Snowdrops, Chaos, Cake and Emotional Timescales ~ by Minnie Birch

The Prison Book Group is running late. The prison book group

photo courtesy of  91.7 Coast FM

quite often runs late. It is my first day back here after a few days, and chaos has hit minutes after opening the library door. The strangest of things happen here which you take in your stride, but are a stark reminder that you are in a prison, that this is an unusual place to be. Then as the chaos starts to settle, you boil the kettle, gather biscuits and a pile of books, and sit down in the comfy corner of the library, which looks just like any public library, and book group begins.

“How was your week?”

“What’s new?”

“Are you watching the football?”

“Who has read the book?”

And there, all of a sudden, in the most unusual of places you are with a group of like-minded people about to discuss a book.

This month’s book was Snowdrops by A.D Miller. We have been

Cover photo courtesy of Amazon

sent copies of this book from the National Literacy Trust, who run a scheme called Books Unlocked, which is about getting high quality books into prison book groups – they send us shortlisted Booker Prize novels to discuss. 

There are a lot of fantastic organisations that are all too aware that low literacy levels are rife in prison, that many people do not read or struggle with reading, that many never have read for pleasure at all. Encouraging people to develop their literacy skills is a key part of what the library service does, but this scheme is not about that.

This scheme plugs another gap, this scheme is for the readers, people who have spent their lives immersed in a good book, for whom reading has always been an escape, for those who can be “snobby” readers, want to dissect their books apart and have a shared reading experience. That’s who these books are for. 

As a bit of a slow reader myself, I can admit to struggling sometimes to get on-board with the narratives of this sort of fiction. Snowdrops, however, is a quick and easy read. I galloped through it and enjoyed the language and the story line. 

The overall feeling from the group is that it isn’t developed enough, we are left wanting to know a bit more about the place in which the book is set and the characters we are meeting.There’s a feeling the book is autobiographical and we have a lot of discussion around this. 

Then, as is inevitable (and important I feel) in any book group, we digress and we talk about other things. I find there is always something that makes me stop and think. This month my “stop and think” came from someone who was talking about how time has different faces. 

photo courtesy of Pexels.com/John Tong

He says he has been in prison 21 months and it has actually gone quite fast, it doesn’t feel that long, it all feels quite new still and the time is, thankfully for him at this point in his life, passing quickly. But he also mentioned how emotional time is different. He has been in prison 21 months and that has passed quickly, but due to his sentence, he's been away from his wife for 21 months and he says it feels like an eternity. You can see why I need to stop and think on this.

Cover photo courtesy of Amazon

Next month, we will be reading The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga--feel free to read along with us and send us any thoughts I can bring to our discussion. 

The Heart of the Working People Part 1 ~by Sue Ellen Stordahl-Kitchel

Making a Difference ~ by Sue Ellen Stordahl-Kitchel

Growing up in a small rural town in Montana was a luxury that I will forever be grateful for. Cut Bank was a booming oil town when I lived there from 1956 to 1974. Our community was strong, our teachers were some of the best in the state and my clan of relatives made sure I stayed out of trouble. Growing up with an alcoholic father could have made my life take a different path, but the amazing support I had from my extended family and community only made me more determined to move forward.


Those Montana roots showed me that resiliency was key and at the

end of the day, the only choice. Ms. Eleanor Smith, a teacher at Cut Bank High School, took me under her wing and made certain I stayed focused on my grades and guided my determination to get into college. With her help, 11 scholarships and a borrowed suitcase, I headed to Montana State University in the fall of 1974.

My career working with at-risk youth started with a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Justice.  I did my internship at a youth residential treatment facility in Great Falls, MT.  Families with drug and alcohol abuse were the common theme in the backgrounds of the youth I served. I realized early on how fortunate I was that I had a supportive community and an amazing teacher who mentored me.  It easily could have been me in their shoes.  

I started my professional career in Bremerton, WA working as an employment counselor for the Dept. of Labor Training Programs for low-income youth.  A majority of the youth in the program were dabbling with the law, doing poorly in school, and needed positive intervention to stay out of the court system. I felt certain that with proper training and support, they would break the cycle of poverty and stay clear of the juvenile justice system.  

This amazing journey lasted 20 years and provided a library of inspiring stories and positive outcomes for kids.  Add another 15 years of working in a high school as a School-to-Work Coordinator, continued education for a Master’s Degree in Business Administration and a Career & Technical Teaching Degree and we arrive on the doorstep of the Washington Youth Academy National Guard Youth Challenge Program in July of 2013.  I am wrapping up my 41st year of working with at-risk teens and this program is the pinnacle of my years of service.   

The mission and vision of the Washington Youth Academy is to

provide at-risk youth a quality education, positive values, and life and job skills training that will help change their lives and give them hope and opportunity for a new future.  

Funded by the National Guard, the program uses quasi-military training to instill the importance of integrity, discipline, and hard work to reach their goals.  

It has been difficult to change the impression that some have that we are a “boot camp” for bad kids.  In truth, we serve youth who recognize that if they don’t make a change in their lives, they won’t graduate from high school or achieve their dreams.  We don’t train soldiers – we use structure and consequences to develop positive work habits.  

Students come to us looking for a second chance for success. They enter the program failing their academic classes and leave 6 months later with A’s and B’s.  They get 8 hours of sleep, 3 healthy meals, daily physical fitness and group counseling and support.  There are no cell phones, no computer games, no relationship distractions – just positive youth development from sun up to sun down.  

Washington Youth Academy is rated one of the top performing

Youth Challenge Programs in the Nation.  Although the program is young in age, opening just 10 years ago, we have designed, delivered, re-evaluated, and enhanced our strategies to provide one of the most cost effective educational intervention programs available.  

My role in this amazing program is as a supervisor for the team of 9 in charge of Outreach and Admissions and Case Management.  Additionally, we offer one of the most valuable mentoring programs in the nation by matching youth with a mentor from their hometown.  The mentor provides support to the youth once they graduate from the program and return home.  

While attending the Academy, youth make tremendous gains, both educationally and emotionally.  They learn to be effective leaders while also understanding importance of being able to follow.  Graduates leave the Washington Youth Academy with 8 school credits to apply towards their deficiencies in their home high school.  They leave confident, inspired, and ready to take on the world.  

Unfortunately, while they have made amazing strides towards

improving their life’s journey, those at home have not changed.  Family dynamics may still be dysfunctional.  Their friends are still using drugs and alcohol, skipping school, and making bad choices.  This is where the Mentor steps in to guide, support and encourage them to stay the course.  

All of us can point to a time in our lives when a caring, supportive adult stepped in to mentor and guide us.  In the words of a wise man, “The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image, but giving them the opportunity to create themselves.” — Steven Spielberg.  

I am thankful every day for Eleanor Smith – for her guidance, her support and undying encouragement.  But most of all, I am thankful for giving me the opportunity to create myself.  She gave me courage and wisdom and helped me recognize my innate ability to make a difference in the youth whose lives I have touched.  I am a blessed woman!

Sue Ellen Stordahl-Kitchel