Introductions!

I've received many requests for this type of thread so please introduce yourself and let us know about your work in prison dharma.

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Permalink Reply by Juanita Rice on October 8, 2010 at 9:05am
Suzie: Hello! I just posted Jared a reply, wishing him the best and hoping he had support. So it was great to see your post here. Any questions, just ask. I have a hard time keeping up with computer "chat" but I do have a site on Prison Dharma Network as a member, and I will try to be available at least once a week or so. I wish you all the very best, and above all, the patience to just sit in all the currents that will be stirring with readjustment for you and your husband.
Permalink Reply by Kate Crisp (PDN Director) on October 13, 2010 at 8:40am
Welcome Suzie! Please feel free to post any questions for the community here.
Permalink Reply by Chris de Ocejo on November 2, 2010 at 6:55pm
Hi There,

My name's Chris de Ocejo. I've been sitting for about 12 years now, and went to college at Naropa University, where Fleet... taught? I can't remember, but I do know that I heard him speak many times in the Performing Arts Center, where I used to work.

At the moment I'm in law school here in Connecticut, hoping become a public defender. I've done some volunteer-work around prison-based gerrymandering. I know there's a need in this state for more in-prison programs, especially for men, so I'd like to get a prison dharma program going here. Unfortunately (up in this part of the state) there aren't many Buddhists, at least in any organized fashion, so I'm going to need to get out and do some networking. Hopefully I can get some more people on board. If folks have any suggestions, I'm all ears (... no, seriously. I have big ears).
Permalink Reply by Kate Crisp (PDN Director) on November 5, 2010 at 9:44am
Hi Chris....welcome! I do know of a group that sends me frequent emails about their sangha activities in CT. Contact Bill Williams billwaw@comcast.net.....also we will probably be doing PDN meetups in Providence soon so I'll keep you posted!
best, Kate
Permalink Reply by Chris de Ocejo on November 5, 2010 at 2:21pm
Thanks Kate. I'll try Bill Williams shortly, and I look forward to the meetup in Providence!

Chris
Permalink Reply by Maggie Hostetler on November 4, 2010 at 6:03pm
Hi,
My name is Maggie and I am a meditation teacher (volunteer) at the Huron Valley Women's Facility near Ann Arbor Michigan. I am affiliated with the Ann Arbor Zen Temple. The class that I co-teach is a non-denominational meditation course open to anyone from the prison population. We started out teaching the course as a Buddhist group but many women were put-off by that emphasis. So now we teach meditation and present aspects of the Dharma in strictly secular language. The women are eager to learn and it is a great pleasure to work with them.

We have attempted to start actual Buddhist services in addition to the class for a number of women who are Buddhists. We have run into a lot of stalling and unresponsiveness from the chaplain but now after a year of trying we are getting close to a start date.

I am always looking for new and better printed materials about meditation using secular language and would welcome any referrals from PDN members. Thanks for your work. I'm looking forward to scrutinizing the website.
Permalink Reply by Kate Crisp (PDN Director) on November 5, 2010 at 9:45am
Hi Maggie, welcome! Also check out our Path of Freedom training which has a secular curriculum. best, Kate
Permalink Reply by John C. Kimbrough on January 17, 2011 at 3:14pm

Hello Kate and everyone. I guess I am very late at introducing myself to the prison Dharma network since by looking at my profile it seems that I joined up nearly three and one half years ago. I previously taught Yoga - Buddhism - Meditation classes in a provincial prison in Cambodia. I would like to do such a thing again in the future and perhaps I will, either in Cambodia or elsewhere....I am currently in Brooklyn, New York in order to help and assist my elderly mother with some things and straighten out some family issues and problems to the best of my ability.....These days I have more time then in the past to look over the writings, work and topics put forth on Prison Dharma Network. My work in the past and the present has been financed by my students and myself, as it will be in the future, so I have been unable to make any kind of donation to prison Dharma network over the last three years and will not be able to do such a thing in the near future.....I sense some concern among individuals who are contributing to the welfare of prisoners as to how that work is interpreted or what the short and long - term intentions of prisoners or ex-prisoners may be. I can understand such a concern having served time in Texas in the early 70's. Hopefully by continuing to assist prisoners and ex-prisoners in understanding the Dharma, their intentions will be more in line with what the Dharma teaches us and we will see this in their thoughts, words and actions. Having lived and worked in the USA, Thailand and Cambodia for long periods of time in each place, I have seen and met, as perhaps you have, people who have ignorant and harmful intentions to others who have never been arrested or convicted of a crime.....God bless you all for your sincere and compassionate service to other human beings...........

Permalink Reply by Shodo Jishin Lee on February 13, 2011 at 1:45pm
I'm Shodo Jishin Lee (or just lee), trying to start something up at prisons in Boise, Idaho.  Sooo glad to see so many working to help prisoners.
Permalink Reply by Michelle Espinosa on February 20, 2011 at 10:54am

Hi, my name is Michelle. I am a dedicated Vajrayana practitioner and a trained Mediator/Facilitator. It has been my aspiration for many years to teach conflict resolution skills and meditation in prisons and to children. I am very grateful for the  Prison Dharma Network and the work that's being done through it. I hope to soon be contributing in some small way the benefit of any knowledge or experience I have acquired.

 

 

Permalink Reply by Chris de Ocejo on February 20, 2011 at 11:37am

Michelle,

 

Is there an Alternatives to VIolence (AVP) program near you? In addition to teaching meditation and Buddhist dhamma to prisons via mail and in a prison near us, I'm involved with a group of Quakers who act as "outside facilitators" to an AVP program. It's a great program, because it puts prisoners (inside facilitators) in charge along with the Quakers. I'm going to be going for a weekend in March, and I'm excited (Quakers, at least the liberal Quaker Meeting of which I am a member, don't proselytize. AVP was start by Quakers, but the focus is on teaching non-violent conflict resolutions skills, period).

 

By the way, you already contributed that picture from Egypt, so you've already contributed ;)

Permalink Reply by Michelle Espinosa on February 20, 2011 at 11:46am

Thank you, Chris. I have encountered this group, yes. They are doing fantastic work. I talked to a few people who went through the training with them.

 

 

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