I think our second visit to the detention center was a lot more promising than the first. While I had a good time with the kids I talked to during our first visit, the Post-D group seemed much more willing to participate in our project. Mitch and I paired up with a Post-D student during the visit. He told us a story of when he first got into basketball and how he grew to love the sport, and other sports, because he had a good friend who played with him. When talking to us about his dream life, he mentioned that he wanted to be playing basketball in college. One thing that really stood out to me from the conversation I had with him was how much he had already thought about his future. He had thought about jobs he could get and colleges he was considering applying to and even mentioned that he had a bank account set up for the money he got while working in the detention center. He seemed intent on moving past this point, and getting his life back on track. It was a very encouraging conversation, and I think it’s a good sign for the rest of the project.
Month: February 2024 Page 2 of 4
While I was a bit sad I wouldn’t get to work with the girls again, I could tell that the Post D kids were also willing to share stories with us, which I was grateful for. Nick J and I paired up with one person who was really excited to tell stories about his family, his interest in cars and being a mechanic, and the ambitions he has for a man cave in the future. I think telling these stories really animated our story partner since he got excited about the idea of being a mechanic and having his own business. It’s like what that one person said about speaking the future into existence. I think he was happy talking about a future that could be his later. He respectfully listened to my stories and when I brought up the task of working out for my first story, he launched into a discussion about how he hates doing push-ups and prefers running. I think I had a bit of trouble connecting with him on my own because we have different interests, but he and Nick got along well with me interjecting here and there. Also, we didn’t really follow the storytelling model as well (listeners didn’t tell it back), but we just went with the flow of the conversation, which I think worked better in this situation.
Other than the stories, we talked about our favorite characters with superpowers since it came up during the prompt on superpowers. We also talked about car models we like since it came up when our partner told his dream story. I noticed that our partner’s body language was respectful when we told stories, but he kind of fidgeted a bit when telling his, and he was always moving around. I noticed that he also was interested in college, just like the girls I was with last week. All these kids seem to have future ambitions they’ve been thinking about for a while. I was wondering how the whole going to campus thing might go if we get the chance to do it. While I preferred connecting with the girls because we have more in common, I’ll settle for any situation because I know that we just have to work with what we’ve got.
Going into this experience, I tried to keep an open mind and not have any expectations as to what it would be like. Although I feel I accomplished this, it was still much different than I could’ve imagined. Despite not going in with any expectations, I did have this idea in the back of my mind that it would be all of us in one room, conducting storytelling activities with the kids in a very controlled environment. To my surprise, it turned out to be the complete opposite. When we got there and started to be split up, I could feel myself getting a bit anxious. It quickly went from Professor Dolson controlling the situation and conducting these activities, to each of us individually being thrown into the fire and having to conduct it ourselves. Although this was so different from what myself, and I think all of us were expecting, I think it overall went well.
For my group, I tried to keep things very casual and just get to know the kids on a base level. We went around and introduced ourselves, our names, where we are from, and a few fun facts about us or hobbies we have. To my surprise, two of the three guys in my group were super interested in cooking which I found to be interesting. I then gave a brief synopsis of what our class was like first semester and how that connects to what we are doing now. The kids, in all honesty, seemed pretty indifferent to the idea but if I were in their shoes, I would likely feel the same. For my group, and from what I’ve heard from other people on the bus ride back, it seemed like just another class for them, a task to get through. I think I had this perception that the detention center would be more of a typical jail and that this activity could be something to look forward to each Friday. However, it just seemed to be the next thing on the schedule. For my group, they seemed more excited by the gym time they had the following period.
One thing I did notice was the tight relationships all of the kids had to the staff at the detention center. They viewed them as friends and mentors, not as people keeping them from leaving this place. Hearing the banter back and forth between the kids and the staff was entertaining and showed how their relationship was both respectful but also loose and friendly.
For the second half of the time with my group, we got to go to the gym and play basketball. I think this was super effective in breaking down this barrier between us and becoming more casual with the kids. They all were impressed with my jumpshot too so that was a plus.
Overall, although the first week was nothing like I was expecting, I think it went about as well as it could have given the circumstances. The whole point of the first week was to meet the kids and start building a relationship with them so they would feel more comfortable sharing stories with us in the future. I think I accomplished this with my group, although not by the means I had anticipated.
