MJ-Way

After speaking with the hospital administration about changing my major to Business Administration, I had informed them I would have to think about it. In the mean time I was having a great time working here. The employees welcomed me and I actually got a tour of the Brewster-Douglas Projects were I shared a lunch with two of my new friends. They informed me that the Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Joe Louise and Lilly Tomlin lived there at one time. I told them I just saw Stevie Wonder at the Olympia. He was fantastic. They were graduates of Cass Technical High School and were current students of Wayne State University studying premed. They wanted to know all about me and what brought me to seek employment at the medical center. I informed them that I didn’t feel safe working in the factories and that with all the horse play, drug and alcohol use I was concerned for my safety. A fellow classmate informed me about the medical center hiring and I applied.

At one point in the factory I told them I actually believed someone tried to do me in but the company nurse informed me it was just an accident. I had been cleaning a paint station which was supposedly turned off, but became activated gassing me to unconsciousness. I believe I had what doctors would later call NDE. (Near Death Experience) I woke up sitting on the floor against the wall with an oxygen mask on. The company nurse and what looked to be a medic walked me from the factory to the clinic. She informed me to continue breathing in the oxygen and I would stay here for the rest of my shift. I had made up my mind from then on I would find other employment, and here I am eating red beans with rice in the middle of the Brewster Projects with both of you employed at the medical center. I thanked them for their hospitality, and promised to bring them some home made Polish cuisine. They laughed.

Upon returning from our lunch break my supervisor told me to put scrub clothes on and my lab jacket. He wanted me to go to operating room 3, pick up a specimen, STAT, and take it to the microbiology lab. No problem I thought. I got dressed and rushed to the operating rooms as requested. Upon entering I put on shoe covers, a scrub hat, face mask, and hung up my lab coat. (Entering a sterile area protocol.) The operating rooms were not opened on the weekend so I figured this must be an emergency surgery since it was 6:00PM on a Saturday. A women I believed to be a nurse stood in the doorway of the women’s locker room. She addressed me as Dr. B… and reached behind her back . Before I could inform her I was not a Doctor, her scrub dress dropped to the floor and she was completely naked, accept for her mask and flowered scrub hat. I was shocked, eyes big as saucers, but not as shocked as her when I informed her I was not a Doctor. I told her I was there to pick up a specimen, and take it immediately to the microbiology lab!!! In her anguish she picked her scrub dress back up and told me to go to operating room 3. I asked her, “if I run into Dr. B…do you want me to tell him you need to speak with him?” She swore at me and went inside the locker room. I took that for a no and proceeded to operating room 3. This rookie was going to like working here for sure.!!! To Be Continued…

Putin’s army continues to wage open war in the Ukraine. He needs to be arrested along with his staff of enablers and brought to trial for the indiscriminate bombing of cities and killing of civilians. I pray justice will be forthcoming. Slava Ukraini

This is where life began for me. The Detroit Medical Center, Women’s Hospital ,later to be called Hutzel Hospital, is where I took my first breath, in the early summer 1955. I would return there nineteen years later on an offer of employment. After working in several factories and not feeling safe in any of them (early 1970’s rampant drug and alcohol use combined with heavy equipment made for lots of injuries) I was offered employment at the medical center. I had a friend from college who was also working there and she encouraged me to work there as well. The opportunities were abundant. I was nearly complete with my Associate’s Degree in Liberal Arts from a local community college and would have to pick a university to continue my study. They offered a full tuition reimbursement program. Something that was rather unique at the time. Harper hospital was known as a teaching hospital. This hospital system incorporated two schools of nursing and was affiliated with Wayne State University. Harper Hospital would merge with Grace Hospital in 1973 and become one of the largest health care providers in Detroit Metropolitan area. They became my world from 1975 through 1989. This bird returned to his proverbial Capistrano.

