The Beat Within

Today, we are honoring our 1 year anniversary of our Founder, David Inocencio! We are so grateful for all of you and the rest of our community, who has shown incredible love and support over the past year (and longer).

In honor of David's legacy, we have created a prompt for our writers, and would like to invite our community to submit a response to be published in an upcoming issue!

If you'd like to take part, please email your response to Simone at [email protected] by Friday, July 26th.

See prompt below:

Reflecting on Legacy: July eighth marks the one-year anniversary of our founder’s passing, and as we reflect on David Inocencio’s incredible legacy, The Beat wants to know how you commemorate the anniversaries of your lost loved ones. Are there special meals, prayers, or activities you share with your community? Or maybe you prefer to be alone during these times — are there special places you go to mourn, remember, or celebrate those who are no longer with us? What legacies of your passed loved ones do you carry on? Tell us about the person who comes to mind for you, and the ways you continue to honor their life and story.

Every Monday in July!

Thank you to our friends at Blue Path Health in Marin County for showcasing our writers’ work at their May Mental Health Art & Film Showcase.

About 150 attendees got to see this amazing work!

A Tribute to Hayden
By: Zach Wyner

The Beat Within is saddened to announce the sudden passing of friend and former workshop participant, Hayden Renato.

The Alameda County team first encountered Hayden in 2017 as he was awaiting extradition to Arizona. At a time of acute alienation, The Beat was a lifeline for Hayden. He took full advantage of the opportunity it provided to connect with facilitators and share his story with our readers, openly sharing reflections on family, homelessness, physical abuse, mental health and the criminal justice system.

Hayden had a huge heart and, even while incarcerated, disconnected from his family, and anxious about the possibility of being sent back to the adult prison in Arizona in which he’d been incarcerated at the age of 15, he was equally concerned with the plight of other young people who had been raised in circumstances that mirrored his own. Each week, along with the many pages of stories and personal essays that he would somewhat bashfully hand over to his facilitators (he knew someone had to type all that writing up and respond to it), Hayden would give us at least half a dozen responses written directly to other Beat Within contributors. These thoughtful reflections demonstrated the power of The Beat Within magazine and the realization of our founder David Inocencio’s vision—that the magazine might serve as a vehicle for connection and community building.

After fighting an extended legal battle against the state of Arizona—in which he represented himself and eventually won his freedom—Hayden dedicated himself to improving the lives of at-risk and incarcerated youth in Arizona and Oakland, California. While pursuing his undergraduate degree (after which he planned to attend law school), he accepted a position with Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice (CURYJ) so he might advocate for a humane transition away from juvenile incarceration.

In recent years, Hayden mostly lived abroad in Peru and Paris, taking advantage of his aptitude for languages and building a life with his girlfriend, Josselyn.

In his brief time on this earth, Hayden endured unimaginable pain. And yet, despite the abuse he suffered as a child, and despite his incarceration in an adult facility at the age of 15 and the trauma inflicted upon him there, he never succumbed to bitterness. When given the opportunity to share his story and his ideas, he made it a point, time and again, to not only explore his darkest moments, but to express his solidarity with and concern for all at-risk and incarcerated youth. His capacity for empathy was boundless, and his eagerness to make a tangible difference in the lives of the marginalized and oppressed will continue to inspire those who knew him.

Back in 2019, Hayden wrote: “Can I really break the chain off myself and countless others bound by ignorant laws and judges with this beige paper and a flexible jail pen? Are my arguments enough to set us all free? I can’t just fight for myself. It’s a matter of principle and collective struggle. It’s about all of us. All incarcerated youth.”

The Beat is forever grateful for your fight, Hayden, and for all the love you put into this world. We’ll miss you terribly. Rest in peace.

-Zach Wyner, Alameda County

Want to get the opportunity to facilitate writing workshops for our young men & women on the inside?

We are seeking passionate volunteers who are willing to commit their time to providing our young people a safe & nurturing space to tap into their gift of expression through writing.

We encourage (and gratefully welcome) individuals who have previous experience in the justice system.

Counties we are seeking volunteers in:

San Mateo, San Francisco, Marin, Sonoma, & Sacramento

DM us or email Alyssa at [email protected] 🫱🏼‍🫲🏽

Did you use to write for The Beat? We want you!

Whether you wrote for us back in the day, or more recently, we want to get you in your OWN corner of The Beat Within. This is your opportunity to get published (bi-weekly consistency is encouraged, but we’ll be happy to take the sporadic submissions) but also share your light and truth to so many of our young readers!

Some writing ideas:

• Where are you now? Successes, failures, experiences, etc.

• How has The Beat impacted your life?

• How has the justice system impacted your life?

• Anything & everything ☺️

Reach out with any questions! If interested, send us a DM and we’ll get you started!

Our first issue of 2024 🎉

A year it has been, for sure. Thank you all for your continued support — The Beat goes on (we love you, David) 👏🏽

Get our newest issue, or any of our 2023 issues to add to your collection! Link in bio.

Hello TBW family! Just a couple more days of our holiday special ❤️. Free T-shirt with 12 month subscription of our magazine! We appreciate all of your support.

Hello Everyone! We are having a holiday special — with every 12 month subscription to The Beat Within magazine, we will be providing a free T-Shirt! Subscribe on our website 🎁

PLEASE READ❗️

It saddens us to have to announce this, but we got word that there may be a fake donation email/page going around asking for donations in memory of David. As the holiday season is here, please be aware of these scams that unfortunately take advantage of people.

Some keypoints:

• None of the donations we receive are matched (the email may mention that it is)

• Donations are done on our website and directs you to the Flipcause website.

• All of our emails are in a newsletter format, with the mailchimp logo at the bottom.

If you have come across anything suspicious, please forward so that we can inquire.

Thank you so much!