Go figure.  On July 5, 2011 I get a no-explanation summons to go to The Hill.  OK.  Get there, and a couple JCO 6's greet me and say it's time to receive my LIVE (oh?) Yearly Evaluation.  Hmmmm.  As usual, ALL ratings are just "meets expectations" --- same as every time, over 6 years now.  OK, fine.  So far.

Then the kicker.  I get read a letter that I think was done TOTALLY  off the books.  And that was carried out in a TOTALLY unethical and most likely illegal manner.  And yes, I did sign it...
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 http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-juvenile-20110706,0,3151563.story ~~ This is a recent L.A. Times Editorial  -- and a QUICK MUST READ!  I'm tellin' y'all ~~ check out this link NOW and come back to this blog post when you're done.  Don't worry... I'll wait.  It's kinda like waiting to get relieved at work.  Smile.

Now... do you think I might be (over or under) qualified?  Obama would LOVE ME, I know.  And I'd be ready to give him a big warm Man Hug, too, because I WANT TO H...
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September First looms... out with the old, and in with the new??   Who can say...

No one has really made it clear to ME what to expect when we go from TYC to TJJD -- can anyone help me out?  It would seem there might be some changes ahead,  but WHAT?

Are we ready for it... are the kids... we can only hope.  When/if the word goes out to JCO's like us that groups are being formed to cuss and discuss new developments and ideas -- I'm rarin' to go for it!  From what little I understand, the changes...
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It might help clarify issues facing us all if a POLL was conducted.  I think if honest questions were asked and honest answers provided it would be possible to focus on problems and solutions, instead of just having folks whine and deny.  So here's some questions you can consider... 1 is lowest/least/no  and 5 is highest/most/yes.  You can respond using the SHOUT BOX on the THINKING REPORTS page and indicating by entering question number and your answer.

1. Do you think the Admin/Supervisors b...
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The thinking report is what we're given as a "tool" to help the kids ... ahh... THINK, I guess.  I'm not really sure.  If done with sincerity and some degree of penitence, if necessary, a thinking report MAY well help bring someone to a clearer appreciation of their actions/feelings and how they may negatively affect both themselves and the community.  While the questions themselves are honest enough, we RARELY get anything more than whiney, mewing, little screechy cries for more this, more t...
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OK -- check this out.

Wasn't told I was expected to pull a 12 a few days ago by any supervisor, nor did my schedule reflect it.  Came to work the usual time, and was informed I should have been there 4 hours earlier.  Ahhh.  Communication breakdowns are common on this dorm.

Then, was told I had to stay for 4 hours PAST my otherwise 8 hour scheduled  shift.  ??!  Best not to try to argue/make sense/explain/negotiate with someone who's -- HELLO!!? -- not listening.  Well, OK.  Screw me, AGAIN.  I...
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Ever hear the old Dylan song where he sings "you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows" -- ?  How about the 60's Army saying "we had to destroy the villiage in order to save it" -- ? 

We all know winds of change are beginning to blow on campus, and for good reason.  People are speaking out, other people are coming and ready to ask questions, and I'm just waiting to see where the cards fall after the dust settles.  I'm hoping for the best... am willing to be part of the chan...

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Oh, don't we love it!?  In lieu of timely and real information, we get rumors.  Instead of working on honest interpersonal interactions, we get gossip.  It's time for a change.

It's the FACTS we want, really... but we're either too lazy, too burned out, too afraid, or too non-caring to find out what's going on around here.  And we don't deserve any better unless we speak up to people who can bring about the changes we want, who can help make this a better/safer/more meaningful place to work.

I'...
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Another missed opportunity to do the right thing...

NEW DIRECTIVE:  The kids are to sleep under their sheets.  OK... we tell them this, a number of times.  They KNOW the expectation.  BUT... there's problems.

Do the 2-10 JCO staff monitor this when they can watch them all go to bed at 9:00?  I'D say yes, it's their responsibility.  So, by 10:00 the kids who have chosen not to sleep between the sheets can be appropriately consequenced (at the on duty JCO staff/s discretion) for their behavior......
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KID : "I need a new toothbrush."
ME:  "I'll go see if we got any."
(No toothbrushes available; no surprise)
ME:  "Sorry, we don't have any."
KID:  "Call the "A" side and get me one."
(I call; "A" side has none -- again, no surprise)
ME:  "They don't have any either, sorry."
KID:  "Call the dorm-next-to-us and see if they got some."
ME:  "No, I'm not going to do that right now.  We'll see you get you one when the next (expected any minute, late) staff shows up."
KID:  "@%&*#! etc etc etc."

