

2. I need you to be aware of how your behavior could unintentionally make the women (and femme and queer people) around you uncomfortable.

Maybe you're trying to chat up a woman at the bar who doesn't seem interested and you're just not taking a hint. Maybe a step in the right direction is realizing that the woman who's glancing back at you while you walk down the street is trying to assess if you're a threat.

When you're more in tune with the harassment that women experience every day simply by existing in the world, the next step is to notice if and how you play a role in those situations. Lots of times your threat is harmless, of course. But it never hurts to think critically about how you treat women, especially those you don't know, in public.

3. I need you to use your privilege as a shield.

Guys, it's exhausting to have to do all of this work ourselves. We really want your help.

The perpetrators of gendered microaggressions, sexual harassment, and sexual violence aren't strangers — they're the men in your classes, your workplace, your gym. So if you see something, please say something.

If a coworker makes an inappropriate comment to you about another coworker's body, please tell them it's not OK.

If you see a dude harassing a female friend at a party or a bar, please tactfully interject yourself into the situation to give her an out.

And, for the love of all that is holy, PLEASE teach your sons, brothers, and friends to do the same.

It may be uncomfortable to start talking about sexual violence and harassment, but it's so, so necessary for all of us.

Those conversations could make a real difference in whether people like me feel safe and comfortable in the world.

That matters.

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10 sci-fi books written by women of color to add to your reading list.

Female science fiction writers just swept the Hugo Awards.

Obviously, science fiction books by and about women of color exist.

But all too often, we don't get to see them. Awards for literature overwhelmingly go to male authors who write about men or boys. Female writers of color face additional barriers in the literary world, especially in sci-fi, which tends to be dominated by male authors.

But at a ceremony earlier this week, something cool happened: The winners of the Hugo Awards, some of the most prestigious awards in science fiction, were announced, and the top four fiction awards were awarded to four women. Three of those winners were female writers of color.

In honor of these women, here are 10 recommendations for books about science fiction, fantasy, or speculative fiction by women of color:

Image via Tango7174/Wikimedia Commons.

1. "The Fifth Season" by N.K. Jemisin

We'll start with the recent Hugo Award winners. If you like stories about collapsing civilizations and the apocalypse, you'll enjoy "The Fifth Season," which won the Hugo for best novel. (Fun fact: N.K. Jemisin is the cousin of comedian W. Kamau Bell!)

2. "Binti" by Nnedi Okorafor

The Hugo for best novella went to this story about a 16-year-old on a harrowing journey to get an education. It's only 96 pages, so you can knock this one out on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

3. "Folding Beijing" by Hao Jingfang

The Hugo for best novelette goes to a story between 7,500 and 17,500 words. This year's award went to Hao Jingfang, a Chinese writer, and her translator Ken Liu, for a story set in the Beijing of the future, where the city folds in on itself every day. "Folding Beijing" is also a commentary on the divisions between social classes. You can read the full novelette online.

Hao Jingfang and Ken Liu. Image via Charles Tan/YouTube.

4. "The Winged Histories" by Sofia Samatar

This novel by a Somali American author is about four women caught up in a rebellion. It's riveting fantasy, especially if you like solid character development.

5. "Parable of the Sower" by Octavia Butler

OK, it's not really fair to only put one Octavia Butler book on here because really you should read everything she's ever written. But this book, the first volume of the "Earthseed" series, is a really good place to start.

Octavia Butler. Nikolas Coukouma/Wikimedia Commons.

6. "Ink" by Sabrina Vourvoulias

If you think our immigration system sometimes feels like a dystopia, you'll want to read "Ink." This speculative novel takes place in the U.S., and four central characters tell the story.

7. "The Island of Eternal Love" by Daína Chaviano

Chaviano takes the reader on a journey through time with this novel. Several complex plots thread through the book, which is the most translated Cuban novel in history.

