hello and thank you for reaching out and letting me know that i am not forgotten. i participated in dr. destefanis's african american history course in the spring of 2019. i will never forget how well i was treated by the students and the professor. i was treated with dignity, respect, and my opinions and insight were valued by carrigan and corrine and many others. i want to take this opportunity to say thank you very much. your presence is missed and not forgotten.
i was inspired by dr. destefanis' and the students of his class, really the whole experience. after the class was over i started to write and take education seriously because of how i was treated. i have been incarcerated for 17 years and alot of times when you have been "down" that long, you begin to "misplace" parts of yourself and become "reprogrammed" as a direct result of treatment. i did not realize that i had began to believe all of the negativity and lies i was told about myself, but i did. words cannot express how much i was in need of that re-alignment, i welcomed it with open arms. i was/am motivated to continue to build in a positive manor by mentoring and continuing my education at winebrenner.
i thank God for that opportunity because i have a history of drug and alcohol abuse. i have been sober for over five and a half years and this is the position i know God is calling me to fulfill. i am going to specialize in a hybrid form of drug and alcohol and grief recovery counseling as a youth pastor. i care and i have a gift, i know how to listen and what to listen for.
***disclaimer*** if there is something specific you are wanting to know about i will explain or detail. for example, if you are wanting to know about food or recreation schedules or laundry services or the impact of no visitation...ect please let me know. prison is not built for comfort, its their strategy obviously and i can be negative all day long, but thats not really me too often. what i would like to talk about is the lack of educational opportunities because of the covid-19 outbreak today if that is ok?
i am currently enrolled at winebrenner theological seminary and just took my final exam on march 25th. two weeks before my final the administration made the decision to stop all "non-essential" workers from coming in here, including visitors. God provided a way for us to take our final exam two weeks later and since then we have pretty much been on lockdown.
what i mean by lockdown is that i am currently sitting in an area about 40yds long by about 10yds wide with nine picknick tables that sit 4 people each at them. i live in a cell block and in this area there is 128 people, difficult to social distance unless you stay in your room all day and then you only have to be around a roommate. last week we found out that 100 out of 114 people tested positive for the virus in my living area. they have taken people out of here and i do not know if they are alive and well. some of them i know and are friends with but their status is kept from us.
i say all that to say we are stuck in one area and there is nothing to do. the staff's idea of recreation is giving us fox news and cnn as additional channels on our tvs. our education has been stopped and i have had no contact from my professors. i have no way of knowing if they are alive and well as many of them are older and two of them were medically compromised.
i am going to send this out now thank you again for your support, and prayers. God bless....
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