Imagine the average day of someone who lives at the Johnson County Corrections Adult Residential Center: Wake up early, eat breakfast, go to work, or do substance abuse programing, eat lunch, do more programing, you may get an afternoon break, do chores, eat dinner, wrap up the day with programs and groups. No one would argue that someone who is in treatment needs to focus on treatment. How ever, imagine how it feels when you get in a busy season at work and all you do is work, eat, sleep and go back to work. You loose some of yourself, your humanity, in those busy times. I have lived times like that, and when I have a free moment, I reengage with my humanity, my creativity, by grabbing my camera and going out to take pictures. That is why our College of Trades program has a sister program, the College of Arts. No, we do not expect someone to graduate from a creative writing class and become a journalist. But we do expect that they will recover a little of their humanity during those exercises. Maybe you would like to help our clients recover a little of their lost humanity by teaching an art class, a painting class, or a photography class? Let us know, email me at lee@ncircle.org and lets talk. The gift of creativity is at the core of our humanity!