This week’s visit was very different from last week’s but I still really enjoyed it. This week we got to talk with the kids as a whole group instead of the kids being separated by gender. There were about 8-10 kids there, and we were in a gym area. We got to make a large circle with our chairs and talk all together. I really enjoyed this because it didn’t feel like we were presenting or just talking at the kids; instead, we were talking with them. I paired with two kids, one boy, and one girl. I noticed that the boy had velcro shoes, which was interesting because, in different facilities shoes with velcro are reserved for kids who can’t have shoe laces for their own safety or the safety of others.
As I was talking to my group partners about where they wanted to be in 5-10 years, the boy said he wanted to play in the NFL like his cousin, and the girl said that she wanted to become a defense attorney. She explained that she wanted to be a defense attorney because the one working on her current case is overworked and isn’t doing a great job defending her. I thought that it was very sweet and interesting that she wanted to help someone like herself later in life.
My group was more on the quiet side and gave short responses to the questions I asked. Eventually, I asked each of them what superpower they wanted if they could choose one. They both said that they would want the power to read minds. I asked them to elaborate and they talked about how it would help them know who was lying to them and it would teach them not to trust people. This was sad to me because they both expressed a deep distrust for the people around them, but with their backgrounds and a few personal things they shared, this made complete sense. The boy also started to explain to me how much I reminded him of his sister who had passed, and I wasn’t sure how to respond. All in a;; it was a great visit and as usual we ended it with a fist bump. Both kids said that if they were still at the facility next Tuesday they would love to participate in the story telling visit again.
This time I had a quite significant experience. We started in big groups by introducing ourselves and sharing some information but the real discussion started when we were in 2 groups. I was with 2 young boys who were about to finish high school and shared a lot about their future and past. They shared how much they want to get out of the center, collaborate, and create their own music industry. They were so passionate about their goal indicating they don’t just want to achieve it, they will! Something significant is that they wanted to create lyrics with meanings to prevent young people from making the same mistakes they did following their dad’s life decisions. The thing that they regret the most about life is making that mistake that made them end up in the center. One of them chose as a superpower to know all the information that exists to prevent future mistakes. Similarly, the other person would like to travel in time to change his behavior in the past and not end up in the center. I was surprised at how passionate they were about their future, how much they wanted to graduate high school and go to college as well as how they wanted to help other people through their passion; music!
Our first visit to the detention center was very different from my initial expectations. I imagined us all in one large room with all the juveniles and dividing into small groups for discussion. We did end up splitting up into groups, however, we were split up into separate classrooms with little guidance as to what activities to do with the juveniles. Luckily, Professor Dolson told us on the ride there some of the questions we may ask as a group. For example, “What is your favorite movie.” Although the beginning of our visit was unorganized, we were able to straighten things out once we started conversing with the students.
During Will S. and I’s conversation with the juveniles (9th and 10th graders) I did my best to make the environment feel as casual as possible. I could tell by making eye contact with the juveniles that they were uncomfortable with newcomers, especially people closer to their age. By the end of the visit, however, the students seemed to be very comfortable with us, and I began to feel very comfortable talking to them as well. Another factor that played a role in our communication was that all the students wore masks. I would’ve wished to see their facial expressions and what they actually looked like, but like I stated earlier, I analyzed how comfortable the group felt by their eyes. Some of them looked very curious, others looked relaxed, and some eyes wandered around the classroom giving off the sense of being uncomfortable.
Some topics of strong conversation were music and art. For 20 minutes, our group shared their taste in music. Most of them connected with each other through which songs they liked. One student particularly was very passionate about music, so much so that he would sing all the verses to multiple different songs. With the limited amount of activities available to them, music seemed like a very strong coping mechanism. Along with that, was the student’s interest in anime, whether it be drawing or watching. When Will and I had mentioned the Book art studio, most of the group seemed excited to make a song, or use their artistic gifts to tell stories. As you spend more time with the students you begin to grow empathy for them because in a social setting, they’re sociable, funny, and charismatic.
One last observation I made from the visit was of the detention center itself. Although it had some elements of a prison, like the barbed wire above the basketball hoop outside, I came to understand that they prioritize education. The prison felt close to a public school with pictures and posters on the walls. Rehabilitation is a heavy focus considering that the prison did its best to make the center more welcoming with murals.
