Wesley's Soledad (2016)

Released after thirty years in prison, Wesley Haye tries to navigate his way through a quagmire of societal hurdles seemingly designed to keep him and other veterans and ex-felons like himself out of sight. Haye uses music to put his life back together, drumming his way through plans and ideas of how to help homeless ex-incarcerated veterans. Between playing and listening to music, he recalls his life and hatches big dreams of a better future for himself and others. Using participatory authorship, interlocutor becomes character and co-author by at times being part of the production. Agency of his own representation begins with his advocacy for others inmates transitioning outside of the punitive control of a California prison. Wesley's soledad or solitude soothes with songs that once kept his spirit intact behind bars.