When you change the way you look at things, you look at different things.

Tonight I attended an achievement ceremony for SB 618 as a United Through Reading representative. The ceremony honored offenders who've successfully completed a reentry program. The aim of the program is to break the cycle of repeat offenders, and instead help offenders successfully transition back into society.

One of the program participants gave a speech that included the title of this posting. The speaker recently completed a degree in Underwater Welding, which I'm sure will afford him some interesting viewpoints. But really, bridge and boat welding or not, everything he sees from this point forward will be different.

Flying Front Kick

Our Mini Cooper is not only my first brand-new car, but my first car with a manual transmission. Bryan has been teaching me how to drive a stick shift on his car these past few months. But it wasn't until Friday that I first drove on a freeway.

I'd expected Bryan to be in the passenger seat for the drive home from the dealership to give me advice. Except they offered us a paltry sum for the Green Dragon (it may not having a lot going for it, but it has low miles!), so Bryan drove it home while I took the Mini. I drove seventy miles by myself, including stop-and-go freeway traffic.

Two days earlier, I'd met with Lelani, the head of United Through Reading's Transitions Program. At one point, she showed me pictures of her two sons, and mentioned that they participate in martial arts. She said it was great for their confidence and self-reliance, saying her younger son had become much more outgoing and assertive after beginning Taekwondo.

Today, Bryan and I zipped all over San Diego in the Mini, with me at the wheel. It was like I was going for a black belt, and performing all the skills.

Three, Two, One...

Last week, I talked with some girls about the importance of reading to children. Today, I returned and helped record them on DVD reading aloud a book they'd selected for a young person in their life. We set up the cameras is a small, unused inmate room, the walls of which were cinder blocks painted light cream. It looked exactly like my dorm room with a smaller window. When I realized the similarity, for a second I wanted to also draw other parallels, perhaps in simile form. Freshman year had been tough for me. But then I pulled myself out of my melodramatic funk and realized this small room wasn't some self-imposed prison. It was, literally, a prison.

The girls all did wonderfully. Some were nervous, asking me if their hair looked okay. One had a book with lots of silly words and for a minute she was stressing out, saying, "I don't know these words!" I assured her the kid didn't know them, either. And if she mispronounced something, who cares? From Rolling Readers, I've found that any mistake can be covered up with some personality and a funny voice. Which applies for oh-so-many other things in life.

In the News...

The Union-Tribune has a great article about United Through Reading's Inmate program, which I started volunteering with this summer. I've done a fair share of volunteer work in my life thus far (although you can always do more), and I've never met a nicer group of volunteers.

Added at 7:02PM:

If you are heartsick about today's state of affairs, there are places you can volunteer to improve our communities and people's lives. These are small things, but they matter.

A Different Starbucks

(I think he was watching a cute little lab walk by.)

Louie and I went to a nearby Starbucks for morning writing, but not our old Starbucks. The cafe has actual table and chairs, but damnit it's not within walking distance. If I have to start up my car, I'd rather go to The Coffee Bean or Pannikin. The search continues.

Today was my first volunteer session with United Through Reading. The officer who toured me around Juvenile Hall last month definitely wanted to instill fear in me. Which is probably a wise thing. But today's session was happily unintimidating. Myself and two other volunteers spoke with seventeen female inmates about the importance of reading to children. We then helped the girls choose a book to send to their child, sibling, or other young relative. In two weeks, the inmates can elect to have us record them reading the book. The DVD and book will then be sent to the child (if not, then just the book goes in the mail). I'm sad that I'll be in Napa Valley during the taping, but look forward to doing it next month.

Two days in a row for the ocean for me! The old Monday Shores swim and it felt good to be back. The water was seventy, but I still wore a wetsuit. 

When I got out of the ocean, a news team was interviewing people for thoughts on Bush's bright idea of offshore oil drilling. The only plus I could think of was that an oil derrick would be a hell of an object to sight on. Although the water might be so polluted that it wouldn't be safe to swim in.

Little Things

There are people in this world who are improving their communities every day in small ways that most others will never know about. Tonight I had an orientation for United Through Reading, and I am so humbled to soon be working with such empathetic, principled people. I hope that once I am presenting childhood literacy talks to inmates, I can continue the same high level of quality.

My manuscript for Napa is due today. I'm shooting for early tomorrow morning. Normally, I don't ask for special accommodations, but I figure there's little difference between 11:55PM tonight and 6:45 tomorrow. I hope no one from the Napa office has found my blog.

Overheard at Starbucks: An out-of-work woman meeting with a headhunter. She seemed to have many years of sales and marketing experience in the real estate field, but was considering an office manager job in this same field. Times are tough. And yet, return to the first sentence.

Spring Break

In a preparatory step to volunteering with United Through Reading's Inmate Program, I attended a training session at the local Juvenile Detention facility. For confidentially reasons, I won't be blogging much about my time with the program. But hopefully I'll be able to make vague comments about having a positive impact on others.

Stephanie--AKA World's Greatest Maid of Honor--is in town and came up with the brilliant idea of taking a dance class. Never afraid to make a fool of myself, I was up for it. Unfortunately, the class was cancelled, but we ended up at Target and then dinner. I wasn't able to make a fool of myself, but I was able to catch up with a wonderful friend.