I've had a couple of really inspirational conversations with a couple of our guys recently. It's awesome to talk to someone that acknowledges their past, has come to terms with it and is moving upward and wants to talk to others, to motivate, to relate and to share.

I've never had really good relations with men, it's good to just sit and have someone with so different of life experiences open up to me and just share.

The gentleman I talked for a while with today (we've also talked previously) shared his goals, his desire to reach for more, to talk to the younger kids and give them the straight up about how felonies fuck your life up for longer than your sentance - that it IS a big deal. And it's not worth it.

We also shared our observations, he as a shelter guest and me as a staff member, regarding how differently the guys act upstairs in the Job Room as compared to how they posture when they get downstairs around the whole group of guys staying in shelter (45 men). It kind of bums me out when I connect with someone upstairs then they kind of give me the cold shoulder down in the shelter but I'm learning and assuming that it's a small survival mechanism of some sort. To keep that tough front when there are others around...