April 17, Part 1

I have received so many kind letters from Catholic religious orders who have supported efforts to close the SOA and sometimes monastics who have themselves gone to jail. I am very grateful to make their acquaintance and I hope I might even perhaps visit the ones nearby soon after my release. I am also hoping to get into the churches nearby and speak about peacemaking work.
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I received two new pencils today – good, having given one away and wearing the others down quickly – such a valuable commodity here! Only when they arrived the guard was discouraged to find they came with erasers – which meant that they had that little metal band holding them together – contraband. So he pried those off and I am grateful he let me keep the little eraser nubs.
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*Sigh* another painful parting with a pencil. A girl begged me to trade a new one for a golf pencil too short to put in the sharpener. I relented. Candy? Shampoo? These are easy to share but writing supplies kinda hurt. After lockdown, I will see if she has another golf pencil and bind them together with a shampoo label. That will make them useful again for someone.
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I’m reading actually some good books I’ve found here, although I don’t remember all the authors – Before I Forget by Andre Brink, a South African writer; Storm Runners; the Christmas Train; When We Were Grownups, Confessions of Super Mom; Now You See Her, a book about borderline personality disorder; and a biography of Karla Faye Tucker, the woman Bush executed when he was governor of Texas; and a little Bible and Quran intermingled.

I did a little dusting just now, a pre-worn sock works much like Lemon Pledge. Who would have thought? Also had a little cellmate pastoral counseling, a young friend with a court date quite a ways off and separated from her two young sons – she can’t get money together to bond out. This is so sad, and she is quite sweet. I hope after this she’s able to get out and stay on the outside – I see how hard it can be for some of the women – I’m coming to realize for some this is the safest and most orderly home they have.

As I’ve mentioned in previous notes, here is an amazingly strong company and support of women. Does any kind of support group for helping women hold it together and stay out of jail exist once you’re released? Where you could get the support of women without judgment? There is nothing I know of other than A.A., perhaps the Celebrate Recovery program also (the Evangelical one) – what does one do? Even the SOAW prisoners of conscience, I am told, have difficulty when they get back ‘outside.’

Hmm… I kind of envision a cooperative solution - a meeting, yes, but also perhaps like a Catholic Worker, where volunteers and women just returning from prison w/ nowhere to go live together, share household tasks and childcare, and have this weekly-plus support. This is an important factor.

I wonder if in this recession anyone would donate a big old house, just to get it off their hands? And if enough volunteers could be interested?

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The ‘aha’ moment for the day began with a letter from co-defendant Diane Hughes, who mentioned that other women inmates so often see us as “short timers.” By some twist of fate, I have actually been here longer than all but a handful in my ‘pod’ (32-inmate section). I seem to have been quickly promoted to helping others get oriented. It’s not bad, and I usually have fun doing it.