I think i had a week or so of crappiness. But things are better now. Apparently I don’t like writing when I’m feeling down, which would explain the lack of posts after my post-mania for a few days. Probably the explanation is that I wrote in my journal during the last weeks, rather than online. Fleshing out thoughts on a public forum is still a little weird for me. Life updates, however, have become okay.
Things that have happened. Today a lot happened so I’ll start with that, though the OCD/type A/neurotic part of me really wants to go in chronological order starting where I left off with my last post. Too bad for me, I’m starting with today.
TODAY i got to work at 8:30 am (who knew that the traffic would be just as bad at 8 as it is at 9?) for the small business fair that Karla and Frances organized. I wanted to go (a) to support my coworkers (b) to be exposed to yet another part of HSC (c) to eat the free breakfast (d) because I really enjoy leaving the house before 8am (e) all of the above (f) all except letter e.
The correct answer is (f). Of course I do not like leaving the house before 8am. Today when I got up at 7ish I noticed it was dark outside… the days seem to be doing that whole “winter” thing where they are gettin shorter. However, who would know in Miami, as it is currently almost midnight and still 83 degrees outside. Which reminds me, today I was trying to figure out where I can live that will have four strong seasons. Hot summer, cold snowy winter, and gorgeous fall and spring. I’ve decided it must be upstate New York, because where other than the Northeast can you get good spring and fall? But I don’t want to be in Maine or Vermont where it’s absolutely freezing, nor do I want to be in some coastal place where winter is just mushy and gray. If it’s gonna be cold, it needs to be beautiful and snowy. I have never ice skated on anything real and can’t remember the last time I jumped into a pile of leaves.
Back to today– the small business fair. There were people reppin all sorts of areas of work– graphic design, salon, automechanics, childcare, college, wedding cake bakery, etc. It was neat to see them network with eachother– the baker needed help with her car from the automechanic, and the childcare business owner needed help from the graphic designer in creating pamphlets for her business. Also, a woman named Eliza spoke from a company called Aeropost (or something like that) about how important it is to take care of your employees, which is why she calls up the Prosperity Campaign at HSC all the time to find out what services she can get for her employees. Turns out there are all sorts of free or low-cost services and programs for doing taxes, marraige counseling, cell phones, health care, matched savings accounts… the list goes on.
One woman owned her own boutique, so she brought in a bunch of clothes to try to sell. It was awesome– she let us try things on right there in the office, and gave discounts. I got a dress which has (her words) “bling” on it, and some really soft leggings which will be of little use now, but come in hands in a few months when I head back north. If you know me, you know I really hate shopping– I get cranky, and bored, and quickly lose steam. So having somebody literally bring racks of clothes into my workplace was pretty much as good as it gets for me. Not to mention having a consultant right there who could advise me as to what to try on and whether things fit right. Livin’ the good life.
So the day went on… I answered emails, made phone calls, drank coffee, drank water, prepared for going to Booker T (the high school where I teach a twice-a-week after school college and career guidance program, C*GAP), went to Booker T, came back to the office, and… then came the best part of my day. After weeks of talking to this woman Colleen Adams who runs a program called Empowered Youth (EY), I finally went to see the program in action. EY is a Thursday and Friday night program at the Juvenile Detention Center in Miami. Speakers and volunteers come in and hang out/talk to the kids about various topics in order to motivate and encourage them, keep their spirits up, and just show them some love.
Tonight the topic was financial literacy, which I know very little about. But I’m getting ahead of myself– this experience was so cool to me, and in order to convey that I feel like I need to explain a few things first. After locking our cars behind barbed wire and checking in our IDs and car keys, then getting scanned with one of those metal detector wands, we went to Mod 10 and set up chairs in a circle. There were 8 volunteers, and 5 were UM Law Students. Some were EY vets, but for most of us it was our first, second, or third time. When the kids (I hate calling them kids because they are all around 16 or so, and the way I usually avoid that is by saying “campers” or “students,” but these folks were neither so what do I call them? youth?) came in, I stood there awkwardly for a minute, then seeing how many smiles were in the room, I went around and introduced myself to them all. They joked and laughed with each other, and were mostly happy to shake my hand and say what’s up. We played the picnic game as an icebreaker (I’m going on a picnic and bringing an apple, a beach ball, a cat, a dog, an egg, a Ferrari, a goat, a helicopter…etc) then split into groups of 3 youth and 2 volunteers. After about 10 minutes of discussing financial literacy, we drifted to an array of conversation topics. My group floated from college to football to cars (they got a kick out of my white van situation) to life goals to real estate to what the detention center was really like. I found out that it’s considered “kidnapping” if you hold a gun up to somebody and tell them to move from one side of the room to the other. I also learned that for many of these kids, the detention center is just a pit stop on the way to whatever 9-36 month program they are headed for. The detention center is a holding place for these guys because the actual programs don’t have enough money to take new people, so they make the kids wait here for up to 12 months. The worst part is that the time spent in the detention center doesn’t even count towards the fulfillment of their sentences, so their time is just drawn out. I’m hoping the UM law students will decide to go into prison policy reform with their big brains and law degrees 🙂
At the end of the night, we circled up, held hands, and said what we were thankful for. I’m a big fan of this– holding hands, circles, giving thanks– what’s not to like? It’s very OA. What struck me most I think about this experience was the sense of comfort and familiarity I felt with the kids. I don’t think I have ever worked with a group of kids that felt so natural to be around. When we sat and talked, I didn’t feel strained to create conversation or divided by a position of authority. It felt completely natural to be around this group; nobody was trying too hard or creating a hierarchy or too much structure. It was simple– us coming in and just spending time with these folks was enough to relieve them of their boredom for a few hours, and give them something to talk about when we left. They were the most grateful, appreciative kids I have ever worked with. It truly was a pleasure to spend time with them (and such a contrast from the afterschool program I’ve been running, C*GAP, which feels like yanking out teeth just to get students to show up for a FREE program that will HELP THEM go to COLLEGE…)
What I realized is that I have never met people in the prison system before, juvenile or otherwise. My entire perception about inmates was based on TV, movies, books, and popularized images. It was kind of a shock– how many groups of people do I have a certain impression of, without ever having actually met anyone from that group? It’s really incredible how TV (and other media) has the power to open our eyes to worlds we may othewise never enter, and yet simultaneously give us extremely false impressions of these worlds. I am so glad that I had this experience, especially since I was reluctant to get involved at first since I had so much other work to do with C*GAP.
When we first entered the detention center, Skyler, one of the UM Law students, said that Empowered Youth was addicting. She was so right– I can’t wait for next Thursday night.
Roots & Wings 
what other people said was…