Medford, New Jersey -- night

Tomorrow is Mita's birthday, but we celebrated it tonight. Mita, Jessica, and I just got back from dinner at El Azteca on Rt. 73 in Mt. Laurel; I paid the bill. The food was pretty good and I used the opportunity to speak Spanish.

As I write this, I'm leaning on my left elbow while listening to a radio program on Temple University Public Radio, 90.1 FM, which runs every Saturday night from 9pm to 12 midnight. The program is all latin music, mostly salsa.

This past week at work I was supposed to do workshops at halfway houses around the city each evening on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Since the trainings each evening were scheduled from 6pm to 7pm, Richard invited me to live with him for the week. The two experiences, at the halfway houses and with Richard, were interesting.

I'll start first by reflecting on my visits to the halfway houses. On Tuesday evening, I led a training to a group of four ex-prisoners at 15th and Cecil B. Moore, right by Temple University. It was my first training, and definitely a test of my knowledge of family law, after just returning from four months away. I was fairly informal in the presentation, but still presented the information quite clearly. I talked to the ex-prisoners using their first names. And of course, whenever I got the chance, I threw in a funny remark or comment to keep things light. At the end of the presentation, I spoke for a few minutes with Gilbert Coleman, from the Mayor's Office of Community Services. We had a nice conversation, and as I found out the next day from his colleague, he was impressed by my presentation.

Unfortunately, though, the next two evenings were not as rewarding. Each of the next two evenings, not one ex-prisoner showed up. It ended up being nearly a complete waste of time. On Wednesday evening, the only redeeming event was listening to one of the wardens at the halfway house speak his opinion (which he stressed was from the "old school"), and then the ride I got from Shareef El-Amin and our conversation from 407 North 8th Street to the intersection of Broad and Erie.

Since I had gotten a ride, I arrived earlier than expected and had to wait for Richard to arrive. While I was sitting on a cement ledge, I noticed a black woman approaching me from behind. Quite abruptly, she says to me without any sort of introduction: "We will call you Fernandez." Of course she was all by herself. So it was very apparent that she was either a mental health patient or a drug abuser. In that area, and based on her appearance, it was probably the latter. I acknowledged her by saying that I liked the name. But she just kept on walking, even while continuing her public conversation. Just a couple minutes later, Richard pulled up in his black Cadillac.

Thursday night was not much better. I went to the halfway house at 1221 Bainbridge Street. When I got there, I got into a basic, but good conversation with an ex-prisoner while waiting for the guy from the Mayor's Office to show up. The guy was 41 years old, and seemed to have finally gotten his head on straight. He cared a lot for his kid, and says his only addiction was to buying clothes. I hope that is the truth, not only for his sake but also for his kid's sake. When the guy from the Mayor's Office arrived, there were no prisoners there that had interest in a legal presentation. For the second night in a row, I did not present anything. The extent of my involvement was responding to a couple of hypothetical scenarios presented by another assistant from the Mayor's Office. So, all in all, it was a disappointing experience and a lost challenge.

A somewhat bright spot, though, was staying with Richard for the week. Although I was exhausted every night, we did spend solid time together out of the office. Surprisingly though, we did not have any long or deep conversations. So in that aspect too, this past week fell short of what it could have been. Those things happen though, so no sweat.

I believe I'm starting to realize a re-orientation, a re-direction, in my professional interests. I have certain goals which I am seriously considering. I will save this for my next entry, though, since I am feeling very tired. Corey and I hit the town last night, so I think I used all my reserves then. Well, I hope to write again tomorrow. We shall see.