My extended families lived in the neighborhoods surrounding the medical center known as Pole Town. As a very young child I can remember meeting my Great Grandmothers and the smells of something always being cooked in their kitchens. The historic Polish- American, Roman Catholic churches on Canfield street, St. Albertus 1884, Sweetest Heart of Mary 1893, and St. Josaphat 1901, is where the communities of Polish Americans would flourish through the 1900’s. The African American communities surrounding the medical center also had a very rich heritage and I was glad to be welcomed there as well. On payday which happened every two weeks I could get for 5 dollars some of the best barbeque this side of the Mississippi River. It included two large pieces of baked bread, collard greens, macaroni and cheese. and what ever meat was grilled. It was usually chicken, ribs or fish but no matter the meat, it was the sauce that pulled it all together. I remember it all being delicious, especially the gumbos.

Being part of both communities was something I would cherish as I grew older. Being a part of the Detroit Medical Center was a learning experience I would never forget. My supervisors were always supportive and when I had classes they wanted to know how I was doing. If I had any problems in chemistry, biology, or anatomy I was encouraged to ask questions. When I did have questions I would be referred to the nearest expert who made sure I understood by having me complete problems, or answer their questions correctly. In Anatomy I ended up watching several autopsies and I was able to ace that class. I had completed all the life sciences and was prepared to embark on a medical course of study when I was approached by the hospital’s administration. They wanted to know how I was doing in school? When I told them I was doing well and what I was planning on doing they had an offer for me. Instead of continuing my studies for a medical career they wanted me to take classes in business management instead. They had big plans for the DMC and they wanted me to be part of it. This offer I would have to think on. To Be Continued….

Giving the prison stories a needed break. Thinking of life before teaching in the prison.

John 8:39-47

Alexander Solzhenitsyn was a Russian author exiled but latter returned to Russia. It is too bad his message has not been followed and history will repeat itself in Russia again thanks to Putin and his gang of thugs.

I was trained in my early years as a percussionist. I understood the importance of rhythm and timing as it applied to music. What I eventually became aware of is that timing is universal. In the plant world it was a task my tutors and I took on to keep growing a variety of crops from March thru November. A difficult task in a northern climate. At the same time, I still wanted to supply urban gardens with the same plant material. The perpetual garden utilizing the spring, summer, and fall months became a goal for my students to research and introduce varieties into our growing seasons which could enhance our yields. We would share that knowledge with our community. It wasn’t always that easy. We had plenty of failures, but we also had some success.

Over the years we were able to develop a plan utilizing several varieties of plants that enhanced our continued production. One of the unique varieties my students found was a sweet potato that would grow in our climate. The sweet potatoes would be one of our last plants harvested for the year and the yields were exceptional. Our local food bank was ecstatic when we dropped off over 200 lbs. of them for distribution just before the Thanks Giving holiday. Perfect timing. They could not believe we were growing sweet potatoes in the north, and wanted to know how we were doing it. I told them our students were responsible for finding the cultivars we could utilize. By the smiles on their faces I could tell they were happy with my students success.

But where we had our growing season timed, the plants to be grown and what we would harvest timed, I was not able to time my students departure. I had a vocational instructor in high school who was an exceptional instructor. He not only trained his students in all aspects of working in a metal shop, welding, machining, and metallurgy, he found them employment. I wanted to do the same for my students leaving the prison to become returning citizens. I was able to make the acquaintance of the President of Hantz Farms, Michael Score. John Hantz, the entrepreneur who created Hantz Farms, was an acquaintance of one of our academic teachers and had graduated from the same high school. Michael Score, the President of Hantz Farms, came to my classroom once a year to explain to my students the need for redemption both spiritually and mentally. He was an excellent inspirational speaker and I had made arrangements for one of my paroling students to contact him for employment upon being paroled. Our new Programs Education Manager, my past principal, instructed me to contact our newly hired Employment Coordinator and make her a part of this process.