8. "The Grass Dancer" by Susan Power

This novel, which centers on a Sioux reservation, weaves together mythicism and magical realism so skillfully that it's hard to believe it was Susan Power's first novel. But believe it — she won the PEN Award for Best First Fiction after its publication in 1994.

9. "Love Is the Drug" by Alaya Dawn Johnson

This one's for all the young-adult fiction lovers out there. The book won the Nebula Award for Best Young Adult Novel in 2015.

10. "Legend" by Marjorie Lu

If you like young-adult dystopian series like "The Hunger Games," pick up "Legend" at the library. Once you're hooked, you'll be happy to know that CBS Films has acquired the film rights for the novel.

Listen, I could keep going — there's a whole universe (multiverse?) of science fiction written by women of color.

But if you're still reading my words and not checking out these books, get out of here. Go read!

In 2012, Jen Horn watched as local residents in Baguio City, Philippines, protested over pine trees.

It might not seem like a particularly obvious political reason, but when people tried to expand a mall and eliminate a large area of pine trees in the process, the residents were so concerned about the environmental impact that they organized.

Jen, who owned a successful design company in the Philippines, was inspired by their collective action. It raised questions she had about the ethical responsibility of a business to treat the world well.

In regard to her own business, Jen often found herself wondering what happened to the things her company helped create when people were done using them.

Was her business conscientious, she wondered. Was she making the world better with her work?

Finally, someone who is as excited about succulents as I am! All images via Muni, used with permission.

That's when she got the idea for Muni, a community and company dedicated to mindful, sustainable, creative living.

"[I] really wanted to do something with greater impact and start creating more learning and networking events for like-minded folks," Jen told Upworthy in an email.

The name of the company is derived from the Filipino word muni-muni, which means "to think, ponder, muse, or reflect." And the core of the organization's purpose is just that — to facilitate mindfulness, sustainability, and ethicality among entrepreneurs.

"I wanted to create a way for all of these great people to be heard more, to be connected more to other people who share the same ideals," Jen said in a TEDx Talk last year.

With the pine tree activists' efforts at the front of her mind, Jen started this organization by uniting her personal values of sustainability and mindfulness with her business.

Because it wasn't just about her vision for the whole world. It was also about what was going on in her own backyard.

So, what exactly does Muni do? Well, a lot.

Muni brings awesome events to communities across the globe, like a series of talks in Manila, Philippines, a sustainability festival, and an upcoming "camp" for start-up founders to come together and learn from each other.

A Muni Meetup in the Philippines.

Jen hosts Muni Market Days for local creators, artists, and performers to showcase their talents to the community — kind of like a farmers market but for makers and creatives. People subscribe to Muni's Facebook page and get notified when they put up a new event.

"I wanted to create a way for all of these great people to be heard more, to be connected more to other people who share the same ideals." — Jen Horn

With this upswing in female business leaders, like Jen, there is also an upswing in sustainability.

Research has shown that female business leaders are more committed to corporate sustainability and creating businesses that function in harmony with the planet.

Why? One reason may be related to how female board directors and executives tend to be better at planning for the future and communicating a broad vision. A stronger reason is how diversity of all kinds always make the world a better place.

Including a diverse mix of voices in the decision-making process reveal smarter and surprising ways to make things systemically better at all levels — and sustainability is undoubtably a core area for that.

Unfortunately, only a fraction of Fortune 500 companies have women at the helm. It's clear that we need more Jens to lead the way.

The Muni community hosts Market Days to showcase local makers.

Jen's advice for other Jens out there is simple but effective:

"The goal is to be more mindful in your business or in your life every day, and the only way for us to figure that out is if we’re in the process, doing it, talking to people who are also trying to do things in a different way."

Every action to better our community can be a source of inspiration — and in this case, it planted the seed for a company that actively seeks to improve and protect the world.

As Jen says in her speech: "At the end of the day, your world is your choice."

Reflecting on our roles as consumers, producers, and stewards of the planet is something we can all definitely get behind.

Listen to Jen's talk about starting a mindful business and see if you're not inspired to make some changes of your own!

