Inspired to Inspire

We all [in some way] want to leave our mark on the world before our time is up. Or at least that’s what I wanted to do when I started interning at the Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services (CASES). After reading, “A Kind of Genius,” it was nice to believe that all obstacles to justice could be resolved. Of course, I wasn’t sure how I was going to resolve anything or make a difference, but I knew that Sturz’s remarkable dedication for improvement and innovation influenced me to want to create my own difference…

I didn’t realize it till now that I utilized Sturz’s direct client contact model to empower my clients to develop positive decision-making skills, so that they can welcome change into their lives. I remember sitting in Open Art Studio, a classroom where clients used therapeutic art techniques to overcome emotional distress, and having such a difficult time understanding the reasons behind my clients’ continual offenses against the law. After several art therapy sessions, I learned from my clients that when prisoners serve their sentences, they learn to adapt to the prison lifestyle and forgot how to function outside prison walls. As a result, they put themselves in situations that they are comfortable and familiar with, even if it’s not the best choice. My clients felt that change is an individual process, it cannot be forced, nor should it be mandated as a release requirement. I couldn’t agree with them more. For me the idea was so simple, but our justice system didn’t understand it. I felt disappointed that I didn’t have the power to change the system, but yet a bit optimistic because I had the power to help my clients practice consequential thinking, which in turn would keep them out of trouble and welcome changes.

During my time with my clients, I reminded them that they were capable of change, the positive and lasting kind of change. I reminded them that they couldn’t change their pasts but they can work on positive decision-making, so that their futures can be parole free. I reminded them that they were humans and will make mistakes. Sometimes they will learn from their mistakes, and other times they will continue making the same mistakes until they have learned their lesson. I reminded them that sometimes they needed to trip and fall into the crack in order to learn to walkover it next time. And the next time, they learned to walk over it, I reminded them not to focus too much on the cracks, for if they did, they might miss the rose growing from concrete.

My persistent reminders inspired my clients to stay away from trouble, get their General Education Diploma (GED), and find jobs. My accomplishment wasn’t as remarkable as Sturz’s but I felt that I was contributing to the legacy in my own way.

Now my question(s) to you is:

How has Sturz inspired you to make a difference and how will you contribute to the legacy in your own way?

 

 

The Journey Continues

It has been a pleasure and a wonderful experience sharing a class with you all. Professors Stein and Reitz, Robert, Ruby, Roberto, Dani, Popy, Gary, Christine, Cynthia, and Simon: Thank you for making this experience a memorable one.

As we all seen from our role playing at our hypothetical parole board hearing, an individual seeking reentry will undoubtedly face numerous obstacles on his/her journey. Whether it is the other parent, seeking employment or the psychological battle that may take place in the mind of the ex-offender. In the end, the board ruled that the conditions of the prisoner's release were to participate in parenting, anger management and job skills classes. Let's take a moment and consider our various individual perspectives we were given. Let's talk about how these classes would OR would not help the ex-offender deal with these perspectives (or points of views).

Got Gangster?

Happy Mothers Day to Professor Stein, Professor Reitz and Ruby!

First off, thank you everyone for participating in my gangster class! All of you were given a 'personality' to be and all of the 'personalities' were actual people.  Towards the end of class, we all went back and forth on re-entry to society ideas for former gang members. I didn't get to hear from entirely everyone before we ran out of time.
Keep in mind on the person you were given to be during class, what are some ways to rehabilitate them? Also, every person on the index card was under 21 and had already had that lifestyle and trauma, what are some of the factors that are harmful to youth? America has the highest expulsion rate in the world.  If you had to convince a school board to lower their standards for not expelling kids so easily, what would you say to them?

Fear of a ______ Planet

There were so many thought-provoking (not to say tear-provoking) things said this morning at Job Path.  We could, after praising Ruby of course, talk about issues of equity.  In our affirmative action and DV conversations we've been talking about guaranteeing equity even where there is difference (in citizenship status, sexual orientation, skin color). Fredda Rosen and Rachel Pollock both made the point that there is social justice in ensuring that everyone has the same chance to have the same kind of home life.  We could talk about Rachel's wise words that we shouldn't see law school (or whatever you are working toward right now) as a goal, but as a process for the more important goal of  learning about ourselves.  We could talk about patience and the extraordinary benefits of having long-term goals and the grace to work hard over a long period of time to achieve them.  In our instant-gratification, noisy world, the patient and quiet space of Job Path was enormously moving to me.

We could talk about all these things, but what I'd like to ask you to think about is fear.  As I thought about what the Job Path professionals said, and my own reactions over the years to people with developmental disability (even in my own family), I kept thinking about fear and what a potent force for evil it is.  Whether it is fear of someone who looks or sounds different, whether they are HIV+, whether because they seem "off" or because they are wearing a hoodie or whether you go to a home on a DV call and instead of a tough guy and a shrinking woman you find two buffed men, fear takes over and makes decisions for you.  It's like Orwell says about vague language, if you don't work hard to say what you mean, vague language takes over and begins to think your thoughts for you.  If you don't work hard to conquer your fears (and we all have them, it's very basic), they begin to think your thoughts for you.  We only have to look at electoral politics post 9/11 to get a very graphic illustration of this.

