peace * balance * goodwill

Those are what interest me most, but maybe you came looking for more mundane interests. Read on...

Maybe our lives will interest you

I, Michelle, attend the University of Houston. I am pursuing a doctorate in education in the field of educational leadership and cultural studies. Before going back to school I had spent the last year learning to be a satisfied, unemployed homebody. As traditional and sexist as it may seem (to me), I cooked, cleaned, did laundry and yardwork, and ran errands--and enjoyed it. Of course, I also spent prodigious amounts of time reading, playing on the computer, bird and yard-gazing, napping, watching TiVo’d shows, writing letters, downloading music from iTunes, practicing languages and piano, and becoming obsessed with little things.

David has been practicing a balanced work-home life. After exercising and breakfasting if we’re lucky (and generally prompted by me, but we won’t go into that), David heads off in his jacket and tie to the Beaumont Foundation of America. There he helps give away state of the art Toshiba equipment to deserving, security-minded,  low-income-population-serving schools. At 5 o’clock he returns home to lawn mowing, dinner, multi-media viewing (can YOU read, use computer, AND watch TV at the same time?), and occasional racquetball or golf games with his friends.

Truth be told, we mostly just hang out at home. When we get wild and crazy, we have been known to enjoy any of the following:

• We fancy ourselves sailors
  Basic keelboat sailing and US Sailing
  These courses are very good for terminology and basic theory
   
• We attend sporting events and play games
  The Texas Wildcatters begin their second season of minor league ice hockey in Southeast Texas this fall
  The San Francisco Giants are still close to Michelle’s heart. On her photos site you can see some shots of Michelle in the stands at Pac Bell/SBC Park.
  Have you played Munchkin or Carcassonne? VERY fun boardless games
  We’ve got a cupboard full of board games. Favorites include Eurorails, 221B Baker Street, and Quandary. We seem to have played a lot of Trivial Pursuit lately
  Card and domino games are always popular, but, oh the rules
  Another game we play is called “bug the other person”, but there’s no website for that
   
• We form opinions
  We were both politics majors, so we can be kinda opinionated.
  The Economist dishes out an interesting balance of progressive and conservative news from politics and finance around the world
  The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer puts network sound bite news to shame
  New York Times (online requires free registration to access most stories) and The New Yorker may have large sections devoted to NYC but their coverage of national news and culture are wonderful too
  Read up on the latest technology in Wired
  Entertainment Weekly: a thoughtfully silly guide to movies, TV, and pop culture--Love it
  Tricycle and the Buddhist Peace Fellowship’s Turning Wheel bring peace to each day
   
• We hone our homebody skills
  Amazon has tremendous selection of books, CD’s, DVD’s, and more
  Netflix makes me very happy with its DVD-by-mail rental service
  TiVo changed our TV habits for life: we see only what we want
  Evite is a fun and helpful party invitation service online
   
• We think of and attempt to remain in contact with family and friends
  Brian * Angela * Tony and Rena * Jon * Tara * Dave
   
• We fantasize about personal and professional adventures
  Doesn’t having an apartment (shared with friends) in Paris, Vancouver and New York sound wonderful? On top of that I think we should have a sailboat in San Francisco and a home in Vermont. And not be wealthy snobs.
  I would like to start a fabulous school, or be part of the total reinvention of an existing one. I want to provide hands-on learning and traditional academics in a challenging but nurturing environment. Education is key to a better future, so I plan to get kids involved in their world, encourage positive thinking and action, and include family and community along the way.
  David hatches business ideas, like EBay drop off stores (it’s now been done in many big cities), open source software development for nonprofits, and an at-risk youth mentorship and entrepreneurial skills training program. He also peruses the classifieds and internet for dogs, catamarans, and four-plexes.
   
• And we reminisce about our younger days
  I did lots of volunteering, worked as an editor, and taught seventh grade. David worked in international development, was a youth mentor, and ran a non-profit computing center in East Oakland.  We aren’t nearly so righteous anymore.

Do prisons interest you?

Okay, I’m on Orkut, this online community thing where you join discussion groups, hopefully ones that involve lots of friendly people or at least very few mutes. And one of the groups I belong to is called The New Horizon, which a guy started in order to talk with a variety of people about ponderous issues in the world. At one point the topic was prisons in the United States. Early contributors focused on prison population earning their keep and purpose of prisons (not jails or local lock-ups, mind you). So here are my responses. I put them here as a way to record my thoughts. I’m very visual. Anyway...