I explain why...
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LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE TAO OF TYC!!

If you need to ask what TAO is, you don't need to know, and I can't tell you.  It's just the way it works.

But everyone intuitively grasps, I feel, the SPIRIT of the Tao... whether they act upon it or not.  And the Tao of TYC is the way we do business -- for better or worse.  We either Do, or Not Do.  That is the Way.  There is no other way.

TYC Giddings has lost its Tao.  We're given a course and told to set sail on a rudderless ship... so finding our destinat...
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Had a new staff of a few months quit yesterday in the middle of their shift... what does that tell you?  It tells ME --

• They were not given proper support from Admin/their supervisors to handle the stress.
• The dichotomy between what they learned at Corsicana and the reality on the floor was too wide to bridge.
• The dorm was seen as a dangerous place and not worth the pay, given the potential for injury.
• There was nowhere to go and no one for them to turn to to get the encouragement and h...

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The upside of the situation is if I just absolutely can't stand working at TYC, I can quit.  This would keep me from getting unemployment... but that's allright.  I might have to go lean for a while, sure, but my mental health, marriage, physical health, safety etc are pretty important to me, at least!  So I'll do what I gotta do to keep my job while I'm still employed and when the time is right, move on to others things with an amicable parting of ways.

The downside of working for TYC is they...
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We've all heard a kid say "I go home regardless" -- and know that sometimes "regardless" is regardless of finishing out one's sentence in TDCJ, right?  But -I- get to go home ANY TIME I WANT and never have to step foot in a dorm again.  That's kind of a nice feeling, knowing there's an escape hatch should I need it.

And the nice things about home?  Ohhh, I've  been blessed because of what I've earned at TYC.  Things like:

• Double-ply toilet tissue.
• More video games, movies, high speed inte...

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Good to see the State provides the kids with sun block if they go outside more than 30 minutes or so.  Wouldn't want them to get all burnt up in this hot weather we're having lately.  And all that Gatorade helps, too.  How nice.

Bet their mouths are already watering for those snow cones coming up, eh?  One can only imagine the cons in TDCJ would like some snow cones, too... but not probably gonna happen.  If nothing else, the snow cones for the kids can be an incentive for them to  not to get ...
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It's not the BEST institutional food I've ever had, but I'd say the food served at the school, overall, is pretty OK.  It's not a lot of food, but enough, for sure.  Not much seasoning as typical in institutions, but prepared well and nutritious.,  Variety is not that emphasized, but it beats "food loaf" at TDCJ, I'm sure.  And, it's generally served hot and fresh.  I've sampled all three meals and don't see how the kids can legitimatly complain about what they're being fed.

The servers, both ...
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Yes, it's another shift of slogging through the motions of meaningless paperwork, confrontments, firm/fair/consistant personal behavior, day by day.  Who cares, who knows, who bothers?  Well -- a lot of things bother me on the job.

But here's the catch -- the worse it gets around here, the more people we have going out on stress leave.  That REALLY bothers ME, since I don't go that route.  We're ALL stressed, kids and JCO's and everyone else... right?  But when things get un-manageable, like t...
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I've got a bit of a problem with this program:

*  Pool tournements??!  Just what the little hustlers need.  See y'all at Bernie's in a few years, SUCKERS!!  Geeeze.

*  What does a place that offers slip-n-slides, cookouts, movies, snow cones, video games and karaoke contests sound like to YOU?  A cruise?  Boy Scout camp?  A damn RESORT??!  Or a maximum security prison for juvenile felons?  YOU TELL ME!

*  Excuse me, but even though Michael Jackson could dance like nobody else and had some catchy...
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A Quote From The Book "1984" By GEORGE ORWELL:

"Statistics were just as much a fantasy in their original version as in their rectified version. A great deal of the time you were expected to make them up out of your head. For example, the Ministry of Plenty's forecast had estimated the output of boots for the quarter at one-hundred-and-forty-five million pairs. The actual output was given as sixty-two millions. Winston, however, in rewriting the forecast, marked the figure down to fifty-seven m...
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