SRP Mea Culpa....NOT!

Today the SRP anonymous Suggestion Box included a note of disappointment that I did not complete my SRP.  I feel like I need to explain myself, not as an apology, but because I should have kept you posted throughout, and that was my fault.

I made it to the thesis statement and that was that.  I won't lie.  I dropped it when it came to the project phase.  My reasons probably include some of the same reasons you may have struggled to complete your project:

• lofty project ideas that proved unrealistic for the timeframe
• lofty project ideas that I had no business pursuing
• family obligations
• work obligations
• other

What I plan to do (yes, I still plan to do this) is to become involved in the Prison Library Project.  When I say involved, I mean really involved, which is why I didn't get this done according to the SRP deadlines.  I want to be part of this project on a permanent basis.  I want to make it part of my life's work.  This, I found, was harder to make happen in eight weeks than one might think.  So, when faced with whether to pursue this goal or to drop it based on the SRP timeline, I decided to free myself of the restraints of the SRP and give myself permission to do something big.  As coordinator of the project, I have that power.

As I read more and more about the Angola Prison, its history, criminal justice in America, prisons in general, and race politics in the contemporary south, I became...well...kind of depressed.  I read story after story of unjust prison sentences, solitary confinement, extended sentences, and mistreatment of prisoners.  Then it occurred to me that I was reading mostly first-person accounts, which meant I was reading published works by prisoners and ex-prisoners, which meant I was seamlessly entering into a discussion of literacy, education, and information flow in and out of prisons.  Suddenly, I was somewhere familiar.

So, the Prison Library Project.  Based in Claremont, this organization receives thousands of requests from prisoners asking for specific books our types of books.  They send them.  They run a used bookstore in order to raise funds to do so.  They are so close! And I want to be one of them.  I've made some feeble attempts to get involved (sent emails, made calls, filled out online forms) and their lack of response kept delaying the beginning of my project.  

So, again, I extended my own deadline. This is something I plan to do with or without the SRP.  I want to create a lasting relationship with this organization that involves more than a simple monetary donation or occasional book donation.  Ideally I could help respond to prisoner book requests directly. Maybe I could even help develop prison library collections that could be accessed on site.  I don't really know, since this idea is in its infancy.  Remember though, I've already done my graduate-level research, so I'm free to do this at a pace that will work for my life.  That's the benefit of being me and not, well, you.  

This probably won't satisfy most of you.  I know you wanted to see me produce exactly what you produced, and to a certain extent (the entire first semester) I did.  But I don't feel bad really, since I do think I've lived out the goals of the SRP to their fullest extent.  I read, I viewed, I examined, I thought, I learned, and I reached out.  I was challenged by it, and I was (to a certain extent) changed by it.  I learned about my own limitations and the constraints on my time.  I grappled with tough questions.  I practiced the skills that I taught you, over and over and over.  And over.

And over.

So there you have it.  Take it or leave it.  The one regret I have is that I didn't talk about it more. Perhaps you could have encouraged me to move things along more quickly. Perhaps one of you would have had an even better idea for me.  I think I was so wrapped up in what you were doing that I placed my idea on hold for a minute.  But don't be fooled.  I'm doing this.  When you're a teacher, that's what summers are for.