José Miguel Portal Launch
Sunday, October 4 2020 — 11 AM PDT - 2 PM EST - 8 PM CET (1 h 30 min)
Presented by José Miguel, Bhavik, Daniela, and the virtual care lab community

Meet José Miguel Galán Najarro, a rapper, poet, friend and collaborator of virtual care lab! He is also an immigrant who has been incarcerated for 17 of the 19 years that he’s lived in the United States. In the past months, as José Miguel writes now 40+ songs in near-total isolation at Adelanto ICE Processing Center, Bhavik Singh and the virtual care lab community have been working closely with him and his attorney Daniela Hernández to build an online portal space for his work.

Through the space, José Miguel is excited to engage in caring, creative conversation with all of us about the work and perspectives he has cultivated from inside prison. This launch will be the first of a series of monthly gatherings through which we will listen and reflect together on Jose Miguel’s work and write responses directly on the site. If circumstances permit, he will be patched in on a call to join us.

Portal responses and screenshots will be routinely shared with José Miguel through his attorney Daniela by text or mail, who will also upload new pieces of work he mails back. Beyond these gatherings, we encourage folks to engage with the portal on their own time as well to continue the conversation.

virtual care lab community acknowledgements

José Miguel Galán Najarro - poetry and lyrics
Bhavik Singh - project lead, website development
Daniela Hernández Chong Cuy - communication with and representation of José Miguel, portal text, and guidance on immigrants facing incarceration and deportation
Maria Elisa Gomez, Sara Suárez, Alan Page Arriaga - translation and editing
Alexander Kaye - audio mastering
Kristy Mitchell, Alice Yuan Zhang - outreach and communications
Kenny Zhao, Trevor Byrne, Rosie Brand, Sofia Sales, and others - community brainstorming, guidance, portal testing

This workshop will take place on Zoom.
Suggested donation is $10-25; give what you can and feel called to.

Launch proceeds will go to José Miguel's commissary account, which he uses to pay for communications and other needs while in detainment. 15% go to virtual care lab and 10% to NAVEL for operational costs.

virtual care lab is a series of experiments in remote connection, powered by NAVEL. Learn more at virtualcarelab.com or contact virtualcarelab@gmail.com.