It's not often that Gemeinschaft Home for transitioning ex-offenders and JMU's Forbes Center for the Performing Arts appear in the same sentence. But last night an entire evening at the Forbes Center was devoted to music groups performing songs composed by GH residents, interspersed with some of the stories behind their compositions. The results were stunning, and especially rewarding to supporters of the Home, along with the dedicated students and staff from JMU's music and social work departments who had conducted song writing workshops at Gemeinschaft each Monday evening over the past number of months.
Here are the lyrics to Joseph Dudash's piece, "Half Way In and Half Way Out" just as he wrote them:
I’m Half way in,
I’m Half way out,
I’m Half way in, and
I’m Half way out
As I gaze upon the western skies
I feel my voice gain strength and rise
No longer am I stuck in a cage
My freedom yet to take center stage
Feels like I’m stuck in the crosshairs
Always in the pitfalls of society’s snares
Like quicksand, I sink down
The harder I fight, the faster I lose sight
Forever reaching for solid ground
Once my life was sweet harmony
Working overtime, never short on money
Wife, yard, and kid on the way
Got hurt shutin’ down a riot—What can I say?
Uncle Sam and Big Blue turned their backs on me that day
What was once my profession
Has been twisted into an obsession
That rush of fluid succession
Only one thing that I can be
Now that I’m sentenced with that felony
One more chance they’ve given me
Change your ways or you will see
Your only ties to family
Will be from the outside lookin’ in
Two-inch-thick glass divider for your sin
Judge’s order finally sound
Pack your shit, you movin’ on
Country road, outskirts of town
Your one LAST for solid ground
Transport’s leavin’, you’re Gemeinschaft bound
Disjointed memories from behind the line
Nothing to show for the lost time
No friends I call mine
Family won’t answer or write in kind
A house of felons trying to unwind
Pick yourself up, and brush yourself off, they shout
The world can be yours now that you are out
The cycle is broken
The dirty old ring of addiction
Now to stay clean is your redemption
Transitioning and traversing the storm they call life
A new way to live cuts like a knife
Tools to grow
United against all this strife
Only you can reap what you sow
Like a boy scout I’m prepared
All of my demons better beware
One day at a time, one step at a time
Armored from head to toe like a knight
I’m finally committed to winning this fight
I’m Half way in,
I’m Half way out,
I’m Half way in, and
I’m Half way out
I’m Half way out
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