Reflection

My Project Two took a much different direction than I thought it would. I started by researching the stories of each of the characters I chose to explore, and then I wrote about key moments within the series than has effected them significantly. I wrote my project two very freely, writing down whatever came to mind, which is something that is very uncommon for me. I definitely had a more creative writing style in this than usual. I then examined where in each character's story, could things have gone a little differently. I changed the circumstances and explored the different outcome, sometimes more then one. I found it really interesting how there were just so many options, and with one character, I found that there were an infinite number of ways jail could have been avoided, while with another, it seemed inevitable. A lot of the changes I found that could've resulted in a different story for the inmates, were issues I wrote about during my Project One. It's fascinating how real life issues are portrayed in this series. If I had the chance to explore Project Two further, I would want to look into the statistics and see how many inmates in US prisons are locked up because of reasons similar to those of the characters I chose, and then analyze how their lives could've gone differently.

This semester has taught me a lot about myself and self-exploration. It has really forced my mind to think outside of the box and on a deeper level. I think that is what colloquy is all about. Thinking in new ways to discover things on your own. It's not about googling information or gathering data from sources, it's about learning about a topic, and then discussing how you feel about it whether it's through your writing or other ways of expression. I found myself looking at my work from all different directions, thinking of ways to view my topic in a different light or from a different perspective. Sometimes I agreed with my own thoughts, other times I disagreed, but it was about exploring the angles that mattered. I think this course has benefited my thought process for future writing classes and life in general. It has shown me the difference between critical and creative thinking and has proved the importance of both.

Project Two

Here is the link to my Prezi Presentation of my Project Two.

https://prezi.com/view/aQsfbvtJlXBuP7cmhFuJ/

Précis

     Our Project Two is designed to be all about creativity and how we can use our analysis of a text and present it to a reader in a creative way. Writers do this all the time when creating books, movies, TV series, songs, and anything else that requires an audience. You have to be creative in order to reach people. For Project Two, we were told to pick a piece of work to analyze. Some students used books, others chose movies or video games. The style of the writing could be whatever we wanted. I chose the popular TV series Orange Is The New Black because it tied in with my topic for Project One.

          Orange Is The New Black (OITNB) was based off of the memoir by Piper Kerman and Jenji Kohan created the television adaptation.  Kerman wrote her memoir about the experiences she had in a women’s prison after being convicted with money-laundering charges that resulted from helping her love interest in a drug operation. OTINB revolves around the main character, Piper Chapman, and her experience in a women’s prison. The series follows Piper as she makes friends and enemies within the prison and learns how to survive in a completely different lifestyle. Viewers are also provided backstories on some of the supporting characters that give the audience a look at what the character's lives were like before prison and what they did to get there. The show brings up real world issues such as sexual harassment, corruption, funding cuts, overcrowding, and prisoner’s general well-being.

     The idea of the writer including backstories for each of the characters and taking us on a journey through their lives really reminded me of this idea of a "butterfly effect". The butterfly effect is the theory that the smallest actions you do within your life, can have extreme consequences. When watches the backstories of the characters in OITNB, you can see some of them made such simple and small mistakes or choices that led them to be in the correctional facility. I decided for my Project Two that I really wanted to connect the ideas of the butterfly effect with the lives of convicted criminals and see how the two interact with one another. To do this, I decided I would take a few characters from OITNB who have extensive backstories provided, and write them alternate endings. Would the choices they make result with them still ending up in the prison? Or would it lead them to a completely different lifestyle altogether? My Project Two will consist of two writing portions, one with my creative alternate endings for the characters, and another with my analysis on the butterfly effect and how I think it is incorporated with the choices we make. 

Project One

For our Project One we were told to pick a topic that was interesting to us or that would benefit our lives if we explored it deeper. I chose to pick the topic of incarceration and the effects it can have on people. This project was meant to be a critical thinking project and help us develop ways to think deeper about topics to help us in our everyday lives. Below is my Project One. My goal for this assignment was to present common issues that come with incarceration that most people to do not know about. I wanted my reader to be more aware of the judgements they make and the tribulations that ex-convicts have to deal with as they are reentering society or entering incarceration.I believe that this assignment has helped me realize things about myself when dealing with others and has given me a different outlook on life. I have a better understanding of my own opinions and how passionate I am on the topic.

