update on Marie Mason's situation and memorial for Samantha Dorsett

Published October 19, 2009

You might have noticed that we’ve been quiet on Marie Mason’s situation since she has entered the federal prison system. Mostly she has been trying to adjust to life at Waseca and get her basic needs met. The good news is that she was initially assigned a job in the kitchen, but was able to be transferred to a job as a guitar instructor. She recently played a holiday gig inside the prison with her new group!

Unfortunately, Marie Mason’s other needs are not being met. Mail delivery has continuously been disrupted. Contact with her appeal lawyer was halted at one point, and he had to intervene to re-establish it. Contact with other lawyers is uncertain. Certain supporters were barred from contacting her, but then allowed to – only to find their communications were still censored or parts of them “lost”. Mason’s attempts to receive instruction in her chosen spiritual path also seems to be running into problems, and outside organizations have had to be informed regarding the situation.

The worst is her food situation; Mason is vegan, but has been unable to consistently receive vegan meals. She has been buying additional food from the commissary, but this too has caused a problem. There was too much money in her commissary account and therefore a monthly amount has been garnished (since Mason has to pay restitution as part of her plea bargain). This has created a vicious cycle: the prison system is refusing to provide her with vegan food, forcing her to buy food from the commissary; but because there is money in her commissary account to buy the food, they are punishing her for it. Mason is looking at options to get the prison to serve her vegan food. She is vegan partly for medical reasons, and her inability to receive a vegan diet is causing her significant health problems.

At this juncture, she wants supporters to be aware of the situation, but NOT to take any action. We also ask that supporters do NOT place money directly in her commissary account, but rather provide any funds directly to her family. (Donation information is available here.)

Supporters should be aware that the prison has notified that Mason will not be allowed to use the new email system they are installing (although other Green Scare prisoners can). Additionally that they are implementing a list of 100 people that she can write to; all of these people must be authorized ahead of time. This can potentially limit contact with supporters, making events such as letter-writing nights impossible. We are not sure if this is a system-wide change or one that is more limited; we post updates on this situation as they become available. However, as of this time (October 19, 2009), anyone can still write Mason, so if you’ve been thinking about doing so, right now is the time.

Lastly, Mason’s appeal is still underway, and details will be posted as they become available.

Published October 19, 2009

Memorial for Samantha Dorsett

Marie Mason

Summer 2009

Shut up here, news travels slowly. When the message finally came to me that my friend Samantha has passed on, I was very sad but not altogether surprised. Samantha and I had spoken several times while I was here on house-arrest last year and she was deeply troubled by long-standing family dysfunction and all the many issues surrounding transitioning gender. She was depressed and struggling with so much anger.

I met Samantha as Sam in 2000 in Bloomington, Indiana. At the time, we were trying to create an organizing space for both anti-authoritarian and environmental projects. In the central square, where so many community and University people gathered to talk and eat and shop – rents were extremely high. So high in fact, that even a supported infoshop could not afford to make rent every month. In an act of extreme generosity, Sam became the benefactor of the Secret Sailor by using an inheritance to pay a year’s rent for the infoshop. It was everything Sam had in the world, but Sam believed in what the project could do in a town like Bloomington.

Secret Sailor (the mysterious name Samantha chose referring to the safety escorts of the Toronto Anarchist gathering, but the subject of constant speculation) became a space where punk shows, speakers on current local events, mini-conferences and workshops, meetings of Earth First!ers, Wobblies, anti-globalization activists and writer’s groups could share ideas and location. And through it all, Samantha was the soft-spoken, kind-hearted volunteer who worked everyday to person the register, answer questions and direct interested and curious visitors to the groups they wanted to meet or subjects they wanted to know more about. A firm believer and practitioner of polyamory, Samantha and others held polyamory support groups at Secret Sailor to discuss discrimination and misinformation about alternative lifestyles that occurred even amongst people who considered themselves to be “radicals”. In a constant quest for personal liberation and social change, Samantha was a tireless and living member of a community of resistance.

I am sorry that Samantha is lost to us now. She had been working as part of the Slingshot collective and although struggling with family drama, had seemed positive and upbeat. But gender issues, and trans issues in particular, are still challenging even now for many self-perceived radicals, and Samantha had trouble engaging some friends and family during the process of reassignment.

Samantha was one of the sweetest human beings I’ve known while working in the “movement”. Probably the best way to celebrate and honor her life would be to continue working for justice, equality, respect and kindness in our human communities, and to keep striving to preserve and protect the natural world that Samantha loved so much.