Tyler Sperrazza ’13 admires the unique way in which books connect people, especially in cases when having read the same novel, biography or collection of poetry is the one thing they have in common. Sperrazza marvels at the way reading unites people across political, religious and cultural divides and invites them to bring something of themselves to the story before them. For the Le Moyne alumnus, the question “What are you reading?” can serve as a shorthand for: Who are you? What interests you? How do you come at the world? In that respect, his view of reading is not that different from that of 18th century British author Samuel Johnson, who wrote, “A writer only begins a book. A reader finishes it.”
Sperrazza has been thinking about the impact books have on relationships and the world since recently being named production and program coordinator at Freedom Reads. A nonprofit organization based at the Justice Collaboratory at Yale University, Freedom Reads seeks to establish 1,000 500-volume libraries at prisons around the country over the next few years. The organization is the brainchild of Reginald Dwayne Betts, who Freedom Reads’ website says “knows firsthand the dispiriting forces of prison.” Betts has said that a turning point in his life came when someone slipped a copy of The Black Poets underneath the door of his cell. Today the entire team at Freedom Reads is committed to helping the approximately 2 million Americans who are currently incarcerated use books as a starting point to reimagine their lives. They also intend to start dialogues with those working at the prisons, particularly corrections officers.
In his new role at Freedom Reads, Sperrazza oversees the planning and installation of the libraries; coordinates a team of research assistants; produces a podcast; meets with donors, fabricators, architects, prison officials and artists; and personally tours prison facilities to make new libraries a reality. He also serves as the touring production manager for the one-man theatrical performance (“Felon: An American Washi Tale”) that accompanies library installations into the prisons, and is performed in traditional theaters and university spaces, and at corporate events to promote the project. The broad-based liberal arts education he received at Le Moyne helped him bring a number of unique experiences to this work. In addition to earning a dual degree in history and theatre arts, he participated in the College’s Integral Honors Program and was a regular fixture at the W. Carroll Coyne Center for the Performing Arts, acting in plays and musicals and designing the lighting for numerous College productions. He went on to earn a doctorate in history and African American and diaspora studies at Pennsylvania State University, where he also taught and remained involved in theatre production. Communicating, multitasking and team building are his tools of the trade.
Freedom Reads has, in Sperrazza’s words, “real start-up energy.” The days are long; the work rewarding; the responsibility to succeed shared. The members of the team have titles, yes, but they don’t stand on ceremony. When a conversation unfolds about the organization’s mission and future, everyone is given an equal opportunity to have his or her voice heard. Likewise, when a few hundred books need to be packed and shipped, they all find themselves standing side-by-side, happily filling boxes. (Betts calls Sperrazza in particular the “Swiss Army knife” of the team.)
And that utility is what Sperrazza loves most about the job. It combines a passion for reading (natural for any history major), for social justice, and, because Freedom Reads has a component in which stories are performed live, for theatre. It is, in essence, a number of compelling jobs in one. For Sperrazza, being able to place books in the hands of people whose futures may be changed by them is the professional opportunity of a lifetime. It presents him with the chance to shape how people use their time in prison in ways that change the trajectory of their lives after they return home. It also, Sperrazza has discovered, “humanizes an experience that can often be dehumanizing.”
“It’s work that is perfectly suited for someone from Le Moyne,” he says.
By Molly K. McCarthy