I went to jail this morning for the initial interview/tour. I guess I shouldn�t keep calling it jail, but I�m not sure what to call it exactly�the King County Juvenile Detention Center seems kind of lengthy. I could call it camp. It is a lot like camp, only with fewer ponies. And there�s never going to be a moment when the boys row across from the other side of the lake for the big dance.
Anyway. I helped teach a quick internet class (a group of girls, although there are more boys than girls at camp), and I got a pretty thorough tour of the library and facility. It�s really not as bad as I thought it would be�the library itself looks like any nice, cozy branch of the public library, except of course that all of the books are for kids under 18. The jailers�that�s not the word that was used, but I can�t remember what they were called�didn�t seem like horrible despots or anything. One girl got into trouble for printing out her horoscope (prints are strictly forbidden), but overall there were no real discipline problems. You could tell the kids were glad to be in the library, and all of them checked out as many books as they were allowed. Lots of them asked the librarian for advice. One reader�s advisory moment went like this:
Girl: Jill, what I should read now? I want a book like the one you gave me last time. About a girl like me.
Librarian: Why don�t we find you a book about a Latina girl who�s not in a gang? Not every Latina girl is in gang, you know.
Girl: That�s what you think!
Some of the kids looked really, really young. One girl who left the class early to go to court (conveniently located right upstairs) looked about ten, but I think the youngest ones are twelve or so. One girl, maybe fourteen, had a lot of letters carved into her arm. But none of them were giving off a vibe of evil or anything.
All in all, I�m really looking forward to working there this summer. I think it�s something I can do.
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