New Years Message from Greg Marcinski

Dear Family and Friends,

Every end marks a new beginning. Keep your spirits and determination unshaken, and you shall always walk the good road. With courage, faith, and great effort, you shall achieve everything you desire. I wish you a Happy New Year!

2019 had its ups and downs, but I always try to find the positive and continue to learn from my mistakes. The highlight for me was this past December as it wrapped up the year on a high note. Schoolwork had been steady but slow. A few snags with timelines, etc. but everything seems to be moving ahead well. I’m just about to wrap up a philosophy class now and will take the exams soon.

In February Bishop Dominick Lagonegro came to visit us and also Confirmed five of my RCIA students (which also included one that I was sponsoring). I am very proud of the men who studied hard and dedicated their time and energy to grow and mature as men and come closer to God in their faith. February also had the birthdays of both my parents and my brother.

March was eventful. I rejoined our Toastmasters Gavel Club after taking a few year’s breaks. I really missed it and felt I needed some practice with my communications and leadership skills. I’m glad that I’m back and continue to try to break out of my apprehension of speaking in public.

April was very busy. Planning for Holy Week can be very time consuming and because of the season, there were many more services that had to be arranged. For Palm Sunday we started outside the Chapel for the blessing of the Palms and readings. Then a few days later the Triduum begins with Holy Thursday Mass, then into Good Friday where we had the service for the day and we also did the Stations of the Cross, then Saturday evening we celebrated the Easter Vigil. What was highly unusual for the prison was not only did we start our Mass outside again but we also had the Easter or Paschal fire! What an amazing Mass which brings everything back from our weeks of solemnity to joy and the light of Christ! On Good Friday I was honored to be the narrator and a few of the other minor voices for a musically dramatized version of the Passion of Christ that was composed by Christopher Walker. We also had a volunteer banquette and I was called to help set up the sound system and play some music for the event.

On May 6th Michael Cohen self surrendered to the authorities at our institution. There was an emergency lock-down because a news helicopter started to hover low over the parking lot. I gave a speech at Toastmasters based on the “Seven Deadly Sins” and how we should avoid them at all costs. We also had a mock job fair which was interesting and informative. `
On June 5th it was three years since my father passed away. I miss him but trust that he is in a better place now. The rest of the summer was slow and at times VERY hot! We don’t have to air-condition here and being locked in a concrete box can become very insufferable especially the few heat waves that we had.

August turned out to be another very busy month for me. I gave a speech at Toastmasters about how education reduces recidivism, it was based on a paper I wrote for sociology. On the 22nd I hosted a Roast for an outgoing priest named Fr. Ngozi who was with us for 5 years and who really took care of our community. The following week we had a guest named George Drance come from Magis Theatre in New York City. He gave us a workshop on an adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey. Then on the last day of the month, someone very very dear to me came to visit and we spent the next three days together.

September is the start of my favorite time of year. I showed a film this month for one of our Catholic nights titled, “He Named Me Malala”. What an inspirational girl Malala is and she sure is fighting the fight for women’s rights all over the world. I highly recommend this film.

October brought cooler weather and some relief from the hot summer that we experienced. I enjoy horror movies, especially zombie movies so this is a good time of year to catch these on TV.

November we had one of the more difficult times where there was an extended lock-down between the 13th and the 20th. This happened apparently over a “dropped note” where the person claimed that they were going to attack inmates and/or guards. The whole lockdown seemed contrived to me and felt that they were taking advantage of a situation to use it either as a training session or try to show their muscle. Thankfully we got out in time for Thanksgiving which was good and we were given the traditional Thanksgiving meal sans cranberry sauce (too dangerous – security risk).

December we had a lot of events planned. On the 4th I gave another speech at Toastmasters, the title of my speech was “The Visual Guide to Axial Fan Maintenance”, this project was all about using visual aids so I used table fans as the props and showed how to clean and maintain them. We had our annual Catholic Ceremonial Meal on the 5th. A special Ecumenical event that I’ve been trying to get going for many years finally took place on the 14th which was the “Festival of 9 Lessons and Carols”. A Christmas mystery party with guests on the 19th. George Drance from Magis Theatre came in again on the 21st and did another acting workshop to prepare us to put on future production of “The Odyssey”.
We had Christmas Mass on the 25th and they served us a very good Christmas dinner (see my Blog about this event: Christmas dinner.
Unfortunately, there was a fight Christmas evening and we were locked in our cells for the rest of the night.

Two good friends of mine went home this past year and a few good acquaintances. It’s a very bitter-sweet pill to swallow. I don’t find many really good friends here, it can be very difficult. Sure, there are acquaintances but not true friends. Two of them Robby and Bucky managed to get sentence reductions and went home. I’m very happy for them and wish all the best to their success and happiness. I just miss them and hopefully will never see them again on this side of the fence.

I must send a special thank you to Dan from Prisoner Visitation and Support (PVS) for traveling many many miles to visit me and several other men at this institution. All on his dime and all for the sake of bringing a little light into our darkness. He is a true “mench” and am so thankful for him and all those at PVS.

I also must mention Thrive for Life (Gina, Karina, Doreen, Meredith, Sal, and Barry) and their dedication of coming all the way out from New York City every month to spend time with us and offer us an Ignatian retreat. They also came to our annual Christmas party where this year we had a special Christmas mystery theme (Blog coming soon). It was very successful and all the men loved having them here, they are like family. We look forward to spending the next months with them and continue to deepen our faith with their guidance and love. Good tidings to all of the other volunteers that visit including Jimmy, Deacon Paul, Jane, Fr. Dennis, Fr. Bob, and Fr. Mike.

I wish all of you reading this my most heartfelt wishes and goodwill with a wonderful year ahead. You all remain in my prayers.

Gregory

Gregory J.J. Marcinski

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