{"id":6761,"date":"2019-03-26T21:38:59","date_gmt":"2019-03-27T02:38:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/family.pep.org\/cleveland\/?p=6761"},"modified":"2019-03-26T21:38:59","modified_gmt":"2019-03-27T02:38:59","slug":"week-11-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/oliverjbell\/2019\/03\/26\/week-11-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Week 11"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t\n

Week 11<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Week\nin Review<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monday March 11, 2019 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nmorning, we were informed that the unit would go on lockdown. Many of us dread\nthis inevitability, but it provides us with the opportunity to catch up on\nreading, writing our families and editing our business plans. Just because we\nare on lockdown, that doesn\u2019t mean that there is not plenty to do. We have the Integrity Selling<\/em> book to read, with Entrepreneurship<\/em> and Living in the Village<\/em> tests coming up.\nThere is no rest for the budding entrepreneur!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\nalone is enough to keep many of us busy. Still, the man who wishes to be\nsuccessful must make the most of every moment. Therefore, we will utilize this\ndowntime to brainstorm about how to perfect our business pitches and work out\nthe financial portions of our business plans. It\u2019s all about time management!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kevin\nP. (a.k.a. Hoppin\u2019 Bob)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuesday March 12, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was no class today.\nHowever, it provided us with an opportunity to reflect on projects and\nassignments that we received the previous week. Two of PEP\u2019s Family Liaisons\ncame to visit us on Saturday. They gathered all the necessary information to\nensure that we would have an amazing graduation. While this was taking place,\nwe participated in team building exercises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each team was given a scenario\nand a budget of one million dollars. Every team member was tasked with a\ndifferent department pertaining to the designated scenario and allotted a\nportion of the one million dollars. Not only did we learn how to put together a\ncorporate party for business executives, we worked together as a team, with\neach department communicating with other departments to bring the project to\nfruition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We now know that when working\ntogether to brainstorm and coordinate, we have better ideas, collectively, than\neach of us does individually. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Darryle\nM. (a.k.a. Fun Dip)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wednesday March 13, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are approaching the final stage\nof our amazing PEP journey. We are preparing for our last three months of hard\nwork and dedication which will carry us on to graduation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We just updated our financials.\nThis will help us to fully realize what it will take to get our businesses\nstarted and what we stand to both profit and gain from our entrepreneurial\nendeavors. We, as a class, have been using this experience to transform the\nvery foundation of our new lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are studying for the Chapter\n8 test, which is over establishing a financial foundation. This chapter will\nhelp us to perform rational calculations and analyze our businesses from\nvarious perspectives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We still make time to assist\nthe Fall \u201919 class through Phase One of their journey and encourage them to\nstand strong as they begin the transformation process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thomas\nR. (a.k.a. Ninja Turtle)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday March 14, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having\nno classes today provided us with the perfect opportunity to become better\nacquainted with our cellmates. We spoke about where and how we were raised, and\nwhat we were doing before we came to prison. This eventually transitioned into\nthe guilt and shame that we harbor over the nature and specifics of our crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\ngreat healing effect takes place when we share our stories with fellow brothers,\nand they help to lighten the burden of guilt from our shoulders. Realizing that\nthe guilt can hold us back in life, we are now free to move on with our lives.\nWe are on a mission to become men of good character. By the time we complete\nthis leg of our journey, we will truly be authentic men. We love this program,\nnot only for what it is doing for us right now, but also what it is doing for\nour futures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deangelo M. (a.k.a. Fetty Wopp)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday March 15, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today\nwas the first day off of lockdown. Everyone was in the dayroom, as soon as the\ndoors opened, with a cup of coffee in one hand and a program book or study\nguide in the other. Sadly, we soon discovered there would be no class today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every\none of us was so energized and ready to do something. Despite the fact that\nthere would be no class, no one went back to bed. Each of us joined one of\nseveral study groups in preparation for Living in the Village, Toastmasters and\nour Entrepreneurship classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ngroups began to thin out as the day progressed, only to increase again in size\nas evening approached. Each individual reviewed what he had learned that day,\nkeeping his mind focused on the tests that are coming up next week. We were all\ndisappointed that we missed a week of class, but we look forward to making it\nup. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alberto R. (a.k.a. Hot Tamale)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Expressions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome truths are so\nnaked that people feel sorry for them and cover them up; at least a little bit.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

~ Edward Murrow<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Am I the only one who has ever covered up truths about myself,\nbecause those truths were just too difficult to face? Probably not! When the\nabuse that I was subjected to as a child became too much to bear, I covered it\nup by emotionally separating myself from others. When the weight of my\nseclusion became too great, I covered the abuse and the isolation with drugs\nand alcohol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As my life continued to spiral out of control, I added a good\nmeasure of self-loathing to the already toxic concoction. The ultimate product\nwas a wasted life, full of bitterness and rage. Not only had I managed to\npoison myself, I seemed to either infect or emotionally destroy all of those\nunfortunate enough to have been placed in my life. So it was no wonder that I\nshould awaken in a jail cell, only to realize that I had alienated everyone who\nhad ever cared for me and was soon to lose everything that I owned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As painful as all of that was to endure, coming to prison was one\nof the best things that ever happened to me. I was forced to take a good, long\nlook at myself. Suffice it to say, I did not like what I saw. However, it\nafforded me the opportunity to start over and reprogram the way I viewed myself\nand the way that I treated others. Those same old truths are still painful to\nthink about, but instead of covering them up, I use them as a foundation upon\nwhich I will build my new life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

James R. (a.k.a. Biscuit and Jelly)<\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Week 11 Week in Review Monday March 11, 2019 This morning, we were informed that the unit would go on lockdown. Many of us dread this inevitability, but it provides us with the opportunity to catch up on reading, writing our families and editing our business plans. Just because we are on lockdown, that doesn\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-clsp19"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/oliverjbell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/oliverjbell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/oliverjbell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/oliverjbell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/oliverjbell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/oliverjbell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6761\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/oliverjbell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/oliverjbell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/family.pep.org\/oliverjbell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}