First Day at Maple Lane School.

So today marked the first day that my Program went to Maple Lane. Maple Lane is a maximum security school for young men who've some how run afoul of the law. The majority of them are from poor family and are people of color. But they have been lucky enough to be able to participate in the Gateways Program for Incarcerated Youth. Everyone who reads this knows where I came from and where I am so to say that I have a divergent past from them is to say that the Earth is round. The Gateways Program takes young men at Maple Lane School as well as another of the same time and puts them in college classes with students from Evergreen. In order for them to be in the program they must have a G.E.D. a High School Diploma or be close to getting one.

This is my first time speaking to anyone who has spent any time what so ever in a long term lock up. I'm still thinking about what happened today and the world they live in is so totally different then the one I live in that I don't really know what to say.

I can safely say this, in all the time I've been at Evergreen the greatest seminar I've ever had was the one I had today. We discussed a book called "A Peoples History of Sports in the United States" by Dave Zirin. We've yet to even start reading the book but today we discussed what the author could possibly be writing about. Given that the guys I have class with are in jail for something I saw some of the more encouraging and helpful behavior one person could ever exhibit toward another and this from men who society says are no good, trouble and can not on any level be trusted. I met your average 17 and 18 year old men. I'm sure as I digest what happened today I'll be better able to describe what happened but to say the least it was a life changing experience.