Quotes toward 12/6 Class

I haven't finished typing up quotes but I did have one I wanted to put up here. I also chose a longer passage, thinking that depending on the situation and how many people have read, we may need a longer passage. It can also be shortened or lengthed because I thought these particular pages (189-93) really interesting.

From 189:

“The next morning, Elaine returned to South Forty at 9:00 am for an all-day workshop about job hunting. She did not think she needed this class, but George had told her she had to attend. She walked into the classroom and sat down in the second row. Nearly every chair was taken, and almost all the other students were male.

The teacher distributed manila envelopes. “This envelope is for documents,” she said. “Birth certificates, ID with a picture, release papers, rap sheet, letter from a P.O., dispositions from the courts, and any proof of your ex-offender status.”

            Before South Forty’s counselors could help anyone find a job, she explained, they needed some paperwork. The students pulled crumpled slips of paper from their pockets.

            ‘I got a copy of my bail receipt,’ one man said.

            ‘Okay,’ the teacher said. ‘That’ll work.’

            ‘I don’t have anything,’ said the young man seated behind Elaine. ‘I had everything in my wallet. They took my wallet. My ID is on the island. My Social Security card is on the island.’

            This predicament is common. Many people leave jail with no proof of their identity.”

And then it seems I also chose the same passage as Hayley from 190: “Most students stared at the form without writing. The prospect of fitting their complicated lives into all these boxes and lines seemed to overwhelm them.”

And then from 193: “Meanwhile, prison living can be the worst sort of training for future employment. Not surprisingly, many inmates grow so used to being in an institution- of being told when to eat, when to sleep, when to go to the toilet- that they lose all their ambition and initiative precisely the qualities they will need to get a job once they are set free. Every now and then, ex-prisoners entered this building on Eighth Avenue, stepped off the elevator, walked toward the front door of South Forty’s office, and then stopped. Instead of trying to open the door, which is unlocked, they waited patiently for someone to buzz them in.”