cmurr's blog

Budding from Dualities of Space: A Reflection on the Solitary Garden by Zaarin Mizan 

gar·​den \gär-dᵊn\ (n): a plot of cultivation; hall for public entertainment
Middle English gardyn < Anglo-French gardyn, gardeyn, jardin < Old French jart, gart "garden" < Old Low Franconian garda- "enclosure, fence" < Germanic *garđa-, whence Old Saxon gard "garden, dwelling, world," Old High German gart "enclosure," Old English geard "fence, enclosure

Episode 1 - The Solitary Garden 
Welcome to the first episode of the Solitary Podcast. Today’s episode features Tim Young, the Solitary Gardener at UC Santa Cruz, speaking on the garden and its beginnings, struggle, and collaboration. 
 
References: 
Solitary Gardens
Revolutionary Greetings! (May 10, 2021)
 

Prop 66 “Death Penalty Procedures Initiative” / "The Death Penalty Reforms and Savings Act”

My name is Timothy James Young. I am an innocent man on San Quentin’s Death Row, and I am also the Solitary Gardener at UC, Santa Cruz. I have been hearing from a growing number of people who are curious about abolition. Many of them have read my essay entitled “Mail Call” and were struck with one sentence: “Friendship is the pathway to freedom.” The question that they most frequently ask me is how does friendship relate to abolition?

Habeas corpus: legal action that requires someone who has been arrested to be brought to trial before a judge or into court; the person is granted the ability to challenge the legal sufficiency and reevaluate errors of their charge after all other direct appeals have been exhausted 

Here in prison, amid condemned men, the weather of life is often inclement. The winds of misery blow relentlessly, and for me, one of the only things that I have to look forward to throughout the week is the announcement of “mail call!”

After a tumultuous year, an empty campus and discussions with Tim Young, our Solitary Gardener in San Quentin, we have decided to rejuvenate the garden and prepare for spring replanting. ⁠

“The medical staff said this morning that people who were sick and were having symptoms—there was nothing they could do. They are just going to leave people in their cells...the only way people will be moved is if they are having respiratory problems to the point they can’t breathe” ~Tim Young, San Quentin State Prison, June 23, 2020

While waiting for the election to be called last week, a couple of us at the IAS masked up and tended to the changing seasons at Solitary Garden. After discussions with Tim Young, we took out some plants which were failing and seeded the bed with cover crop to add nutrients to the soil over the winter. Our plan is to get the garden ready for a spring replanting. 

In our most recent letter from Tim Young, the Solitary Gardener currently incarcerated in San Quentin, Tim describes his experience of the orange skies that have been covering California and the West Coast. Like many of us, he sees this as a troubling forecast for the future of our climate and environment.

Tim writes: