Orange is the New Black writer Piper Kerman gave a talk in the Russell House Ballroom on Tuesday night, recounting life in B dorm and her journey since. Reminiscing to life in prison, Kerman discussed prison in terms of rules and rituals. Despite the overwhelming amount of rules on cans and cannots, she said that prison community was given life off of its rituals.
Kerman's fondest ritual? Prison cheesecake.
“Prisoners cook really remarkable things with meager ingredients,” Kerman said. It was the cheesecake, despite its simplicity, that kept them together. Sharing food was a moment of relief from the misery of prison life.
Kerman explained that her reason for writing "Orange is the New Black" came from an emotional revelation. After one of her fellow prisoners, Pom-Pom, got back on the outs, she felt like she had no one and missed her family back at the prison. After reading a letter from Pom-Pom, Kerman felt distraught and inspired.
“I wanted the reader to care about Pom-Pom as much as I cared about Pom-Pom,” Kerman said.
But the night took a lighter tone toward the end when Kerman discussed the show and working with Jenji Kohan, saying the show's creator as “insatiably curious.”
“Jenji asked me the bigger, headier questions,” Kerman said. “She asked me what were the mind games I would play in prison. She also asked me if there was cheese.”
Kerman covered the shrewd themes of her writing and the Netflix series via slideshow. Her focus in all this is around race and class, gender and power, friendships and empathy.
“Prison became about how to make a community out of an involuntary community." she said. "Other people have a stake in your success as a prisoner, and that is a powerful thing.”