Patrick is a 48-year-old male who has been incarcerated his entire adult life. Employed in the prison's education department for many years, his foremost motivation is helping others achieve their educational goals.

Attacks on Mosques and Jewish cemeteries and community centers are on the rise. At the same time, communities are standing together across religious lines to show solidarity and rebuild. Here's what we’re reading to learn more.

Desecrated cemeteries: Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in Trump's America, by Alissa Wise via Truthout

By Alex Frazier

Recent high school graduate Alex Frazier was a participant in AFSC's Human Rights Learning Project in Washington, D.C. She writes about her experience taking part in successful advocacy efforts for a comprehensive parental and sick leave policy in the District.

I visited my friend on Friday. As I stood on his doorstep I looked at the rosy, streaked sky. Chimney swifts flitted by. He opened the door and let me in. We have been creating for one another sanctuary, a place to ignite our political imagination, to speak our fears and our aspirations, to tell each other stories. We grow stronger together to resist and create.

Lester is a 44-yr old African American male who has been incarcerated for 23 plus years. He is a God-fearing man who is seeking redemption and salvation from a dark and dysfunctional past. He is driven by the determination to have a brighter and flourishing future as a free man, with a career as a writer and business owner.  He would also like to use his past to inform and help the youth, in deterring them from making the mistakes he's made in life. He would like to participate in gang prevention counseling.

My name is Dudley J. Rue III and although my body is incarcerated, by the grace of God my mind is free. Writing provides freedom to me!

Joseph Gerson serves as director of AFSC's Peace and Economic Security Program, based in Cambridge, Mass. He has worked with AFSC since 1976. Read more.

Note: This piece is in a series of stories about spiritual journeys in prison, written by incarcerated people. Read more here and here. 

Fake news has been a hot topic this year, so much so that Politifact wrote an in-depth article discussing it and “post-truth” was chosen as the Oxford Dictionary’s word of the year.