the gift

One of my students is a Navaho sand painter. He did painting demonstrations in a museum and has received commissions to do these paintings for people around the world. He has told us that these paintings represent a part of Navaho culture and language that he is trying to preserve and pass down.

This man has leukemia cancer, and his days are numbered.

I brought him a little sand painting kit from Wall Mart so he could demonstrate for the class. The guys were so moved, and I believe could sit and watch him paint and listen to him share about his tradition for hours and hours. That day he said "I only have months to live and I have a gift to give, I need to give this gift to you, and I will make all of you paintings." Now he spends all his class time at a little table paiting with sand.

His presence and his gift bless us.

stereo types

Yesterday I spent a couple hours in the Pod where 90 guys live. They were in lock down
so I took the time to interview some of my new students. This interview process seems to be helpful in and of itself, and makes a big difference once we get into the class room. People feel seen and heard, and there is a sense of calm and connection for the start.

The guys enjoy telling their stories. Most say prison is better than jail because its more grown up, you can work and go to school, and you have some clarity about what's going on. You have been sentenced. Life has some shape, direction, purpose.
In jail there is very little progaming, and there is the long long wait for the legal process; a great deal of uncertainty and anxiety.

Most of the guys I talked to are mostly concerned with getting training to find work that pays a reasonable rate.


I did take one class of 18 to the class room. We did some breathing excercises to reduce stress. They liked this a lot and want more.

And we did a fun activity on diversity: Putting the factors that define who we are on the board: age, race, gender, education, legal status, health, education etc.

Then breaking up into groups and answering two questions:

Just because I'm______, don't assume___________about me.

And What I do want you to know about me is _____________.

One native guy who's nickname is "suspect" said " just because I'm native don't assume I'm a nice guy. and I am a nice guy."

When we were dividing the group up by race I asked him to go sit with the other native guys. He goes " First you steal my land , then you tell me where to sit?" We had a good laugh.

There was a lot of laughter in this class. Once we named the factors that we use to stereo type and could talk about this, there was a sense of relief and fun.

dreams and celebrations

We're in a class room in the heart of the Super Jail where 300o inmates are detained for any where from 3 days to 2 years. Mostly awaiting trail.

We have about 15 men in orange jail garb in the room, and me, their 56 year old female teacher.
The men I work with are all accused of felonies.

The class room has two bullet proof wire reinforced windows that look out into the hall way. Freezing in summer, roasting hot in winter due to all artificial air and impossible to adjust thermostat.

The cinder block wall are that fancy kind of block that looks like stone. and the walls are covered with drawings paintings and collages the guys have done.

Wednesday Dec 30th.

Writing class: We wrote about 2009. What were your dreams for 2009? What did your experience? What did you learn? What are you grieving? What are you celebrating? New dream for 2010.

One guy was celebrating that he had gotten into culinary school the day before he was arrested. He was celebrating that he had overcome his fear of being too stupid to go to school.

Two men celebrated the births of daughters, and one was celebrating the birth of his twins in September.

One man celebrated the love he shares with his wife, and his profound gratitude for her loyalty and support.

Everyone dreamed of getting out, getting a good job and providing for their families, except for one guy who was going to prison for 9 years. He said he had no dream.