As the 2012 Thanksgiving holiday approached, the hearts of many people in the San Quentin community flooded with thankfulness. “Asked On The Line” conducted 31 random informal interviews with 14 men in blue, a program volunteer, and 16 teachers of the Prison University Project and asked two questions: Who is the one person or group of people you are most thankful for having in your life? What is the one thing, tangible or not, that you are most grateful for having?
For the men in blue, the most popular answer for the first question was “parents.” Shon Ruffin was thankful for having the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in his life, Michael Lewis was thankful for his sisters, Pedro Espinal was thankful for his “amiga,” Robert Morales was thankful for the “support group of friends,” and Ronald Davenport was thankful for having Jesus Christ in his life.
Joe Spinelli, a volunteer tutor with Free to Succeed, was thankful for his beloved wife.
The PUP teachers were thankful for their families and partners. Dan Martell was thankful for his grandchild, Kara Urion was thankful for both her family and adopted family and Sean Alexander was thankful for having his mom and his girlfriend in his life.
As to the second question, the most popular answer for mainliners was “life.” The rest were thankful for a variety of things. Eric Womack was thankful for music, Robert Morales was thankful for his sanity, Alex Ortega and Tom Saevang were thankful for their health, and John Neblett was grateful for his talent.
The top three replies from PUP teachers were health, education, and life. Elizabeth Ferrell was grateful for having love in her life and Chas Gillespie was grateful for nature. Kara Urion was grateful for her “ability to try again” and Oliver Kroll was grateful for Dorothy, his 6-month-old Bernese Mountain dog. Maria Joseph was grateful for having her goats and her farm.