Why putting people in prison might not be the best way to keep us safe.

I used to think the prison system was just a fact of life.

One of my relatives spent 10 years in prison when I was a kid, and I would visit him with my mom several times a year.

So as I grew up, I understood prison as just another place: You go to the grocery store when you need food, you go to church on Sundays, and you go to prison if you do something bad.

Is this the best way to rehabilitate people? Photo via tiegeltuf/Wikimedia Commons.

It wasn't until I got older that I started really thinking about the criminal justice system.

And the more I thought about it, the weirder it sounded: When people commit crimes, we send them away from their families and communities to become better by locking them in cells.

That idea really starts to fall apart when you consider the number of people who abuse drugs, people with mental illness, and people of color in the prison system.

Sometimes society's most egregious myths are right in front of our faces.

But because they're so integrated into our realities and systems, we don't even notice them.

Thankfully, as a society, we're starting to take a second look at the parts of our criminal justice system, especially prisons, that might not be working well.

Photo via Jess Judd/Wikimedia Commons.

Here are some things that we're learning along with the actual facts about what really keeps communities safe:

Myth 1: Higher incarceration rates cause corresponding decreases in crime.

Truth: Imprisoning people isn't always a good way to fight crime.

A study by The Sentencing Project found that simply putting more people in prison isn't an effective strategy for fighting crime.

In fact, states that imprisoned fewer people actually saw significant improvements in crime reduction compared with states who were more aggressive about incarceration.

In the words of the study's authors, "Increasing incarceration while ignoring more effective approaches will impose a heavy burden upon courts, corrections and communities, while providing a marginal impact on crime."

Myth 2: Downsizing prisons makes surrounding communities unsafe.

Truth: Research proves otherwise; just look at California.

In 2011, California decided to address prison overcrowding by shrinking the state's prison population by 30%. Some people feared that downsizing prisons (basically, putting fewer people in jail) would cause a jump in crime rates, but that wasn't the case. Researchers found that in 2012, 2013, and 2014, rates of violent crime and property crime stayed the same in California.

Myth 3: Prisons make communities safer by reforming criminals.

Truth: Recidivism rates (people returning to prisons) are high in the U.S., in part because prison doesn't prepare people for life after their sentences.

In theory, prisons exist to rehabilitate people who commit crimes. But in practice, prisons don't usually provide healthy rehabilitation programs. Plus, there aren't enough resources for people who want to get a job, a home, and a stable life free of crime after they serve their sentence.

A U.S. marshal guards prisoners. Photo via US Marshals/Wikimedia Commons.

Myth 4: Even if prison isn't an ideal solution, it's the only solution we have to deal with crime.

Truth: There are a lot of alternatives to incarceration.

These other alternatives help prevent crime and are actually cheaper than prison, including drug courts, halfway houses, and restorative justice programs.

Particularly for drug-related crimes, there are so many alternatives to incarceration that actually improve the lives of offenders. Drug courts prioritize addiction treatment and accountability over punishment, and they actually save taxpayer money.

Incarceration doesn't have to be the only option on the table when someone commits a crime.

Myth 5: Alternatives to prison aren't worth the money.

Truth: Other solutions, like the above, are generally more cost-effective. They're also healthier for offenders and their families.

A prison sentence doesn't just affect the prisoner. Incarceration can be devastating for a whole family, both emotionally and financially. And the emotional strain prison puts on the children of incarcerated individuals can cause significant developmental delays as well.

60% of fathers and 39% of mothers in the U.S. hold full-time jobs, so losing that paycheck could push a family into poverty. In short, incarceration can cause lifelong harm for not just incarcerated people, but families of incarcerated people too.

Photo via jmiller291/Flickr.

As citizens, it's our job to think about whether our criminal justice system is actually just!

Looking at the evidence is just the first step. But to actually achieve progress, we need better policies for mandatory minimum sentences, alternatives to incarceration, and reintegrating prisoners to the outside.

Let's get to it.

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