Unfortunately, she had no idea of what I was talking about when I contacted her. In her defense, the position she had been hired to fill had no job description. She was the first. Our school principal who had been promoted to Education Manager in our states’ capital left a void that would not be filled quickly. I was left scrambling to organize the connection of my student to this potential employer, and was unable to accomplish it. My student was paroled but not to the place where he could work for this employer. My timing sucked. I had to explain to this potential employer that we were in a “state of transition” and that hopefully in the near future we could make better arrangements if they still were interested in hiring my graduates. He thanked me for trying and sent me the DVD “Land Grab” which he wanted me to show our students. The film was featured in the 2016 Heartland film festival. All I could think of was how easy my high school vocational teacher made it look for placing his students with local employers. He was my inspiration for trying to make a difference here. I just had to work on my timing. Mathew 18: 1-10

Putin’s armies continue an invasion of a sovereign nation. The Ukrainians are literally fighting for their lives as he continues to shell schools, hospitals, apartment buildings. and train stations. There is no justification for this war. He is blaming everyone but himself for the incursions, destruction and deaths his armies are causing in the Ukraine. I pray Putin and his minions will be brought to justice soon. Slava Ukrani

I had visited a number of prisons in the DOC and could honestly say they were run like kingdoms. The wardens wielded ultimate authority over their individual facilities. Nothing was allowed to be accomplished in them without the warden’s approval. In my career I had worked for five different wardens, and visited with countless others. They all had their own way of managing, but they all acted like kings or queens of their kingdoms. They had the last say on any and all programming. Sometimes it was difficult when the warden was obviously not happy with what was being proposed by the school administration. However, the school administration still expected the teachers to carry out all policy and program changes to the letter regardless of what the warden or his staff wanted. It was what the bureaucrats in our states’ capital wanted. This continued conflict was stressful for the teachers.

My new neighbor had to find out the hard way. After removing his computers from the current administrations’ offices, warden included, they were not happy with him. His only leverage was the programming he was completing with inmates was sanctioned through community grants and had a reporting mechanism. If he was unable to fulfill what the grants required he would report it. His monthly reports would make their way back to the bureaucrats in our states’ capital, and anything unfavorable would be addressed. The king would not be happy getting calls from state capital bureaucrats so he would send out his assistants to fix it. Fixing it took on a whole different meaning depending on how much they feared you. If they feared you they fixed it in your favor. If they didn’t fear you, good luck. My new neighbor they feared. He had no problems with accomplishing what the grant’s objectives were. He got the kingdom’s full support . They reasoned: the faster he got completed, the sooner he would be out of the facility, and knowing he was gone, the better.

My neighbor was sharp. Before the program he was working on in this kingdom ended he had processed the paper work to begin another. They were never going to be rid of him, and he would be letting everyone know on how the kingdom was treating him. I found it to be entertaining. He was helping the inmates who were paroling to his county with housing, getting their credentials, and possibly work. Later in his career he would actually be running a landscape company using paroled inmates, tearing down blighted housing, and making furniture from the wood. I found him to be genuine. Our kingdom administrators didn’t care for his honesty. He was critical of the school and prison bureaucracy and would make disparaging comments on the amount of people our new education manager had working for her in our state’ s capital. She didn’t care for him and began making the Business Technology Instructors throughout the prison kingdoms duplicate what he was accomplishing in our kingdom. She eventually pushed him out with the creation of Employability Councilors who would be doing the same thing. It was her way of saying thank you, and goodbye, saving the kingdom from a truth seeking usurper. Unfortunately, still occurring today at a much greater consequence. To Be Continued ..

Psalm 139: 13-24

Putin’s army is now responsible for executing civilians. Satellite imagery has proven this to be the case even though they deny it as a western fabrication. The bodies have been found strewn through out the towns and villages. Some in mass graves, partially burned, and partially buried. The surviving civilians have reported this to be fact. Terrorist Putin’s army is beginning to use portable cremation units so as not to leave any evidence. If he cannot be stopped in the Ukraine, we will be fighting him in Europe.

