Any Given Sunday

What started off as a typical Sunday, which is usually pretty boring with the exception of the dancerize class, turned out pretty...interesting. I guess that is the best way to put it for now. 

For weeks a group of inmates has been rehearsing for the holiday play. Last night, there were two showings of the play. One of my friends was dancing and I decided to go support her. She was dancing at the beginning, so at the first showing I decided to dip in and dip out quickly. However, after the performance was over, one friend told me I should have stayed to see the whole thing because there were some pretty entertaining parts. So, I decided to attend the second performance. 

The dancers opened the play. I am not going to lie, I had tears in my eyes for a couple of reasons. I thought about my girls and how I used to watch them perform growing up. I could also see the talent, passion and love from the dancers and singers who have lengthy sentences ranging from 8-25 years. As I watched them I thought about when I used to work with the kids at church with dance and how there are so many little girls out there who need these women. Their talents and skills are being contained and locked down. The thought of it all made me sad. I then had to remind myself that this, prison, is a part of their journey and that it will make them so much more powerful once they return. 

After the play, I returned to my floor where I quickly learned that there was a karaoke party happening in the open space on my floor after 9pm count. This was particularly interesting because one, it is a Sunday night, and two, because we do not have radios for personal use, only for teaching classes. So where did the radio come from? Finally, just three weeks ago a group was removed from the floor for being loud and replaced with the same group who was about to throw the party. This whole situation has been tense ever since the move. At the same time the new group has been just as loud, if not louder, than the previous group. So I see no reason why the move was necessary. 

Shortly into the party, the group that had been moved from my floor found out about the party and decided to crash it. Rightfully upset that the new group was making more noise than they ever did, the old group returned to my floor. Not only did they return, they made sure that everyone knew they were back. I watched, and laughed, from my room as everything took place before I retreated to the computer room to write. The sounds from the party were pretty loud and at times I think the new group was purposely being over the top. 

Here is my perspective: I think it is ok to have fun. Anything that makes people's time easier, I am all for it. At the same time I believe in fairness and equity. One thing shouldn't apply to one group and not the other. I believe this is where issues arise that cause incidents like what I am writing about. 

Okay, back to the story. One of the main facts in this story is that there was a lady who was attending the party that is believed to be one of the individuals that copped out the first group. A cop out is basically a complaint. She is a former resident of the floor who didn't gel well with the group, so it is believed that she had something to do with them getting kicked off the floor. Well, it just so happened to be her birthday and she was attending the party. This really made the old group mad because if further added to their speculation that she had written a cop out which contributed to them being moved. Since it was her birthday she had a poster outside of her door. It had been out all day, well, until someone ripped it down. Yep, someone tore the poster off the wall. This caused a lot of commotion. 

So yeah, that was my Sunday. I am sure today this saga will continue. We will see how it all unfolds.