Archive for the ‘parolees’ Category

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Three dots (flashback)

April 15, 2010

Frankie came in today after his first tattoo removal treatment. He is having his La Vida Loca dots, three dots in a triangle configuration, removed from below his left eye; the small 69 from below his lower lip; and his mother’s name, Rosa Maria — this being the most important of the three — removed from his neck. He thought his mother would be happy when he got her name inked on his neck. I think he said she fainted instead. She is very happy Frankie is having this done now, and to get it done for free for doing community service is especially cool. Otherwise it would have cost him $5,000. Frankie is a tattoo artist himself. He does permanent eyeliner on people, he wants to study cosmetology. He has a real chance of succeeding.

– from a 2002 journal entry

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In the trenches

April 13, 2010

While driving home from work today I noticed that the two lines between my eyebrows are becoming trenches. They are often called frown lines because they come along with concentration or worry. My friend told me about Frownies. Frownies are basically ways of taping your face to smooth out face wrinkles while you sleep. As I sit typing this, I have two small adhesive Band-Aids above my eyebrows as an experiment in decreasing the signs of aging. My students often look either much older than their chronological age due to drug use and a hard life, or curiously younger. I think this might be due to the effect of being locked up without exposure to sun, with an absolute regimented routine of daily sleep and nutrition. I hope I’m not going off the deep end here with this theory. Anyway, I think my students would approve of the use of Band-Aids as homemade Frownies.

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Z and the GED

April 8, 2010

Z is a longtime student. She is back in rehab and back in my school for the third time. The first time she relapsed after having fully graduated the program. The second time she was picked up for not showing up to see her probation officer and spent several months in jail. This is probably her last run at the rehab and I can’t imagine not having her in class. I am trying several strategies to get her to take the GED. She is smart and ready but terrified and reminds me often that she is bipolar. “You’re wonderful and magnificent,” I say, “bipolar!”  I talked with her bunkie  (roommate) today. Z’s bunkie Wanda is retaking the math section of the GED next week and I suggested they study together. Wanda convinced Z to let me write a letter to get her exam funded. Z starts shaking at the thought of taking the GED, it’s that scary for her. “I’m not interested in achievement, Ms. P.,” she says. “Family and love, that’s what matters to me.” I tell her, “We’re here for you, Z.”

Posted in adult education, community, GED, parolees, rehab | Leave a Comment »

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Smoking area

April 7, 2010

Fire drill. Fire drill at the rehab, evacuate the school. “Everyone out to the smoking area,” I repeat a couple of times.  Mario who is on crutches moves very slowly, all the time saying he won’t let me burn up. The fire alarm sounds relentlessly, like a child having a tantrum. Everyone exits out the gate and stands in the street, in the cul-de-sac. The area where residents smoke, a dirt lot with chairs and a white tented canopy is just across the way. A staff member announces that the building where the residents live was constructed in the 1920s and no one is to smoke in their room. “The building would go up like a tinderbox,” he says. I wonder if we have any guys/gals with arson on their record? It’s time to go back to work. As I walk the winding paths back to my class I notice a handmade flier taped to the wall. It announces they are having a ping-pong tournament coming up and first prize is several bags of Bugler Rolling Tobacco. I miss playing ping-pong and the occasional smoke. Smoking is just so 20th Century.

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Dis functional family (flashback)

April 5, 2010

We have all heard of homie, meaning from the same neighborhood but it goes deeper than that. Cellie is the guy or gal you shared your cell with. Crimie, that’s the person who was your partner in you guessed it, crime.  Very often a parolee will come in and recognize a former crimie or even more exciting an old cellie.  It’s like a reunion with lost family. Many of these guys have spent more time in their lives with their cellies than with their own family.

At work, two of the most unlikely students recognize each other, Edgar and Jeff.  Both know one-armed Paul and one-legged Charlie from their time inside. They sit and reminisce for a bit about their stolen Harleys and one-armed Paul and one-legged Charlie. They sound like pirates, and it makes me laugh.

— from a 2004 journal entry

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The classics

March 31, 2010

I’m about to order ten sets of books for my class. I can’t believe the list I get to choose from, it’s like I’m ordering for middle school in the 1920s. Count of Monte Cristo, oh my. I call one of my students over who I trust to help me.