I was informed by our Business Technology Teacher that she would begin doing the GED Testing in our school. It was a great relief for me. I had been giving the General Education Development exams once a month for the academic school for the past 5 years. The paper exams were difficult to administer. The answer keys and exam books had to be accounted for at all times, and were renewed annually. They were secured in a safe in the principals’ office. Only the principal and I had the combination to the safe. The booklets had to be inventoried before and after every session, including making sure that all the pages were there, nothing had been ripped or torn out, and were mark free. The tests were all timed adding to the difficulty of administering them. The administrative protocols for sending in the individual student test answer sheets were just as difficult. Depending on the amount of students testing it could take me all week to process the exams. That meant that my students would be laid in (class would not be in session) while I gave the GED exams in the Horticulture classroom.

I was more than happy to have her become the GED proctor at our facility. I would only need to be the back up proctor, and help test twice a year to keep my GED proctor certification. I really enjoyed working with her. She was very organized and I often teased her that she helped me become much more organized when giving the exams. I was flying by the seat of my pants most of the time anyways. I had been storing the exams in plastic milk crates which in turn were stored in the safe. She professionalized the whole process with a locking combination, multi-folder, rolling, retracting handled suitcase! It fit perfect in our safe. Her taking over of the examination process left me more time to contact one of our local food banks. I got to take a tour of their facility and was mightily impressed with what they were able to accomplish for their community. “Neighbors Helping Neighbors” was the theme for this impressive establishment of hospitality. They were another great example of “walking the talk.” I was glad to spend time with them. They were our neighbors too.

I was asked if we could provide fresh vegetables once a week, and I informed her I did not think we would have a problem meeting that request. We could even supply plants for their community garden if she wanted them. She was happy to hear that and I made the arrangements to deliver once a week to the food bank. Returning to the prison I let our new school principal know about our commitment to support the community food bank once a week. She asked that I take pictures of the deliveries so that we would not be accused of any form of malfeasance. I agreed. Prisoners or staff when pissed off for what ever reasons could make all kinds of accusations which in turn would have to be investigated by the department’s internal investigation audit team.. The pictures would prove we made the delivery, and document our achievement. I finally got to speak to my new neighbor across the hall from my classroom and comment on how well his new classroom looked with his newly found computers. He smiled. It seems he had to piss off a whole lot of people to get back what was intended for his use only. Pandora’s box would never be closed now. The pushback would be forthcoming. “Welcome to our neighborhood.” To Be Continued...

A note of thanks to my colleague jrthumbprints.blogspot.com. I had the pleasure of working with him for over 25 years. His stories and interactions with the prisoner/students in the DOC are awesome. Check him out.

While our President gets pushback for his comment, “For God’s sake this man cannot remain in power,” Putin’s army continues killing civilians, women, children, and seniors in the Ukraine. There are reports the Russian army is using phosphorous ammunitions. They are relocating Ukraine citizens from Mariupol to filtration camps in Russia. He is doing this to his own people. He needs to be arrested and brought to trial. His henchmen believe the courts do not have jurisdiction over them. The Nazi sycophants hung for their crimes against humanity in Nuremberg, Germany October 16, 1946 thought the same thing. All for the quest of power.

Preparing for our graduation event in our school was always an activity I enjoyed. The academic school whose graduates consisted of General Education Development completions and the Vocational School’s certifications were celebrated annually. One of our guest speakers was the councilor I had advised on finding the paper trail for his lost computers. He had a list of questions he wanted to run by me before he addressed our graduates. He informed me that he did indeed get a copy of the receiver from the shipper. The signature on the receiver was that of our current warehouse supervisor. The supervisor had claimed he didn’t know anything about the computers arriving. He believed that when the boxes arrived he did sign for them not realizing they were computers. The inmate workers in the warehouse informed him that the Business manager had the inmates deliver the computers to the Administration building where they were distributed to the current administration offices. He wanted to know where he could find our Business manager? He also asked for the names of our warden, deputy warden, assistant deputy wardens, and what areas of the prison they were responsible for.

