I thought I’d write about my day in San Quentin yesterday. I haven’t been writing much about my GRIP classes in the prisons. A friend told me to keep writing. I told her I have been feeling reluctant to write about it. She asked why. I said because I didn’t want to tell other people’s […]
Tribe 586
Our new group has a name. Tribe 586. This is the first GRIP class being held at the Deuel Vocational Institution, a level 2 prison in Tracy, California, and I am the lead facilitator. GRIP (Guiding Rage Into Power) is a 52 week long, mindfulness-based emotional intelligence program, and is a journey towards […]
Fatherhood and Healing in Prison
I am always glad for a chance to be pulled away from the subterranean grip of politics on my mind and yesterday was such a chance. I had the opportunity to bring in a young man and a young woman who had grown up with one or both parents incarcerated into our GRIP class. […]
Transcending Gender in Prison
Powerful moment yesterday. Drove 2 hours past Sacramento to do a 7 hour GRIP intensive in Mule Creek State Prison. It was the first time we welcomed a transgendered woman (prisoner) to our GRIP class. An African American woman with spunky beads in her hair, she sat up straight, gave a big smile when […]
A Conversation of Race in Prison
A powerful day this week in San Quentin discussing race and power. When I told the guys in our training group (about a dozen prisoners who are training to be GRIP facilitators) that I wanted to talk about race, gender, privilege, and power, I immediately noticed guys looking down, shifting their feet, some making indiscernible […]
Thoughts on The Martian
I just saw The Martian last night. Warning this is a rant. And a long one. Because I had mixed/big feelings about it. Or, as one of my guys in SQ would say, I felt some kinda way about it. But its not just a rant about the movie, but the culture that continually produces […]
A visit to the Ardh Mela
We arrived in Allahabad on the 22nd of January, clutching our jackets against the biting morning wind as our train rolled into the jam-packed train station. My friend Clay and I had come to witness the Ardh Mela. This Mela is the 6 year counter-festival to the famous Kumbha Mela. Both the Kumbha and the […]
Jesse Estrin 