June 6, 2024
Megan, a woman incarcerated at the Ohio Reformatory for Women, is pictured at right leading fellow ASL interpreters performing during the second annual Sunflower Arts and Music Festival. Megan has been signing since she was 15 and began leading ASL choirs at ORW in 2007. Through her involvement with the Harmony Project’s Prison Arts program, she teaches other women ASL interpretations of a variety of songs performed both in singing and signing. (Journal-Tribune photo by Kayleen Petrovia)
ORW event filled with songs and signs
By Kayleen Petrovia, Marysville J-T Reporter
The Sunflower Arts and Music Festival at the Ohio Reformatory for Women is marked by the sounds heard throughout the day.
Feet stomping on plastic bleachers.
Tissue paper sunflowers crumpling as they’re waved in the air.
Men’s and women’s voices belting out choruses together. Applause erupting after spoken word performances.
But Megan, a woman incarcerated at the Ohio Reformatory for Women, knows that’s not the experience for everyone.
“There are deaf women who are in prison too,” she said. “Who speaks for them?”
For nearly 30 years, Megan has been passio…
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