Cultural sociologist Rev. Dr. Tony Tian-Ren Lin talks to José Pérez on his finding poetry in prison, and why he now advocates for the rehabilitative arts and foster children

La persistance de la mémoire [The Persistence of Memory] *(1931) by Salvador Dalí; oil on canvas, 9 1/2 x 13". © Salvador Dalí,* *Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí* *, Figueres, 2007 © 2006. Digital image,* *Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York/Scala, Florence*

“The arts is where we find our humanity,” says José Pérez, who spent 20 years in prison and now advocates for the rehabilitative arts and foster children. He credits poetry, and the arts in general, with transforming his life. “Our art comes from us. It comes from the deepest parts of ourselves,” he tells cultural sociologist Rev. Dr. Tony T. R. Lin. “And when [our art] goes into the world, you know, it's like you're sharing yourself with someone.”

In this episode of OP Talks, Pérez also reads three of his poems, part of a larger collection previously featured on HTI Open Plaza. The episode opens with “Sense of Mind,” a poem Pérez calls a prayer. First incarcerated at age thirteen, then a second time at sixteen, he describes his mindset then: "I thought in my head—in my immature and my young mind—I thought that I was going to spend the rest of my life in prison. Little did I know that that poem was like a prayer. That was like God’s gift."

Pérez left prison with a calling to help advocate for rehabilitative arts programs in prisons. He also advocates for children and teenagers who, like him, grew up in the foster system. “I'm speaking to that right now, being proactive and being able to affect change in that community,” Pérez tells Rev. Dr. Lin. “The poetry, for me, [is] not just about the words; it's also about the action.”

José A. Pérez is a poet, actor, and foster-care reform/abolitionist advocate. A native New Yorker, he grew up in Queens as a systems-impacted person in foster homes, group homes, and other juvenile institutions. For Pérez, the arts have been synonymous with freedom, fostering spaces where relationships are forged under the common love for lyrics and unfettered expression. He especially found writing poetry and acting on stage to be his catalysts not only to survive in those institutions but also to thrive. While incarcerated, Pérez earned an AA from Bard College, a BS from Nyack College through HudsonLink, and capped his academic career with an MPS from the New York Theological Seminary. He has facilitated theater and poetry workshops, including the Harvest Moon Poetry Collective with Beat poet Janine Pommy Vega, and hosted poets like Naomi Shihab Nye and Amiri Baraka. As an actor, Pérez recently performed at the Bushwick Starr Theater in Quince (One Whale’s Tale Productions, 2022). He has also been a servant leader as an alternatives-to-violence facilitator, including work with gang-involved youth at the Center for Alternatives Sentencing and Employment Services as a community Benefits Project Supervisor. Currently, Pérez is Project Manager of YouthNPower: Transforming Care for the Children’s Defense Fund.

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Rev. Dr. Tony Tian-Ren Lin is a Research Professor at New York Theological Seminary. He is a cultural sociologist whose scholarship focuses on the intersection of religion, immigration, race, and ethnicity. He is the author of Prosperity Gospel Latinos and Their American Dream (University of North Carolina Press, 2020), which Publisher’s Weekly praises as a “well-reasoned,” “evocative debut” that “immerse[s] readers in the lives of his subjects.” He was previously a Research Scholar at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia where he held numerous academic and administrative positions. Rev. Dr. Lin was born in Taiwan and grew up in Argentina. He holds a bachelor degree from Boston University, a Master of Divinity and Master of Theology from Princeton Theological Seminary, and a Master and Doctor of Philosophy in sociology from the University of Virginia. He is an ordained Presbyterian minister who has served churches in New Jersey and Virginia. His work has been featured in The Atlantic Monthly, The Washington Post, LatinoUSA, WNYC, and other venues.

Sense of Mind

Cultural sociologist Rev. Dr. Tony Tian-Ren Lin talks to José Pérez on his finding poetry in prison, and why he now advocates for the rehabilitative arts and foster children

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