Giving him the information he requested was easy. How he used the information was going to be interesting. Our graduation commencement was completed. We shared refreshments of cake and coffee with our graduates. Our councilor guest spoke on the virtues of honesty and rebuilding integrity. This was something our graduates needed to hear. A few of the assistant deputies were in attendance but our warden and deputy warden chose not to attend. The current prison administration were not big fans of our school. Our new school principal believed they were busy in our states’ capital and were not at the prison for the graduation ceremony. I interjected that the invitations were sent out a month before the graduation commencement, and were not responded to. I was given the “be quiet look” by our new school principal as she walked away. Our councilor guest speaker smiled at me and shook his head. He noted that she didn’t seem to be happy with my response. “Well, all I can say after listening to your speech to our students was that my response to her was truthful.” He smiled.

On returning to the prison after a weeks vacation I couldn’t believe that we had a new computer lab in a classroom across from mine in our school building. Our Business Technology Instructor had informed me that “all hell broke loose” while I was gone. It seemed that our guest speaker councilor had returned to the prison with a couple of agents from the Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons. They located all of the computers and furniture procured by the DOJ, Federal Bureau of Prisons, for the councilor’s program at the prison. They were then moved to this classroom for him to begin teaching employability skills. She informed me that our new school principal was not very happy with how this all transpired and the ramifications of how this reflected on her leadership or lack of it. I shook my head. I thought at the time that our guest speaker councilor had lived up to the measure of his commencement speech to our student graduates on “Integrity and Truthfulness.” He “walked the talk!” I was going to enjoy working with his organization. Our bond was formed from that day forward. To be continued....

For the reporters, Brent Renaud, Piere Zakrzewski, and Olekasandra “Sasha” Kuvshynova. They have given their lives to report the truth. A reflection of the times we are in. For all those fighting to bring the world the truth, THANK YOU!

This was our biggest surprise! We were contacted by an agency that had heard we were donating plants, and vegetables to nonprofit organizations and after a brief description of their “Head Start Program,” we were more than happy to help them. They had a kitchen in their school building and a creative chef who would make healthy vegetable snacks for the children enrolled in their program from the produce we donated to them. Over the years I began a working relationship with two of their program councilors and they provided a lot of support to my student graduates who would be paroling. They were some very dedicated professionals and I enjoyed their camaraderie. My introduction was based on one of the councilors entering my classroom and wanting to inspect my computers. I had three in our classroom which were networked to our school server.

The computers did not have internet access, but were loaded with lessons in all levels of mathematics, reading comprehension, and writing skills. At first I thought the councilor only wanted to see what we had on our computers, but that was not the case. I was more than happy to show what educational programming was loaded on them but but that’s not what he was looking for. Apparently his organization had received computers through a grant from the Department of Justice which were to be used by the inmates to do resumes, cover letters, and employability skill building. He could not locate the computers in our school. He seemed a little discombobulated and confided in me that he needed to locate them. I suggested he check with our warehouse supervisor and see if they had been received. If they were received in our warehouse a bill of lading or shipper would have to be signed. He thanked me for the information and told me he would be in touch.

The next day I had my tutors and students harvest the pumpkins from our garden. We had a combination of different varieties. I was especially impressed with a pumpkin variety called “Lumina.” It was a white pumpkin and I knew the children from the Head Start program would enjoy painting them. I also grew meat pumpkins which could be used for cooking. Their chef could make all kinds of nutritional goodies with those. I made the arrangements with the Head Start Councilors to pick up about 30 pumpkins. They were very happy to take them and promised me pictures. The beginning of connecting with our community through the eyes of children had begun today. The future of a fruitful continued partnership with our Head Start teachers and councilors was promised.

The councilor who was looking for the computers was in our new Principal’s office when I returned to the school. He didn’t look very happy. Upon leaving her office he asked me not to leave the school building. He needed to talk with me. Once in the hallway he informed me that he still hadn’t found the computers. Our warehouse supervisor and new school principal was unaware of them being received by the prison. I informed him not to be stressed. All he had to do was contact the company responsible for shipping them and get a copy of the signed receiver. That will tell him where they are at, and who the person was receiving them. I had thought that they could have been shipped to our main warehouse in our state’s capital, but the signed receiver would be the “tale of the tape.” He thanked me again. At that time I did not realize that I just gave him the key to “Pandora’s Box.” To Be Continued…

