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Andrea Garcia-Vargas

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On May 28, 2014, Maya Angelou passed away. But she still lives on.

"You beloved guardian of sacred poetry, rest now. Leave us to study and remember."

On May 28, 2014, Dr. Maya Angelou died at the age of 86.


Image via York College of Pennsylvania/Flickr.

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Live-recording your first music album in a prison might seem like an unusual decision.

Not for singer Naima Shalhoub.

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Thousands of teens are being punished — by being locked in a box.

A room 10 feet by 7 feet. No human contact for months. How does this do teenagers any good?

In March 2014, Reveal, one of the websites of the Center for Investigative Reporting, did some investigating into the treatment of teenagers imprisoned on New York City's Rikers Island.

And what they found was pretty shocking: Teenagers were regularly put into solitary confinement.

"At any given time, about 100 teenagers are housed in solitary confinement at Rikers Island. ... Every day, thousands of teenagers around the U.S. are held in solitary confinement, but no one knows for sure how many. That's because the federal government does not require prisons, jails, and juvenile halls to report the number of young people they put in isolation or how long they keep them there." — Reveal

Reveal spoke with a teenager, Ismael "Izzy" Nazario, who throughout his time at Rikers Island spent a total of 300 days in solitary.

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"I love you."

Those three words were the premise of a video project a University of Montana student group put together. To have people simply say "I love you" in different languages.

Swahili.

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