Young Men's Workshop at Otisville CF

Young Men's Workshop at Otisville CF

by Marvelous / Motivated Marlon Peterson

(Who said we couldn't have more than one adjective name?!)

"Jack in the BOX!  Jack in the BOX!  I do it like this.  I do it like that.  I balance WELL.  I balance WELL."

I can still hear Brilliant Born, one of the weekend's facilitators, chanting that Light and Lively in the middle of a circle with about fifteen of his thirty-something-year-old peers.  Otisville held a Thematic Advanced workshop during the weekend of October 16-18, 2009.  Otisville's creative concept of thematic workshops has been a staple here for years because of the small and disparate population.  Many of the men here have spent fifteen or more years in prison and have taken AVP many times over their incarceration.  The inside and outside coordinators at Otisville have been using the concept of thematic workshops to maintain interest in AVP.

The Young Men's workshops began in December, 2008 as a Basic / Thematic workshop.  Proudly, two of the men from that first basic workshop, Awesome A-rocks and Challenging Charzell have progressed to apprentices in this workshop.  Also facilitating this workshop were Responsible Rob, Evolving El-Sun, Merciful Mary Ann and myself.

I was more impressed to see how the facilitating team negotiated scheduling conflicts with ease.  The Friday afternoon session could have proved problematic because several of the facilitators have other obligations within the facility.  Challenging Charzell and myself had to facilitate the Two Communities Bridging the Gap class with the Vassar College students; Evolving El-Sun was committed to running his class at the Transitional Services Center, and, Awesome A-rocks and Brilliant Born were scheduled to attend the Nation of Islam's Holy Day of Atonement.  What could have resulted in a disaster was easily smoothed out with Brilliant Born leading by example during our team building session on Thursday night.  The cohesiveness of the team trickled down to the workshop participants.

It is a challenge to get young men to let their hair down and this workshop was no different.  We had an average participant age of about thirty and decided that the theme of the weekend would be "From Maleness to Manhood," a borrowed concept from the author and educator Na'im Akbar.  This theme was relevant to the demographics of the workshop because most of the men came to prison as teenagers, including Born, Charzell and myself.  Moreover, many of us were conditioned to warped characterizations of manhood like senseless machismo.  As such, the conversations initiated in the workshop led to substantive dialogue on the issue of Manhood.

In an exercise introduced by Merciful Mary Ann on Friday evening entitled, "Scar Wars," we were asked in small groups to speak about the physical and emotional scars that impacted our lives.  Participating in AVP since 2003, I have never felt so comfortable expressing personal information.  As a result, I was able to disclose an experience that I have only told two people in my life; an experience that definitely set a tone for the negative direction my life took during my mid-teens.

By Sunday afternoon, the disgruntled and sleepy faces from Friday morning morphed into eager and energized smiles.  One of those disgruntled faces from Friday, Jazzy Jay, said, "I want to go to another one of these [workshops] before I go home in January."

It was another great AVP weekend!  Thanks to the support team members: Honorable Hakeem and Youthful Yusuf; the inside coordinators Lovable Louis and Looking Lou, and our outside coordinator, Merciful Mary Ann.  We implore other facilities and community groups to involve younger people in their workshops as participants and facilitators.  The younger people need the experience, and AVP needs their vibrancy.  With that experience, they will qualify to continue and expand the AVP legacy.

I will sign off with the chant that some of the participants still shout around the facility.

"Jack in the BOX.  Jack in the BOX.  I do it like this.  I do it like that.  I balance WELL.  I balance WELL."