Even though the first in-person visit to the detention center was chaotic and unexpected, it still felt great to interact with those that I’ll end up working with for the next few weeks. We didn’t talk much about stories (or stay on-topic much at all), but I liked the freedom I was able to have. Beyond just talking about college life and payment logistics, all three of them discussed happiness in their lives and within the detention center, more so among themselves than specifically at me. I was extremely grateful for the laid back atmosphere of everyone in the room; the students, teacher, and security guard all contributed to making me and each other feel comfortable in the face of that new experience for all of us. The most important thing I could take away from the whole interaction was how self-aware the students were. They knew their situation, and knew not to get themselves too down about it. They knew everyone makes mistakes, and that everyone comes from different experiences. I’m so glad I wasn’t too sick to make it.
Today was the second day of going to the Detention Center and I got to meet a different group of people. Today we talked about everyone’s dreams for the future and superpowers – if you had a superpower how would you use it.
While talking about dreams, one of the guys in my group introduced me to the fact that he wants to be an entrepreneur because he’s currently working on a clothing business – he has over eight thousand followers on TikTok, and his main job is to print designs on clothes and then buy them off. The other guy – the two of them are very close friends – has seemingly very different perspectives. This boy wished to live on a mountain for the rest of his life. He enjoys the peace and quiet of living with no one to bother him. This boy likes to produce music, he knows how to use different software to create music, and his friends around him have taught him how to produce music, so he can write his own songs without any professional training; the songs he wrote himself have more than 20,000 plays on YouTube – which for him is a remarkable achievement for him. This guy also really wanted to go to the Great Wall and was interested in Chinese culture because his ancestors were Chinese.
We then talked about the superpowers that each of us would like to pick. The first boy said that he wanted the ability to turn stones into gold so that he wouldn’t have to work – he wanted to be the richest man in the world. The second boy, on the other hand, didn’t want to be very rich; he just wants to be wealthy enough to give him and his family a good life, he thought a lot of money would invite trouble. The superpower he wishes to acquire is the ability to read minds so he can understand a person’s emotional swings and their inner thoughts. I really appreciated this boy’s values: his love of music, his emotional subtlety and his lack of greed were very appealing. The first boy was more introverted in comparison, and when it came to his dreams, he wasn’t very firm in his conviction to be an entrepreneur – he ended up saying that his real dream was to be the Terminator in the movie, but didn’t give a reason.
Upon arriving at the detention center, it was a bit of a different experience than I was expecting. Part of what was additionally shocking to me was the subtle reminders of where they were, such as the barbed wires in the yards. It brings to reality that although this place is a school, it is also a much darker place than that. I love the murals within the location, but at the same time, it’s not particularly easy to overlook them in the face of the rest of the details, like their rather limited rooms.
My group was a certainly interesting batch. Two of them, J and K (I don’t exactly know how to spell it) seemed to be the jokesters of the group, and although things were tense at times with the teachers, they seemed friendly enough. The others in the group such as the pair of Jhs were a bit quieter but they seemed to interact alright with one another. They were generally dismissive of the project rather than open to it, and maybe part of it was that I had not adequately prepared, as I was not expecting 5 students at once.
Interestingly enough, one of the other teachers in the room seemingly had experience with the book-making project before and produced a past copy that she distributed for them to read. They did not exactly take it seriously, but they seemed to still be having fun. I think their age group is around 17, maybe a year younger. They seem like bright kids, but part of their attitudes shows that they really aren’t taking the project seriously, so hopefully I can change their minds about that.
The first thing I noticed when pulling up was the court building next to the detention center, which we were told was connected so that’s how I knew we had arrived. I was a bit surprised at how we needed permission to enter each doorway we came across. While the atmosphere made it clear it was a detention center, I liked how there was art and paint on the walls and doors which made it feel less so. The staff were friendly but when it came time to separate me, the only girl, from everyone else, I was a bit nervous. I entered a classroom with three girls and was immediately unsure what to do. I sat down feeling out of my depth but tried my best to smile. I was definitely thrown for a loop because being separated was not in our expectations for how this would go.
I talked with one girl who I had a good time chatting with. At first we didn’t even talk about stories, but our interests and college life. She was very curious about college life and my major. We had an animate discussion about books because we both love reading. We both like sci-fi and talked about some of that genre. I can tell she loves learning and she told me about her ambitions for college. When we did talk about stories, she followed the storytelling model perfectly. I went first and talked about something hard I did for the first time, which was working out. She followed up with a story about roller blading.
While I had a rough start, I felt much more confident by the end and although I didn’t talk much to the other two girls in my group, I enjoyed talking with one of them. I think my group is more willing to do storytelling so I think I can handle it myself in the next few weeks. As I left, I said goodbye to my partner and said I hoped to see her again next week and she said I would. It is my hope that my presence brightens up their day as we continue visiting.