This killer has a $1,000,000 bounty for his capture. Paid for by Russian Oligarch’s. He is murdering his own people in the Ukraine bombing hospitals, schools, and apartment buildings. Children , women, and seniors are dying in cities through out the Ukraine because of his invasion, and continued bombardment. Millions are fleeing the country. He has threatened the Western countries with nuclear war if they intercede. I pray he is arrested, and tried for his war crimes. He is claiming they are Nazi’s and are making bioweapons. His army has a history of using bioweapons. I believe he is capable of using them on his own people. He needs to be stopped. He has no concern for the life of his fellow Russians. He will have no concern for ours.

Mathew 6: 25-26

.Our garden began producing immediately after being planted. In the first year we delivered vegetables on a regular basis to the prison chow hall for both officer and inmate meals. Our immediate community food banks could not believe the amount of produce we were donating to them. I thanked my coworkers who were more than happy to make deliveries for us so that I could continue teaching and supervising my students as they worked in the gardens. Our Food Technology program Instructor would make different vegetarian meals from the produce we delivered to him. My students would try things like “green fried tomatoes,” “egg plant parmesan,” and “sweet potato fries.” Many growing up in the “urban desert” where McDonalds and Burger Kings were the meals of choice (many their only meal or they had nothing to eat) were amazed on how the vegetarian meals tasted.

.Fresh vegetables some of my students never ate. Having these types of meals prepared for them “farm to table” was a great learning experience. I could give them the macro nutrients and micro nutrients of everything they consumed from the garden. I had shown them what they were doing here today (creating gardens) was being replicated in urban environments across America. Once released form prison, they could contribute in a positive way promoting and working in a community gardening project. I was informed by my tutors of my student’s success once they returned home. Not all were success stories. Some unfortunately returned to old habits and were either gun downed or returned to prison on new charges. They just refused to change and payed the price for that decision. Some of them felt invincible. I called it “the fastest gun in the west syndrome.” Some one was always willing to lay claim to that title at the expense of the one carrying it.

.Making a fast buck in an urban environment without having to work hard for it was their “modus operandi.” That philosophy was what usually brought them back to prison. Being a positive influence in the community was not at the top of their priority list. Being king of the “crack house” was. In the drug trade: ” heavy is the head that wears the crown.” It usually has a target on it. All the teaching in the world couldn’t change their “money talks and bullshit walks” perspective. I knew I couldn’t reach some of them, but for those I could reach out and change that convoluted perspective, it helped in their continued future success. As we began harvesting the garden my students enjoyed the weighing and packaging of all the produce we would donate. The facilities chow hall would always have first choice of what we grew and then we would offer produce to our schools’ Food Technology program. When both of their refrigerators were filled, we then donated produce to our immediate community, and they were vey happy to receive it. I was always amazed at the poundage we harvested. I was sure to thank the good Lord, and a barn that provided eight dump trucks of “gardener’s gold.” It made a big difference for increasing our present and future yields. For my students, it was a healthy way to reconnect with the community.

To Be Continued….

It took us three days to complete the manure excavation. We filled eight dump trucks and I was able to empty them without incident into what would become the main prison garden. What I learned from the maintenance mechanics who had been involved in the construction of the prison was that the developers took all of the topsoil when they cleared the land for development. They then filled in the areas with sand and clay. I would spend the rest of my career filling all of the gardens with top soil and organic matter. My students would learn valuable lessons on land renewal. My helper graded and leveled the area we had removed all the manure from. The journalist was ecstatic. I thanked God for us completing this work without incident of accidents or injuries. I was always worried a mishap could send the barn crashing down on us, but my coworker assured me it would not be a mistake he would make. He proved my worries needless. Our opposite personalities worked well together on this collaboration. At the time, I did not realize there would be more.