What role does fear play in your agency?  What fears do you/we/society have about your client population?  What fears do they have that might have shaped their early life choices or shape their choices right now?  Is fear a topic you talk about at your agency?  And how would we talk about it?  Is this just an issue of consciousness-raising, where we each have to recognize that our fears are based in our own ignorance/limited perspectives?  That seems kind of unsatisfying to me, given what a source of discrimination and bad choices fear is.

“I can’t fail at being Gay/ a Lesbian!!”

"Where can I go for help if no one sees me as a victim?" Thank you for making this class so engaging. As you read in the readings there are few to no resources for the LGBT DV victims within that community. As you saw in your 'Looping' exercise, it's easy to say one thing but feel another. How can we separate what Professor Stein brought up about the 'Feminist Theory' of DV and the challenges of how to address these very real issues about DV within this specific population? As Cynthia pointed out; HIV and LGBT victims of DV are not qualified for the services that the organization provides. How can we as a society say that one life is greater than the other based on the sex of the batterer? It all goes back to how we perceive victims to be and how we "like" our victims. As Dani suggested, some educational classes to the NYPD on how to address these calls would be great. As you think of those looping words you jotted down, what ways can you think of in regards to changing your own mindset so that DV victims regardless of their class and sex can get free of both the batterer and the LGBT community expectancies?

Expand VA-WHAT? Not in this economy.

First of thank you all for your cooperation this past Thursday. Your participation in this class was phenomenal. Ruby and Popy, special thanks to you and your wonderful collaboration with your testimonies about how this issue also had impact in each of your lives. One article that we spoke very little about was the New York Times article on the legislation of reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). This article spoke about the heated discussion from the politicians of moving forward with this piece of legislation. The purpose is to expand the programs and services of VAWA in order to reach awareness and help populations such as immigrants. The legislations also looks to help same- sex couples, which is something many Republicans are opposing because they are a conservative party. VAWA has been expanded over the years and this expansion is looking to create more outreach in order to prevent worse abuse and help survivors on time. Why else do you think that certain politicians oppose the reauthorization of VAWA? How would this legislation affect our economy? Why? What would you add or remove from this legislation and why?

Are You Wit' It?

Karen Pittman once said, “The ongoing growth process in which all youth are engaged in attempting to: 1) meet their basic personal and social needs to be safe, feel cared for, be valued, be useful and be spiritually grounded, and 2) build skills and competencies in their daily lives.” I truly believe that youth development is a shared responsibility between family, school, community-based organizations, religious organizations, civic groups and youth themselves. However, in many cases we see otherwise. Youth are the center of their growth, and each youth person meets their needs through their own context. Youth development is ACTIVE not PASSIVE, which places value on making intentional connections with the youth.

In Gray’s article, “The Lord of Rikers,” inmates call “One Main,” the most dangerous facility on Rikers, the “House of Pain.” Inmates are described to be “minorities from broken homes in public housing, awaiting robbery and murder charges. They have all the ordinary problems of youth: impaired judgment, poor impulse control, and invincibility complexes, distorted and amplified by hard life on the streets.” Former prison commissioner Marty Horn calls Rikers an “asylum,” and says, “There’s nothing you can do, or anyone else, to make them stop fighting.” He then continues and says, “They are kids, and they want to fight each other. That’s what they want to do. And some are stronger than others. Jail is like the ocean…You got your bluefish, your barracudas, and your great whites.” Youth offender’s needs and issues are identified, however, we see how correctional officers who work in the facilities condone violent behavior against other inmates. An asylum is a shelter that protects from danger; it shouldn’t sharpen violent behaviors of youth offenders to become better offenders. There are many cases where correctional officers are accessories to the killings of inmates. Fellow inmates beat Christopher Robinson--a teenager that violated parole by showing up at his new job as an overnight stock boy--to death in his cell. In this killing, correctional officer, McKie and a partner were charged with “running a criminal enterprise inside their housing area and outsourcing their duties to teenagers who killed Robinson.” McKie was arrested, convicted, and served a short sentence for such a tremendous offense.

Some of us will ask, “Was there any justice for this teenager and his family?” or “Why are correctional officers behaving in this manner?” Now in the “Gray Zone,” Primo Levi would argue that it is difficult to judge everyone involved in a criminal act. The “gray zone,” which refers to the motives of guilt, torture, terror, and the desire to obtain power amongst two parties that converge and diverge, in this case, correctional officers and inmates. Although the fault lies within the system, as outsiders, we cannot judge or justify the motives of others because we have not experienced it ourselves.

Given these gray zones, are programs and organizations really helping to empower youth to change or is it all a show for society to watch and be comforted with for the time being?