The Importance of Tucking Shirts In – August 2008

I had my T-shirt untucked during the day, which is a violation. I had the choice of sweeping the parking lot or writing a paper…easy choice!

 

A Paper on

The Importance of Tucking Shirts In

 

This paper represents the extent of my understanding, opinions, pontifications and musings about the importance of keeping one’s shirt tucked in.

 

The first and foremost reason that comes to my mind, painfully, is that if you forget to tuck your shirt in and go to lunch, you could be asked to write a two page paper on something you only know about one page of. (at least here, at lovely Camp Sheridan)

 

Obviously there is a reason why the chivalrous lords of authority (C.O.’s) want the inmates to follow the dress code (i.e., tuck in our shirts). My assumption is that the reasons would include:

1. To show respect for authority
2. To look ‘pretty’ and uniform
3. To avoid unsightly ‘plumber’s butt’ sightings
4. To help otherwise incorrigible inmates to learn to follow simple Instructions
5. To help inmates develop a warm sense of self identity in order to prepare us for a successful and enjoyable social re-integration process
6. To reinforce in the inmates mind that we don’t want to be here, just in case we forget (which is not likely)

 

Just for clarification- this is the second page of the two-page paper that I previously admitted to only having one page of knowledge about. So…

 

I suppose some other. less obvious and intelligible reasons for proper shirt tucking etiquette could be:

-So we don’t cover up our license plates (the little name tags on our belts and pants) and thus allow for easier identification from behind of any inmates trying to flee from their subterfuge by running away.

 

-To prevent covert, low riding opportunities. Wherein guys could be wearing their pants around their ankles but you could not tell because their 24XXX T-shirt is un-tucked and hangs

down to their toes.

 

-Because it looks sloppy… Sheridan Sloppy instead of Sheridan Chic.

 

-Because real men and winners tuck, whereas little boys and losers don’t (and we love to embrace the stereotypes)

 

Last, but definitely not least, because “you” said so and “we” can never be sure when you will be here looking out for “our best interests”! J

 

Lavin 37875-086

Visitation Form for Joe

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1/8/2009 – 6 months

1/8/2009

Well it’s 2009 and I have been here for six months now, it honestly seems like much more. I have at least 24 months left to serve here (best case scenario) and then I will have to go to a half-way house in Seattle for 2 to 6 months…it seems like forever right now, but I know that there is an end in sight. actually a new beginning.

I have taken a job in the chapel as a clerk. It was actually a hard decision and was a source of a lot of drama here. But I am glad that I took the job and am looking forward to being able to help people and to organizing the books and media that the chapel has access to. I want to say thanks to Kevin and Heather Cramer and their ministry, Shadrak, for donating some great CD’s, DVD’s and books to the chapel. (and to all that help them out as well). These donations are one of the biggest sources of joy I have in here, and the materials they have sent in have been a blessing to a lot of guys in here.

It is also nice to have an office with a desk, music and even a T.V. I can watch the music videos that Shadrak sends in.

I also talked with www.desiringgod.org (John Piper’s Ministry) and they are sending one book or Bible each month to any inmate that requests one absolutely free. We have permission and support of one of the caseworkers here to do this. Right now I am trying to find or create a Moral Reasoning Assessment and Development program that can be offered to all inmates here (and hopefully at other prisons as well). I think I mentioned before that there is currently no requirement or even opportunity for inmates to go through that type of program other than drug rehab.

After that I want to advocate for some parenting and marriage groups and/ or classes.

We have a long way to go with these programs and we are definitely going against the current; so nothing is guaranteed. But we have a committed group of talented guys putting it all together and we also have a committed BOP caseworker that is standing behind us as well.

Bottom line is that I am keeping busy and everyone seems to agree that is one of the best ways to make your days, weeks and months go faster.

Happy New Year,

Joe

Poem – Beautiful Circumstance – 12/14/08

Beautiful Circumstance

God, please teach me

what I do not know

Help me to understand

what I don’t comprehend

Turn this dark night

into a new day

and bring these trials

to an end

Sooner, rather than later

is my desperate prayer

But not before the blessings

to which my suffering cannot compare

I am comforted because

this much I know

this momentary suffering can take me

someplace you want me to go

Because this period of loneliness & despair

could actually be your answer to my prayers

A beautiful circumstance

carefully planned

urging me to once again

put my life in your hands

Thank you!

Joe 12/14/2008

Hardening – 12/10/08

Hardening 12/10/08

One thing that is hard to resist in here is hardening. My heart, my attitude, my personality; the way I interact with people…I can feel myself becoming harder, tougher, and wanting to become more isolated in all these areas. I can see how I could become a significantly different person if I didn’t have specific goals to the contrary.

I would have liked to believe that I could not have been so easily affected by this environment. That I would not simply acquiesce to the primal ness of this place. Unfortunately it is just so much easier to bully someone here than to try to reach a reasonable compromise. So much easier to respond in kind than to turn the other cheek.

Perhaps the most defeating thing is that it is so much easier to be numb than to care about anything…everything. I see it in other inmates, in the correctional officers and I see it rising up in me. On one hand I want to care about the people around me and the unique community I am living in. On the other hand, being detached and selectively isolated feels entirely therapeutic, even if selfishly so.

However, as I said, I do still have specific goals to the contrary. So I am doing my best to resist the “hardening”, to eradicate the infectious diseases in and around me. Not that my best is good enough, on it’s own, to overcome any of this; but it is what God asks of me and it is all I can do. After that the results are up to God…and I am doing my best to realize that as well.

Joe