The light has been returning for two months, but inside their cells the women can’t tell that the sun has just set. There are no windows. The yellow-orange of fluorescents light the halls. Kristin and I meet with the women twice a month, buzz into the detention center from the sidewalk, and wait for the guard to come. We pass through the metal detectors, turn in our driver’s licenses, and pause at three different bolted doors as the guard buzzes each of them open.
The light from the lengthening days makes it feel like anything is possible — for me, for the women in the jail, for the world.
"Read all the parenting books you can get your hands on. Recognize slowly that every so-called expert refers to their own experience, their own cultural norms, and to studies with questionable methods. Chuck the books with your new insight that all children are essentially guinea pigs."
For the rest of the essay, order the print Summer 2017 issue of Camas Magazine.
