Not much left for me to do here anymore, I'm beginning to think... and not too sure where to go.
  
It's been 5 months now since I walked down the sidewalk at Giddings State School and out the gate  --  never to return.  I'd had enough.  I QUIT, and had no desire to set foot on campus again.  I DID however, still have a burning rage within me, fueled by the inexcusable  ways I'd been treated over the past 6 1/2 years there... the way The System had let down the youth and taxpayers... the rotten, corrupt, festering TYC culture that let supervisors and their toadies get away with whatever they wanted -- things like that.  I was PISSED.

Time has since softened some of those bad feelings.  Having the opportunity to go into business for myself and make a living doing what I ENJOY has mellowed some of the bitterness of having worked all that time at the school as a wage slave for nothing more than a damn check.  And -- most of all -- some changes have taken place over the past 5 months that have given me a satisfying sense of vindication and payback.   It seems my efforts here have not been totally wasted, although I'll never know FOR SURE how much this site may have figured into what has happened.  I'll be content to pat myself on the back, anyhow.



The above mentioned changes include (among other things) some former key players no longer a part of the system.  Stan -- fired, and suing.  Jackie -- demoted.  Cherie -- resigning in disgrace.  I hear other staff I had issues with have quit or been nudged out as well.  Some GOOD and competent staff have also left, and if I was ANY type of example or role model of how/why to get out of that place -- all the better.  I can only hope they are as happy as I am to be away from GSS and are living a better life as well.

Some other changes have occured -- there has been more media coverage of the problems at the facility, some new programs and procedures have been put in place, a little re-organization here and there... but still, staff are getting hurt and working WAY too many overtime hours for no appreciation.  The kids still are not being consequenced appropriately for their misdeeds, and are being sent back out into society in worse shape than when they arrived on campus.  The culture of see no evil hear no evil speak no evil still is the operational mantra of Admin and the Supervisors -- no, things are NOT peachy keen on campus... but at this point now, what can I do?

The site will remain up as a forum for working JCO's, concerned citizens, and as a legacy to those who tried to make Giddings State School a better place for people to work, and for youth to be rehabilitated.  The fire has gone out of my belly, I've no longer got an axe to grind, and the bitter taste of all those wasted years putting up with the shit that I did has diminished for the most part.  No longer do I yell obscenities out my car window when driving by the road outside the campus... guess I've healed up and am ready to move on.