Reader Appreciation

Greetings, dear readers!  It's your friendly neighborhood prison librarian here with a very important message:

THANK YOU!!!!!! :-)

I appreciate you taking time out of your busy day to read my blog, especially when there are many blogs out there in the world to read.  When I first started this blog oh-so-many years ago, I was super excited when I got 5 views in a week, and most of those were probably my mom, haha.  Now, I am pleased to report that this blog has more than 19,700 views!  Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever thought that this little coping mechanism blog that I started to help people learn what it was really like being a prison librarian would appeal to so many people.  Also, I have FIFTEEN followers!  That's more people than my prison library employs!  Simply amazing.  Thank you all so much.

Because you make reading my blog a priority, I am going to make writing more blog posts a priority too.  So, for the next month, I promise that I will post new blogs at least two times per week.  Also, I have been getting many emails to my askaprisonlibrarian@gmail.com email address, so it seems to be a great way to connect with you about questions specific to your situation.  Keep them coming, I want to answer questions YOU want to know about!

Until next time, which won't be as long as last time!

On the benefits of having a yoga practice when you work in prison

Greetings loyal readers! It's your friendly neighborhood prison librarian back again with the intention to be more mindful of writing more posts to keep this blog interesting.  Today's topic is the importance of having a yoga practice to maintain your sanity while working in prison. Yoga is popular as a workout but it is also a great tool for changing your mindset and that, in my opinion, is the number one most important coping mechanism you need behind bars.

For those of you who may be unfamiliar with yoga, here is a great article to get you started learning about all your yoga options. I prefer vinyasa because I really like to feel like I am getting a workout and when I am focused on my breath and movement I am not worrying about anything else. I can also take that focus and use it when I am feeling overwhelmed and just re-center and focus on the task at hand.

Yoga has also helped me cultivate a mindset of service. When my focus is what I can do for others, I am much happier because even if they don't immediately appreciate what I am doing, it makes me feel better to do it. I think the meaning of life is finding happiness through helping others and there are few better places to help others than prison.

In my facility there are even yoga classes for the offenders. I haven't been to one so I don't know how popular they are but one clerk is always promoting it in the library and our yoga books are frequently on hold. Our old warden was a huge proponent of yoga as a positive leisure activity, so hopefully the new regime will stay on that bandwagon.

When I first started in prison, for some reason I caught the attention of the staff on the Emergency Response Team. They wanted me to join, but I was unable to do the required 2 pull-ups because my upper body strength was not awesome. Now, after 2 years of yoga practice I am "stacked" and can do at least 2 pull-ups. I am still not going to join the team because I actually like being a librararian and don't want to be pulled away from the library for activations for half the month, but the point is that yoga gave me the strength to lift my body weight up by my hands not just once but at least twice.

If you are skeptical about yoga, you don't have to go to a studio at first. You Tube has many free yoga videos to watch so you can get the hang of it. Personally I love going to the studio both for the adjustments which help me do the poses better but also for the inspirational things the teachers say. Powerful words are powerful for a reason and the universe gives you what you need when you need it. If you are feeling frustrated with your position in life, no matter where you are, open your mind and go to yoga. You may be sore the next day but you will not regret it. Until next time!

Namasté.

Staying healthy in prison, Part 2

So I was talking to one of my fellow librarians about my clerk having Whooping Cough and she asked if I had gotten the updated vaccine, to which I replied, "I got the one when I was little.  That's updated enough!" Well, turns out it is not and that's why she's my friend--brilliant! :-)  So I have decided to post a list of important vaccines for prison librarians as well as reasons why:

1. Whooping cough.  Because you never know when your clerks will come down with it because their moms were anti-vaccine.

2. Tetanus.  Remember the post about how librarians are expected to participate in facility shakedowns?  Well, if you are lucky enough to find the rusty shank, but unlucky enough to find it WITH YOUR UNGLOVED HAND THAT IS NOW BLEEDING, you will probably want to not get tetanus because I hear it is nasty.

3. Hepatitis.  A, B, C, D, H, I, J, Z......any Hepatitis you can get vaccinated for, you should.  Really, you can only get vaccinated for Hep A and B and there are only 5 types, but that is NOT something you want to contract, so get vaccinated.

4.  Chicken Pox.  I got it when I was in kindergarten, but it seems like kids nowadays just get the vaccine and never have to deal with the itchy spots.  If you are in that generation where you never got chicken pox in school, and never got around to getting vaccinated, probably should just do it because you never know with kids nowadays.

5.  Influenza.  Now, personally, every time I get the flu shot, I get so sick, so I never get one and I never get sick.  BUT, my immune system is a champ so you should probably get it unless you know that yours is a champ as well (i.e. you haven't taken a sick day in 15 months.)

And remember the Prison Golden Rule: If it's wet and it's not yours, DON'T TOUCH IT.

Staying healthy in prison

Prison is full of germs. There's just no way around it when you have 900 staff and offenders crammed in a space the size of a small commune. People get all sorts of crazy diseases besides the general ones you associate with sharing things like dirty needles. I got mono one time and was out for two weeks! All the clerks were sure that I had died haha. Just today one of the clerks said they had Whooping Cough. Yikes!

So, what is a prison librarian to do to stay healthy in a germ-filled environment? Well, first of all, I say some germs are good for you because it strengthens your immune system so there's no need to go crazy with hand sanitizer and Virex. Just follow these simple tips to stay healthy in prison:
1. Work out and eat healthy. This is important no matter where you work and you will feel so much better.
2. Don't let anyone use your pen. You don't know where their hands have been AND you probably won't ever get it back if you let it out of your sight.
3. Wash your hands prior to eating lunch and after handling library books. Books are dirty. You don't want to eat that.
4. Take sick time when you are sick, but try and keep a week or two in the bank justincase you come down with something really nasty. There's nothing worse than needing to take sick time and not getting paid or having to use your vacation time.
5. Drink lots of water. Hydration flushes out germs.
6. No touching in prison. This rule is helpful for so many situations!
7. Don't have sex with offenders. See rule #6.

During your first year or so you will probably be more sick than you will be after that. This is because your body is getting used to the new germ situation. But stick it out, take vitamin C and you should be feeling fine in no time.