One of my very favorite women in the jail greeted me warmly today. She left maybe a month ago, and was already back for violating her probation. It's times like this that I wish I could yell, "What were you thinking?!?" But she knew she screwed up. She talked about how stupid it was.

Talk was lively. I hadn't been there for two weeks. Everyone was intensely working--exclaiming over beads brought back from California and making requests for new things. Some newbies worked on cross necklaces, the only neckaces they're allowed to wear. When I asked them the question, "So what is one thing you do really well?" There wasn't much response. "Raise my autistic boy." "Cooking." "I fight really well." "No," they said, "she means positive things." Quiet. Then my fighter said quietly, "I don't know what I do really well." Today, all that pent up creative energy of the last two weeks went to good use. The color combinations today were beautiful.