What the Bleep Do We Know?

I’m a the Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility (MSDF), an institution in the Wisconsin Prison System (WPS), participating in the Earned Release Program (ERP).  The Cold war has begun between cellie Andre Charles, his ally cellie Brian Whalen, cellie Malik Pearl and myself.  So silence reigns our cell now.  And guess what?  I like it that way!  The next day, normally between 8 and 9 am, we can study our ERP materials in our own cells.  But not the last two days.  With Ms. Grey, the ERP Coordinator, gone all week, the structure of our ERP group has kind of broken down.  Ok, I admit to being a bit of a routine guy, and disruptions can throw me off my game.  But inmate Larry Sands who had been appointed our ERP group leader had assembled us to watch the video Ms. Grey had assigned this morning called “What the Bleep Do We Know”.  It was one of the strangest things I’ve seen for a self help video.  It dealt with the idea that there is an universal observer that appears to be their version of God.  I wrote down a quote which was interesting.  It was “the height of arrogance is the height of control who create God in their own image”.  At another point it was stated the idea that us mere carbon based life forms could somehow influence an almighty being was ludicrous.  Our oldest group member, named Mark Hogan, just couldn’t contain himself throughout.  He is in his seventies and looks like the old drunk that hangs out in a bar at two in the afternoon, but he has a heck of a wit.  So too was it the same with Dean Stark and another group member, Russ Johnson, who is extremely knowledgeable on this treatment stuff.  He tells me he’s been to Hazelden and other famous programs.  I wish I had his knowledge.   He often gets fired up and tries to intimidate others by his physical presence if you do something he doesn’t like and is very confident in his own knowledge and you could say he likes himself.  But like I said I wish I knew all he knows.  After lunch we returned to the video room to watch “Portrait of Addiction” by Bill Moyer.  Unfortunately Sands nor any of us could get the DVD to work without the remote which was missing.  So we had to abandon the effort after an hour.  I really think Sands has done a fine job considering the situation.  I continued to work on my autobiography, ending with an interesting life!  But nobody got much done.  My favorite guard, Ruth Bartkowski, was on duty and really with everyone on vacation she and other guard don’t know what to do.  I did share the first pages of my autobiography with John Lloyd, whom I’ve come to trust a bit, in order to gage his reaction and get his opinion on this being read to the group.  He was clearly shaken but felt it would be okay to share.  But really, I’m an idiot.  If he said don’t do it, I still would have had to.  So why bother asking the question?  Supper was the most awful – Chili Mac casserole.  But its okay.  I’m okay with things so far.

Technorati Tags: Bleep,Milwaukee,Secure,Detention,MSDF,institution,Wisconsin,Prison,System,Release,Program,Cold,Andre,Charles,Brian,Whalen,Malik,Pearl,cell,Grey,Coordinator,inmate,Larry,leader,self,observer,version,arrogance,image,life,member,Mark,Hogan,afternoon,Dean,Stark,Russ,Johnson,treatment,Hazelden,knowledge,room,Portrait,Addiction,Bill,Moyer,effort,situation,autobiography,Ruth,Bartkowski,vacation,John,Lloyd,reaction,opinion,Supper,Chili,cells,disruptions,cellie,himself

LiveJournal Tags: Bleep,Milwaukee,Secure,Detention,MSDF,institution,Wisconsin,Prison,System,Release,Program,Cold,Andre,Charles,Brian,Whalen,Malik,Pearl,cell,Grey,Coordinator,inmate,Larry,leader,self,observer,version,arrogance,image,life,member,Mark,Hogan,afternoon,Dean,Stark,Russ,Johnson,treatment,Hazelden,knowledge,room,Portrait,Addiction,Bill,Moyer,effort,situation,autobiography,Ruth,Bartkowski,vacation,John,Lloyd,reaction,opinion,Supper,Chili,cells,disruptions,cellie,himself

WordPress Tags: Bleep, Milwaukee, Secure, Detention, MSDF, institution, Wisconsin, Prison, System, Release, Program, Cold, Andre, Charles, Brian, Whalen, Malik, Pearl, cell, Grey, Coordinator, inmate, Larry, leader, self, observer, version, arrogance, image, life, member, Mark, Hogan, afternoon, Dean, Stark, Russ, Johnson, treatment, Hazelden, knowledge, room, Portrait, Addiction, Bill, Moyer, effort, situation, autobiography, Ruth, Bartkowski, vacation, John, Lloyd, reaction, opinion, Supper, Chili, cells, disruptions, cellie, himself