Street Roots • July 7-13, 2017
Vendors
Page 6
WEKD&R
Jeff Ghildre
Number 4
P
by Anonymous
The quiet dignity of everyone
facing their days
Is enough to bring me to tears
On this annoyed city bus
Life does not allow for
A lack of participation
It will find its way to you
I’m confused, too
B
O
F
I L
BY HELEN HILL
C O N T R IB U T IN G W R IT E R
f the definition of a hard life is six years
in the infamous “SHU” - a windowless,
solitary housing unit at Pelican Bay
where inmates spend 23 hours a day in
cuffs, with no human contact - Jeff Childre
has lived a hard life.
“I couldn’t keep out of fights,” he said,
“so they kept throwing me back in.”
He believes prison should never be
“glamorized.” He should know; he’s spent
25 years in and out of San Quentin, High
Desert and Pelican Bay.
Jeff has nothing but love and respect
for his parents. He says he was given
every opportunity and “the best parents
anyone could want.” He remembers his
boyhood home in Crescent City, Calif., as
the place all his friends wanted to be. They
loved being around his mom and dad.
“There were no problems at home,”
he said with honesty. “I rebelled
against
I
Answers to Page 15 Puzzles
beat his drug habit. He’s been clean for
some time now.
“I cry for no reason now. I’ve got my
emotions back,” he said.
He said he suffers from bipolar disorder
and sometimes stays awake for days. He
has aches and pains from old fractures and
broken bones, but “I’m a tough old
convict.
Street Roots has been a big part of
getting grounded and staying clean, Jeff
said. His desire to use decreased when he
started working.
“I like to come in every morning and talk
to the good people at the front desk, and I
like being around folks who aren’t part of a
drug scene. Everything I’ve accomplished
here is because of Street Roots.”
Now that he has a little money in his
pocket and a job he likes to show up for
every day, Jeff is planning to save his
money, buy a car and return, clean and
relocated to
sober, to visit his children and
the Pacific
grandchildren down in California. He looks
Northwest
earlier this year
forward to taking them on an outing to the
for a
Smith River, “the cleanest river in the
world.”
“geographical
change” to try
“I just want to go home,” he said, “but I
to finally
don’t want to be strung out when I do.”
Who knows, if things keep going well for
Je^ ’ he might just be
./•A. - •
swimming with his
family in the clear
waters of the Smith
River before too
long.
Rebellion was part of the culture.”
“My father was a real badass,” Jeff
recalled with pride. He was a paratrooper
in Korea who jumped out of planes,
carrying a machine gun, then later a
firefighter with the Civilian Conservation
Corps and the California Department of
Forestry. He coached Little League when
Jeff was growing up. His mother was “an
angel.” She was a great cook and would sit
around the kitchen table with his dad for
hours. They were always there for him
when he was released from prison, he
recalled, helping him with
college, a place to live,
jr
a J°k> a truck. But
j
he just couldn’t
.
-,;7 . \
seem to “stop
doing stupid
I
stuff.”
"
■
I
Sheeptoast
8
L
9
6
8
I-
6
Z
9
9
t7
t7 9
3 8
8 Z
z
t7
9
8
Z
8
I-
9
6
9
Z
8
L
6
Z
8
9
t7
t7 9
6 8 9
!■ Z 8
9 p L
8 8 9
Z 9 6
8 6 Z
Z L p
9 Z 8
Z
9
p
8
Z
8
9
6
I
by Elizabeth Considine
6
8
Z
9
p
L
8
9
Tñe needfor MeaCtU Care is Vniversat.