From Fed Med

     In a word association game of “ dog” and “criminal,” you might have visions of Rin Tin Tin leaping into the air and howling over an armed assailant or a pack of bloodhounds on the trail of an escaped convict or perhaps a posse of pit bulls surrounding a Latin King Pin. For a Gen. X, latchkey kid, a trench coated Scruff McGruff practically ordering, “Help me take a bite out of crime!” might resonate. For Disneyphiles, Lady being thrown in the slammer only to discover her Tramp is a playboy might come to life. None of these have positive connotations. At the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield Missouri the two terms are tethered together in a positive way. Their partnership involving dedication, discipline, and patience leads to lives changed for the better, both inside and outside Fed Med’s walls.      The dog training program, composed of a dozen trainers and ten dogs, falls under the auspices of the education department. Fed Med partne...

     At the start of 2024 while toiling away on an elliptical, a 'New Year New You’ segment on NPR piqued my sweaty ears. The pop psychologist interviewed advised switching from 'resolutions’ to 'intentions’. “Of course!! my enlightened, ego mused, "resolutions are so constraining and procrustean…Intentions…now those will lead to a Me 2.0. I can explore, expand, and examine if I start with an 'I intend’. Who needs a well-thought-out S.M.A.R.T. Goal, tinged with the stress of accountability? A quaint, feel good verb, the type that people pencil on their living room wall, is much more salubrious. I rolled infinitives around my head. One bumped up: To Create.      Of course I had dabbled in 'creation’ before. As a theater director, I had to make props like a papier-mâché spider egg sac for Charlottes Web. And a seagull carcass for Annie Get Your Gun. The act of directing a play is a form of creation. You’re in charge of bringing life to a playwright’s words, c...