IPS with Hamlet

I just finished the 5 week training for Intentional Peer Support (intentionalpeersupport.org) and we had to create a final project that demonstrated what we had learned from it. There were a lot of role-plays in the class and that was suggested as one format for the...

Why I Write

Writing is squeezing my emotions out through my fingers like tubes of paint. Add an ocher wash to the sad eyes. Smear a dab of angry vermilion to the corners of the tight mouth. Highlight the stressed veins with ice blues. Draw obsidian furrows to accent the...

Reading Is Life

The moment I entered Alpine section of San Quentin prison I felt like I was walking onto a movie set. The outter building was a 6 story tall structure with the giant multi-story windows of a centry old warehouse. It was built over 2 five story cell blocks back to...

Road Kill

The wind roaring in my ears is freezing. I should have known better than to wear shorts. It’s starting to get chilly after dark and the wind makes it worse. But pants always rub on the chain and get grease stains. At least everyone is home from the bars already...

The Visit

My aunt Pat and I are the only ones in the cold and dimly lit viewing room. Pat had arrived too late to be there and I had been busy at work. At least my dad and uncle, her two sons, had been with her. We cross the empty room and the heavy scent from all the cut...

One Way To Never Be Embarassed Again

I had arrived at Avenal State Prison in the Central Valley of California only months before. I’d been there long enough to start a subscription to the Christian Science Monitor (which was free, at the time, to anyone incarcerated). I was also excited to receive...