Books Behind Bars

“He did it. He finally did it.”

We were laughing so hard my stomach started to hurt.

I looked around. We stood in the prison garden, the garden we’d begun nearly a year ago. The garden that was once nothing and had since become a place of so much joy, laughter, and conversation.

Our motley crew. A mix of Black, white, Latino, and Asian men. Some in their twenties, some in their fifties, all somewhere in-between.

It was our last class outside before we let the garden go fallow for winter, a time when we let the soil rest and recover before planting once more. Gardens are good teachers of life. I’ve come to see that we all need time to rejuvenate our spirits and prepare for a new season.

The cause of this belly-aching laughter?

Kevin had finally finished the letter C.

For weeks and weeks, he’d been reading the encyclopedia. Each week, he taught us a new lesson – cabbage moths, compound interest, cocoa. He shared little tidbits of anything and everything related to C:  Cocoons, coal, cuttlefish.

All of the programs I personally teach have the same requirement. Each student must read a new book each week. If the book is over 300 pages, then they have two weeks. If it’s over 600 pages, three weeks. You get the point.

Kevin is perhaps our most ambitious reader. He’d exhausted the library in his living unit and had begun reading the one set of books left – the encyclopedia. A and B took him no time at all, but he seemed to be hung up on C for a month. One day he finally admitted that it was over 1,400 pages long.

Why require all this reading? I was once rutted in one of the most depressive spells I’ve ever experienced. Nothing was going right. I was miserable.

One night, I read (ironic, right?) that if you want to change the way you feel, change the way you think. If you want to change the way you think, change the way you read.

I certainly wasn’t happy with how I felt. I had nothing else to lose. So, I changed the way I read. I didn’t change the books I read; I simply changed the volume of reading. I read more and more. I committed to a book a week. And over time, I began to change. I discovered new authors. I perused new subjects and genres. I explored new worlds.

I felt better.

I share the same trick with my students. They bemoan the requirement in the beginning but after a few months, their favorite part of class is the discussions we have surrounding the book they read that week. Some have read three or four books and I have to remind them that we only have time for them to share about one. We’ve created a good, healthy problem.

I’ve also added another weekly homework assignment. For years, I’ve ended every class with a quote, something I found in a book or in the paper. Usually it’s motivational, but sometimes it’s factual or just plain interesting.

I recently forgot to write down my quote. I asked the class if they had any they could share. One student shared a beautiful line he’d come across that week. I couldn’t get it out of my head for the next few days.

The following week, I informed the students – you’re responsible for the quotes from now on. Come prepared each week. I can’t wait to see what you find. Following the quote, I ask the same question – “Tell us, what does that mean to you?” I just wish you all could be there for these beautiful discussions.

After our laugh about Kevin and the letter C, Jonathan volunteered to read his quote.

“Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.”

The laughter died down. Each man wore a stoic, serious face. No one said a word, they all sat quietly, absorbing Jonathan’s words.

I asked him to read it once more. He obliged.

I looked around the garden, at each of the men, at all that we had accomplished in a year.

“Each of you is a good man. No discussion needed today. See you next week.”

 We locked the gate to the garden behind us. It was time for it to rest.

Have a wonderful week.

Spencer