Maia Rose Wiederhold

Joseph Lewis                                                                                                             

Honors Colloquy

March 9, 2018

Convict Misconceptions

Growing up, a child has a preconceived idea put into their head about police, crime, jail, and other factors that are associated with “bad guys”. The police are the heroes that save the day, meant to catch the criminals and send them to prison where they deserve to be. To a child, and to many others, these criminals are the worst kind of people. They’re mean, they’re heartless, and they deserve to be locked up away from everyone to keep society safe. When I was younger, I would have never thought that one day I would sit next to one of my closest and oldest childhood friends in court and hear the judge tell the family, and everyone in the room, that his father was convicted guilty. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would go to my best friend’s house for dinner and sit across from a man recently released after spending fifty years of his life in a maximum-security facility. Most of all, I could have never seen in my future that my boyfriend would be a man who served three years in prison. All three of these events have occurred in my life within the past year, and each affair has been full of its own emotional turmoil, surprises, and struggles for both myself and the family members of these people. Witnessing firsthand the trauma that friends and family go through when a loved one is sentenced to prison has become a very real and personal problem in my life.

Out of the three men that I have mentioned already, none of them would I consider to be “bad guys”. If I had heard what was happening to these men as a child, I’m sure I would change my perspective. My parents would tell me “Keith’s dad is going to go away for a while because he did something bad.” My adolescent mind would be able to put two and two together and understand what was happening: Keith’s dad is a bad man, who did something bad, and now he’s going where all of the bad guys go. Luckily, as an adult, I can understand the situation better. I have grown up with Keith and his father has played a huge role in my life. He is a good man, a good husband, and a good father to his three children. However, he made a huge mistake that has led him to, most likely, three to five years in prison.

As his father’s case of fraud and embezzlement has unfolded in the local media, I have watched Keith read horrifically hateful comments on news articles and Facebook about his father. People who have never met his dad call him a “pig” and a “greedy bastard”, making judgements off of what they have read in the media versus making their own opinions of him based off the man himself. Being 18 years old, Keith can understand what is happening a little better than his 6-year-old sister, who has lost her daddy and is unable to comprehend why. Lisa will grow up and spend the majority of her childhood now, without her father.

Growing up without a family member due to crime is not uncommon. My best friend’s uncle was recently released from prison after serving fifty years. Being sentenced when he was only 18 years old, the man has no wife and no children, however, he left behind many other loved ones. T.J. had never met his uncle until a few days after he was released. He had heard stories and had seen pictures, but had missed out on developing a relationship with his own family member. As for his mother, and other aunts and uncles, they have grown up without their oldest brother there for them. Now that he is out of prison, he has to work hard to adapt to the real world, an issue that is hard for men and women who have been institutionalized in correction facilities for most of their lives. Not only does his uncle have to struggle to develop relationships with his family and friends after they have become merely strangers to each other, but he must gain an understanding of himself and how he interacts with the outside world. This can often be a problem when trying to find jobs or simply live a healthy, happy, and social life.

Finding employment and being able to support yourself is a huge obstacle to overcome as an ex-convict. My boyfriend, Adam, was released from prison this past October after serving a three-year sentence, and one of his biggest struggles has been finding a job. While he did complete his GED while being incarcerated, he has little to no experience because of how young he was when he got himself into trouble. No work experience makes it hard to create resumes and find someone to give you your first chance, especially with your history and undergoing background checks. Many times, when ex-cons are unable to find work, they try to make money in the easiest way they know how: selling drugs or engaging in other illegal activity. This then leads to them getting caught and ultimately ending back up in the jail cell they came from. These men and women struggle to break the cycle and overcome the challenges that come with simply being released.              
Through the past year I have witnessed three very different, yet similar, cases of convicted criminals. I have seen my boyfriend, a young adult whom I know personally, being released and am watching him reintegrate himself back into the world. Through my best friend, I have witnessed an older man who has been released after a much longer sentence and watched how his life has affected those around him. In contrast, I have experienced through my friend Keith what a family goes through before a loved one is sentenced to prison, and the stress and heartache that comes along with the process. While all three of these men were convicted for three very different crimes and come from completely different backgrounds, they are all more or less facing the same issues that all convicts face. They must deal with their emotions of themselves and their family members, which correlates directly with the relationships they maintain with their loved ones. Being a past criminal, they have to face the struggles of coming to terms with their past and trying to deal with the stigmas that the world has created for them as “bad guys”.                                        

Being an ex-convict in our society is hard, and sometimes we can be the reason for pushing these people down again instead of helping them up. When these people are released from incarceration they deal with so many obstacles that most of us do not realize. They have to go through society with a mistake they made in their past always looming over them. Knowing that they will struggle with their relationships, employment, and their own personal emotions, often leads to depression or a feeling of helplessness. It is easy for us to forget that these inmates, in prison and out, deal with mental health issues. There are many who deal with depression and ultimately result in suicide because they find themselves unable to live in society. A few of the reasons this depression can start is the feelings of loneliness. Sometimes the family members and friends of criminals can abandon them when they are incarcerated, leaving these people with nobody to turn to once they are released. Many fathers and mothers go in to prison and come out with their children barely recognizing them and not knowing who they are. Some people who have completed extremely long sentences are released into a world that is completely different than the one that they came from and are unsure how to operate in it.

