Thursday, 22 January 2009
I wrote this blog entry at 5:30 on Thursday morning. I had been awake since 2:30, and I began my work at 3:00. Later in the morning at 9:00, I was scheduled to meet with the other members of the prison outreach program. Our staff sponsor was supposed to drive us to Bakersfield for a speaking presentation to a group of junior high school students who had been adjudicated as delinquent. Since I had to finish my writing and exercise before the outing, I began my day early.
At 6:00 the door to my housing unit at Taft Camp would open. I intended to go run, as I was committed to sticking with my stated goal of running at least 50 miles each week. With three days of the week behind me I have recorded 30 miles; by running 10 miles today, I would boost my total to 40 miles. Besides that, I would have a total of 380 miles logged in the past 41 consecutive days.
The run would help me with another, more personal matter. The 21-plus years I’ve served in prison have conditioned me in ways that are not normal for 45-year old men. I get car sick. Even the thought of sitting in a car for a 50-minute drive to Bakersfield nauseates me. The run may quell my stomach, though I will travel with a plastic bag just in case I feel sick.
Later this afternoon I would write a report on the trip. But I wanted to dash this blog off now, as I don’t expect I’ll want to write much this evening. Perhaps a love letter to Carole, but nothing else.
It’s early in the evening on Thursday as I write this update to the blog I began writing early this morning. My trip to Bakersfield was uneventful. The run did help my stomach, as I did not feel car sick at all. I sat on a bench seat in the back of the van with six other prisoners, and the drive went well.
Soon after we arrived at the school, 75 people filled to auditorium where we spoke. The students seemed so young. After our presentations and skits, we had opportunities to speak individually with those in the audience. I spoke with a boy who was 14 who told me he was living with his girlfriend and she was pregnant. I spoke with a girl who, at 13, said she had been kicked out of five schools before for fighting. I spoke with a 15-year-old who said she had a drinking problem.
The students needed positive role models. Although we were only allowed to give them two hours of time, I hope the messages our group delivered helped the children understand the consequences that followed bad decisions. In my speech, I suggested the students look to our new President as a role model. Just as many of them were being reared in low-income hours by single parents, our nation’s new President was challenged by a difficult childhood. Through discipline he was able to educate himself and change his life. Now he was changing the world. Without exercising discipline and making better choices, my presentation suggested the students could find themselves in predicaments of long-term imprisonment, or worse.
I feel a sense of purpose whenever I’m allowed to speak to large audiences. I do a lot of speaking and teaching at Taft Camp, as I have in previous prisons where I was confined. The real fulfillment comes when I speak with groups outside of prison, and I look forward to building a career that will allow me opportunities to share what I have learned as a long-term prisoner upon release.
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