“Anita, what do you think of Oliver Twist? It has pickpockets. Or Robin Hood? He stole from the rich and gave to the poor.” I read down the list on the web site. There’s Mark Twain, lots of truancy, or my favorite, Treasure Island, the glorification of all things pirate. “How about this one, Anita? The Scarlet Letter. You think my crew would like a book about adultery?”

“Maybe, Ms. P.”

I’d love my students to read these books and clearly the themes would resonate for them, but they wouldn’t get past the first page  —  the antiquated language, the formal English. When some of my students are reading books like Thugs and the Women Who Love Them and Chicken Soup for the Prisoner’s Soul, dare I order Silas Marner?

Posted in adult education, parolees, storytelling, teacher | Leave a Comment »

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Snake, skin (flashback)

March 23, 2010

(Trying something new here, what I’m calling a flashback. Going back to my journals for stories from my earlier days as a parolee educator.)

A student of mine is convinced that if I eat snake, all my skin problems will go away. Back when Ramiro was in prison, out in the desert, he was assigned to Level 1 where they let you work outside the prison doing maintenance and gardening. His cellmate had a serious skin condition and was putting up with a great deal of embarrassment. One day Ramiro was working outside the perimeter of the prison and killed a desert snake. “You have to kill the snake before you get it mad or it’s no good,” Ramiro tells me, making a swift motion with his hand, showing how he killed the snake quickly and quietly while it slept. He threw the dead snake over the prison gate and later took it to his dormitory where they were allowed a hot plate and pan to cook with. Like a good friend, Ramiro cooked the snake and served it to his cellmate. He says that after only one or two times of consuming snake, his friend’s skin condition cleared up completely.  “Snake will heal your skin, Miss P.,” Ramiro says, urging me to try it. “It cleans the blood.”

— from a 2002 journal entry

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Real world math

March 19, 2010

Samuel is doing better. His mother came and dropped off his I.D. and this time she visited with him. He is working very hard on his multiplication with carry-over. He takes homework with him to practice after dinner. One of my students asked me what the BMI was today so I showed her how to figure her Body Mass Index by setting it up as an algebra equation. Her BMI is 48.6, considered dangerously high. I recommended that she start a support group at the rehab for those wanting to lose weight. “How about a little healthy competition with team support,”I said, “like that TV show The Biggest Loser.” Parole housing or reality TV show, you decide.

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Sprung and spun

March 17, 2010

My students are big on emoting. After working for about an hour on reading comprehension, Linda said, “I’m sprung.” “Is it the coffee?” I asked. Being “sprung” is not uncommon for addicts, especially crack and meth users. It’s a feeling of not being able to stay in your seat, a kind of restless mind-body syndrome, along with some anxiety. “Can I clean the classroom?” Linda asked. “Okay,” I tell her, “here are some antibacterial wipes, go ahead and clean some of the computer keyboards.”  Students have told me more than once that being in my school gave them the space they needed to stay in recovery. I wish I could get a little sprung (on coffee), it might help me clean my house.

Whoops, I was confusing being sprung with being spun. Being spun is that constant restlessness I see in addicts. Being sprung is a state of intense desire and obsession for someone. Coffee in general will not get you sprung. I think my student was saying she was very horny, so it’s a little strange that I had her clean my keyboards.

Posted in drug recovery, meth, parolees, rehab | Leave a Comment »

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Diogenes

March 16, 2010

I have one student who drives me crazy. He’s my Diogenes. He tells other students not to sign up for my school because “she will hold you hostage.” He says it with a smile. He has only put in seven hours since enrolling, seems like 70. He tries to be my friend but only ends up taking my time and focus off my work. Who’s being held hostage here? I offered him an optional drop (that he can leave with no penalty) which really doesn’t exist in our program. Some students need a class that is “teacher driven”   —  working independently on a computer is not the answer.

No matter how many pencils I put out at the beginning of the school day, I never end up with as many at day’s end. I write in black Sharpie marker on each pencil “Do Not Remove” and the date. A student recently brought me a handful of my pencils all marked “Do Not Remove” that he found in his roommate’s drawer who had left the rehab.  Another student joked saying he had a dozen pencils marked “Do Not Remove,” to sell me. I tell them, “Please return my pencils. They don’t grow on trees…Well actually they do.”

Posted in adult education, parolees, students, teacher | Leave a Comment »

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