While in prison, “time seems still”, my friend always tells me. He says the one thing that got him through is patience and knowing that he needed to use his time there to become a better person. When considering my own experiences this past year with the three men in my life who have undergone the conditions that I have mentioned, I believe I have had a changed mindset and want to share it with others. People will always have a certain opinion until they experience a situation themselves. Never in a million years would I assume that I would fall in love with a man who spent three years of his life in prison. I’m also positive that Keith would never have imagined that he would one day be sitting through his father’s court trial. Before this past year, I hadn’t given much thought to “criminals”. I continued to have the preconceived idea about them that I have had since a child: bad guys deserved to be in prison. I would’ve never thought there would be so much more to it. I encourage every person that I come in contact with to not only open up their minds, but open up their hearts to anyone they meet who may have served time and are struggling to reenter society. By giving them trust, offering them your friendship, responsibility, and love, you are giving them the support they need to better their lives. While I would never wish the firsthand experiences of prison or the court system on anyone, I encourage those who have not gone through a close friend or family member being incarcerated to reconsider their actions when they do come in contact with someone who has been.

The Beginnings...

My whole thought process this semester began with our first assignment: Journal 1.
The goal for this journal was to first explain what we expected out of this semester. Colloquy is a Delta specific course, and there isn't really a course curriculum that defines it. From the beginning, our professor told us that we as students are the ones who will determine what Honors Colloquy really is. I wrote this assignment after our first class period, in which our professor told us to define critical thinking, and left the room. This was a challenging task for a room full of strangers, but it ultimately set the mood for the semester. Here are my initial thoughts of the class written in my Journal 1:

My first impression of this class could probably be summed up simply by using the word confusion. I’m not sure what to expect out of this class. It makes me feel somewhat uneasy or nervous that there isn’t a set subject or curriculum that this course falls into. I have a feeling I am going to finish this semester still not knowing what kind of class I just took.                                                                                                                                                           

I found it interesting working so closely with my classmates so soon. Despite none of us knowing each other, not only did we work in small pairs, but we worked cooperatively as a whole. I enjoyed working like this because you got to see the personalities of people in the room very quickly. There are a few who have very strong opinions and voice them loudly, while there are others who are extremely observant and aware of what is going on but won’t speak their mind unless they are directly asked.                                        

Getting to know my peers in this type of setting was interesting because not only did we have to get to know one another a little bit, we had to accomplish a goal, and within that goal we had to make sure everyone was satisfied. This meant dealing with one or two little disagreements and working through them the best we could. Certain people got their way and others had to sacrifice but in the end, we were all at a unanimous agreement. I feel like this class will be very laidback and personal. Getting to know my classmates will probably play a big role in the classroom.

Introducing Me

     Hello! I am currently a freshmen student at Delta College in the honors program, taking the Honors Colloquy course. I plan on transferring to study biomedical engineering and become a prosthetic engineer. Throughout this semester we have explored both critical and creative thinking, and applied these two concepts to subjects that we have chosen. I am taking Honors Colloquy to fulfill the requirement to earn Delta's Honors Certificate and Honors President's Award. 
     My whole semester has revolved around convicted criminals and the consequences and lives of these convicts. When the opportunity to explore this subject presented itself to me through a series of assignments within this class, I took full advantage of it. Within the past year of my life, I have held relationships with those dealing with the consequences of prison life and wanted to explore it further.    
     My Project One, or project that dealt with deeper critical thinking, dealt with the consequences and was a self-exploration project for myself. I focused on highlighting aspects of convicted felons that many people in our society do not realize and strived to explain these to my reader. My Project Two, or project on creative thinking, is focusing on the choices that these "criminals" made, and the paths that led them to where they are. This blog is here to express my findings to the public, and help myself better organize my thoughts and understand my learning throughout the semester. I hope you enjoy and find something useful for you to use in your every day life! My purpose is to hopefully create a deeper level of thinking for everyone and encourage them to explore convict life and prison reform on their own.