By Julie Cornell
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OMAHA, Nebraska (KETV) — He’s working two restaurant jobs, volunteering, and navigating life outside prison walls for the first time in more than ten years. Russell Wardlow says his transformation is like night and day.
“I can’t have regrets, because it’s the person I found inside of it,” said the 36-year-old.
In 2013, Wardlow was convicted of armed robbery for holding up a West Omaha pizza restaurant.
“I often say when I got out of prison, I wasn’t going to allow anything or any concept to imprison me,” said Wardlow.
He says he took advantage of every program prison had to offer including the 5-step program, Toastmaster’s Club, and visits from writers— a creative outlet offered by the Rise re-entry program. He said writing ending up being his refuge and he found strength and support from the men who surrounded him in the prison community.
“I’m just really proud of him”, said Maeve Hemmer, Community Navigator at Rise. Hemmer said she watched Wardlow guide and encourage other men at the state penitentiary for two years and realized he had a gift.
“You don’t realize the extent of what you’re going through until you write it and you’re like, oh, this is how I felt, and so they were all revelations to me,” said Wardlow.
He said he started off writing rhymes or logging journal entries and soon, other prisoners would come to him if they needed something written for a commutation hearing or a eulogy.
“And people would say, bro, you need to be a writer,” Wardlow said.
With help from friends outside prison walls, Wardlow was able to set up a website to share his writing and talents.
He thought of a clever name for his work.
“I was like pros and cons, pros and cons, good and the bad. And I was like, poetry—prose of a con—something that’s supposed to be bad. Yeah, that’s dope!”, he said.
Wardlow even hooked up with Soul Clap Records, an outside agency, to record some of his work while in quarantine during the COVID pandemic.
Upon his release in February, Hemmer worked with Omaha Home for Boys to allow Wardlow to volunteer with young men, showing them the power of words, writing, and controlling your thoughts and actions. He joins Hemmer and the Omaha Home for Boys staff in a classroom twice a week, to share personal insights with the young men.
“It’s so fun to watch him use his natural gifts and have the kids say through the body language and words, we need you as a part of our life,” said Hemmer.
Wardlow works the classroom like a seasoned teacher, encouraging the young men to be real about how they feel, and to identify their thoughts.
“Yes, I’m teaching them about poetry, but I’m also teaching them speech and the power of thought and where these thoughts and feelings come together on paper,” said Wardlow.
He brings worksheets, encourages them to interact, speak out loud and share. Wardlow will also create pieces for the young men and perform them, as he did on a recent visit. He did a mix of rap and spoken word set to a beat that played on his Bluetooth speaker. Wardlow lived at Omaha Home for Boys when he was younger.
“I find ‘home’ when I’m speaking to them,” he says.
Wardlow acknowledges his background and says there’s shared empathy when he talks to young people who’ve lived with trauma. He said his own mother struggled with mental health and addiction and she killed his father during a domestic violence situation when she was pregnant with Wardlow.
“I was a foster child, went to many group homes, shelters and juvenile placements as well,” said Wardlow.
Hemmer said it’s important to those who were formerly incarcerated to be welcomed back into the community.
“When you’ve navigated a system that says here’s your number and this is how we’re going to address you, it’s really critical that we help people find their purpose and gifts and strengths. Because that’s what makes re-entry successful, when you help people realize their inherent value,” said Hemmer.
Wardlow recently performed spoken word poetry at a gala for Release, an Omaha non-profit social service agency that does everything from foster care support to social work and counseling in prison settings. Wardlow prefers to be called by his new name, Way Of Life Wardlow, or “Way” for short.
At the gala he performed two sets of powerful poetry, interspersed with his personal comeback story.
“Spoken word is like taking your language, a conversation with your thoughts about something and adding flow to them. Life has a rhythm to it,” he said.
Wardlow is looking for opportunities to speak to more groups, teach, and share the beauty and fun of spoken word poetry.
“Honestly, I am the freest person I know,” he said.
To contact Way Of Life Wardlow, email: proseofacon@gmail.com
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