When our second and last daughter left home for the glories of MIT, Sara Seager, and ExoplanetSat, we, her parents, began to think about how to redirect our energies in a useful and satisfying way. Raising two sensible, hard-working, compassionate, and loving daughters is beyond doubt the best thing we have ever done. However, now that great and wonderful task is largely completed and we started to wonder. What's next? How can we find something useful and meaningful to do? We worked hard on the Obama campaign but, afterwards, we felt somewhat adrift. The need for action is so great, there are so many threats to our society and to the planet, how is it possible to decide on some particular issue and devote enough time to it to make a real difference?
We both work with arts organizations (this and this) and have served as board members and, in my case, also as a performer. These are worthwhile organizations and working with them has become a way of life for us. But they don't address the intractable problems that must be resolved in order to prevent the great injustices and dire consequences resulting from our society's short term thinking and criminally selfish attitudes.
We needed some sort of hook, some opportunity to inspire us to make a decisive choice.
Oddly enough, the answer came from my recent jury experience described in the previous post. I say oddly because, for financial reasons, I really didn't want to spend two+ weeks at the King County Superior Court. Since then, we have been working to find some way to transform the feelings of injustice engendered by that experience into some sort of constructive action. After months of research, I believe we have found it.
A local non-profit organization, Post-Prison Education Program (PPEP), helps former prisoners get a college or vocational education and, in doing so, to reintegrate into society. Their office is a vibrant and welcoming place, with serious work going on, but in a light-hearted and friendly atmosphere. During my visits, several students have been at work at tables scattered around a couple of connected rooms. Staff members are at work in their offices but come out frequently to joke around with the students and congratulate them on good test scores.
I have tutored a couple of people in basic math and have been impressed with the students' drive and determination to transcend their pasts. A few weeks ago, I spent the afternoon with a young man who is a former drug addict and who did some prison time for an unspecified crime (I didn't ask). During our math session, I realized that, contrary to the assumptions one might make about a convicted felon and former addict, this was a very intelligent person. As we went through his math assignment, I would explain some concept or other and he would grasp it immediately. I never had to tell him anything twice.
Another person with whom I worked yesterday, I happen to know was in prison for 14 years for third degree murder. We worked well together and she made great progress. Who knew that some of the nicest and most inspiring people I will ever meet would be convicted felons?
PPEP offers the whole package: housing, food, and even clothes for those who need it, tutoring, mentoring, help negotiating the educational bureaucracy, and the all-important moral support. Many people come out of prison with quite literally no place to go and no one to believe in them.
We have decided to create a separate entity to raise funds for this incredible organization. We will have our own identity to leverage my jury experience (which everyone tells me is a great fund-raising story) and I hope to encourage the participation of other jurors from my trial and others.
Ironic, isn't it? My jury experience, to which I was dragged kicking and screaming, has turned out to be mind altering and life changing. I will never think of the term "felon" in the same way again.
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