My students and tutors began working the prison garden with a renewed vigor, and my coworker used the tractor to spread the manure turning the ground over as he went. From the furrows he created in the ground, my students made beds for the vegetables plants they grew from seed in the greenhouse. They were able to plant the full garden using topsoil we combined with the compost making raised beds. Almost an acre of land was planted with vegetables. It amounted to well over ten thousand plants. I expected a good continued harvest if the weather permitted it throughout the spring, summer and fall. The garden being next to the school could only be accessed through the school. This unfortunately would change in the future, but for now only my students and tutors had access to the garden. I also set up garden plots for my students. The stipulations were that they had to pick two other students to work in their garden, they had to agree on what they planted, they had to all take time to tend to it, and finally, the yields from their harvest were to be divided amongst them according to the work they put in.

One of my assistants tracked the time they worked in their gardens and the time they worked in the classroom garden labs. The hours worked were tracked as part of the classroom requirement to graduate, and many exceeded that requirement. They loved working in the horticulture labs, and I was hard pressed to make them leave when class was over. They often wanted to return, but were sent back not having a detail (official permission slip) to be there. The garden area was marked with out of bounds signs. This meant that only detailed students and workers could be there at the designated times working. Anyone else caught in the garden without a detail would be written a major out of place ticket. In the beginning this seemed to work. With my students and helpers having sole access to the garden area we were able to increase our annual yields. The warden was happy to be getting letters of thanks from the foodbanks we delivered our product to. The warden shared the letters with me and I made sure to share them with my students. It was a very important lesson for my students. Even though they were incarcerated, they could still contribute to society in a positive way. For some of them working in the garden and contributing in a positive way was a sorely needed redemption. TO BE CONTINUED…

This is my last post for Black History Month. My African American students enjoyed the stories/movies I would show them in my classroom about the positive contributions their ancestors made in America. The following music and video is a great contribution as well for the trying times we all find ourselves in and to celebrate the month: Philippians 2:3

We had agreed that we would need to get the facilities dump truck and back hoe tractor to do the excavation. I would let the warden know what are plans were and get his approval for use of the facilities equipment. We figured that it may take us about 3 days to complete the project, and I was concerned that the barn wasn’t in the best condition. We would need to be careful when excavating. My helper was very confident he could remove all the manure and dump it into the truck without damaging the barn. My job would be to get all the approvals from our supervisors, secure all of the equipment we would need, and finally, get the wardens approval of our plan to excavate the barn. Driving a dump truck full of manure to be dumped into what would become the prison garden was the easy part. So I thought.

The warden when I spoke to him was all for our plan and he had total confidence in our ability to accomplish it safely. He signed off on us using the facilities equipment which would be useful when requesting the equipment. Our supervisors knowing the warden had signed off on the project gave us their blessings. We set a date and I called the journalist to make sure it was a good date for her as well. She was happy to hear it was going to happen. I assured her that all the manure would be removed in a matter of three days, and my helper would grade the inside of the barn making it level again. She agreed on the date, and the amount of time we would need to have access to the barn. I was able get our facilities Director to give us access to the equipment. The equipment was a tractor with a back hoe attachment and our dump truck. We would pick them up by 7:00am and bring them back before we left for home at 4:00PM. If we had any problems we were to notify the control center immediately.

We picked the equipment up as planned in the morning of our first day. Our maintenance mechanics made sure everything was in working order and both had full tanks of gas. We planned to go straight to our job cite by way of a country road which was more like a two lane highway with gravel shoulders on each side. We would drive the shoulder all the way to the farm. My helper headed out with the tractor and had his emergency lights on. I followed behind him with my emergency lights on. It took us about 20 minutes to reach the barn. Once we reached the property the journalist made sure the horses were secured in another area of the farm and would not hinder our operation. With the back hoe he made quick progress starting in the furthest corner from our entry way. The manure itself was compacted in between layers of hay and would be a gold mine for the garden. The first day we filled two dump trucks and the barn was only a quarter completed. Some areas had as much as three feet of this compacted gold and I wanted to get every bit of it if possible.

To Be Continued…. In honor of Black history month I can think of no better way than to post a song I heard in concert by Motown’s one and only Stevie Wonder. The lyrics are most relevant for today’s world.

Mathew 22: 36-40