"Some people can be returned to society" 5/4/2004

Fascinating discussion! I was a volunteer literacy tutor in DC's (now closed) maximum security prison. Upwards of a third of the population there was functionally illiterate and half were negligibly able to read and write. Maximum security prisons tend to be a place for those the education system (and society in general) "failed". I figure, educate 'em in a way that actually reaches while you have them (captive audience!). There is tons of information, insight, experience, and research out there on learning and teaching methods, closed societies, and other relevant educational psychology issues. What is lacking is vision, commitment, and support.

Alas, if prison does NOT rehabilitate, all it does is further criminal's training in crime. Over games of pool, TV viewing, and time in library (IF reading is an option), discussions don't tend to be about gardening and the latest Frontline episode. I'm all for those freetime activities, as they do provide normalcy and "healthy" entertainment. But I'm also for providing meaningful, purposeful, and well organized rehab/education activities.

[In reference to a suggestion that prisoners be made to work for their keep] Prison labor is governed by some regulation, as I recall. In the past prison wardens took advantage of prisoners' free labor. Thus laws limit the kinds of work and compensation. Prison work tends to be a privilege intended for those likely to be paroled within a few years. I agree prison work can take low skill jobs from larger economy; this hurts the paroled prisoner. On the other hand, if they are better educated with genuine life skills, self esteem, and a consistent, structured support system during transition, those low skill jobs are less necessary. And you've got a more valuable member of society.

Issue of whether we actually want prisoners rehabbed is key in all of this. There's huge prejudice against parolees. Recidivism is the norm. Prison becomes the only society in which prisoners feel at home, relatively protected. Without skills, confidence, or support it's easy to see why.

5/10/2004

People in prison didn't exactly think their way into the place. A lot of big-scale societal factors (largely uncontrollable in a practical sense) go into determining who gets locked up.
Once there, prisoners still lack the "healthy" and "productive citizen" experience or values that led them to crime (or led them to being caught).

Harsh punishment feeds the egos and paranoia of those of us not imprisoned. Forgiveness and compassion are in short supply, and not just with regards to the penal system. That doesn't mean releasing "dangerous" people; it means looking at them with some iota of potential and working to make something good out of that. Doing good requires thoughtful effort.

Education in the prison system varies widely from state to state, and from local to federal systems. There are a lot of laws for--and expectations of--federal prisons that don't necessarily exist at state level. Juvenile facilities obviously have the widest-reaching programs (they have to) and the most hope of making a difference.

Money being pumped into the prisons does not help anyone or anything. We (the US) grossly overfund prisons, particularly as we have little to show for that money ("protection" from psychopaths is probably the only real benefit). I'd wager a guess that the same amount of money spent enacting best educational and therapeutic practices for even a portion of the prison and hardcore at-risk population would yield fantastic results in terms of crime rate, community development, and the economy. Some prisons are way more comfortable than living conditions criminal had before entering. Does making prison a dismal, spartan space make it any less inviting? Might make it less scary to stay away from once you've entered. I don't hear much about people volunteering themselves to the police and asking to be sent to prison. I think prison is deterrant for some and non-issue for many others who think they won't ever be caught (the result of denial, delusion, or simply playing the odds).

Okay, two suggestions for improving criminal justice/prisons by way of society overall (prisons are simply one segment). Implementation of both relies on leadership. We gotta get better politicians representing us, folks, at ALL levels. Anyway...

1. Focus on defining, establishing, maintaining, and supporting moral boundaries for all youth. This requires tremendous leadership and leaders with integrity (human frailty and occasional self awareness included). It is not religious. It embraces and promotes right/wrong, justice/rule of law, consistency, self respect, and honesty. In such an environment, the child--terribly observant and thriving on boundaries as they are--experiences repercussions for minor offenses and sees role models committing and more importantly owning up to mistakes just as they do (or should).

2. Acknowledge that there is a problem. Just like candidate for a 12 Step program, every society has some serious problems. Racism/classism, isolation and divisiveness (individuals, communities), on and on. If you sense there's a problem, there probably is. Instead of avoiding it, denying it, making excuses, or pushing it on to "others" to be solved, address it yourself. Educate yourself about it, inform others, take action. And do what you can. No single person will change the world. Anyone who thinks they can (or ought to be able to) is probably miserably depressed some or all of the time. The hiccup comes when two people/groups have conflicting approaches to solving it. Well, branch out, each do what you can and see where results come from. Which again requires a lack of denial, excuses, avoidance and so on. Sometimes the other guy had a better approach. Get over it.

If you’d like to read more about prisons, check out Eric Schlosser’s 1998 article in the Atlantic Monthly. He is currently working on a book on the subject.

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