The person I have felt the deepest connection with here is Susan Chippewa; her light is so bright, her love for life all it’s inhabitants is so deep. Chippewa is of the Northern Arapaho Tribe, and she seems to me to be like a sky dancer, we do yoga under the moon. She has imprinted on my soul.
When it comes to mentoring, I can’t say who mentors whom from one day to the next, but we have always been uplifting and motivating in each others lives, honestly, I have a bit of, ” survivor’s guilt ” in the idea of leaving not only her, but many of the amazing folks here.
Yesterday, we followed up after a meeting about the new point system for the Prison Professors site that now gives points for building a tribe, here at Aliceville, our Peer Success Team is a tribe so we are building a tribe within a tribe.
Chippewa has been using her energy for the past year, serving the PST in the capacity of a trainer and event planner/hostess and honestly, I am not sure it’s fully wrapped in her brain the idea of a “website”. She has been her too long but she is all in.
Chippewa teaches yoga with this common easy vibe that makes anyone feel welcome, she has a calming spirit.
I have never seen her out of character. One of the reasons she is on our hostess committee is that she works so well with staff, she has a great reputation here.
Her specific position in the PST is that she is what we call a 2nd. Meaning, she assists the lead and would take the place of the lead in her unit if she walked out the door tomorrow.
She had a feather hanging from her hat when she told me that she had been talking the women she mentors for fitness about the point system, when she asked if they would like to ” join her tribe “, they gave a quick yes and asked if they would be given a new name, so now, we name them: Justicia, Freedom, Successia, Liberty and anything else that claims our best possible outcome.
My hope is that she will be granted clemency and when she does, she will certainly have a job in my studio.
Celeste Monette Blair
Creator Of Peer Success &
The Collective
