Peter Blau

A fourteen-year-old girl witnesses her father’s murder. She has a troubled life that leads her to a women’s correctional facility, where she is encouraged to take a writing class as a way of dealing with the pain. Though she is resistant at first, the kindhearted creative writing teacher eventually gets her to open up, and the woman finds peace—at least for the moment.

It is the plot for a hundred Hollywood dramas, but for creative writing teacher and children’s author Peter Blau, it’s real life. “You would be amazed at how creative writing can lead people on the path to self-discovery,” Blau says. “It is a powerful tool.”

The aforementioned woman is one of the hundreds of students who have passed through the class that Blau has taught at the Volunteers of America—Minnesota Regional Corrections Center each Thursday for the past five years. He became involved after hearing Teri Twardowski, director of the Roseville–based center, talk about the need for alternative ways of dealing with criminals and the rehabilitation process. A freelance creative writing teacher, Blau approached Twardowski with the idea of teaching a class at the center—for free—and has been doing so ever since.

Although Blau has a psychology and social services background—in his past life he was a psych tech at Abbott Northwestern Hospital—he stresses that he isn’t a therapist, but rather uses writing as a way to get his students to open up about their past.

“A lot of these women are just waiting for someone to listen,” Blau says, adding that the women at the center have usually been convicted of misdemeanors and felonies that carry short-term sentences, so he is not working with hardened criminals, but rather those who have suffered from abuse or battle addiction. “I would rather not know what crime they committed,” he says. “I want to treat them with dignity. I see people, not criminals.”

Blau uses writing exercises to get the women started, but has few rules in the class. They can write in whatever form they see fit and choose whether they would like to share their work. The result, says Blau, is something more powerful than he could ever expect from his students at The Loft or the various elementary schools where he teaches.

“The honesty is really amazing,” Blau says. “We’re trying to build a community, and when the women in class start to support each other, healing can begin.”