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And Still We Rise

Olivia will earn her high school degree while in custody. In august, the judge will review her case. If she determines that Olivia has progressed sufficiently at the Kirby Center, Olivia will be released in time for college. But the judge will rely on an assessment made by Olivia's therapist at the center, Susanne Dunne.

After Olivia is led away, I talk with Dunne, a psychiatric social worker, in her office. Dunne, thirty-two, is English and attended graduate school at UCLA. She is both exasperated and amused by Olivia. She seems to enjoy talking about her because Olivia is such a novelty at the facility. Dunne first met Olivia when she was in Juvenile Hall, shortly after she was locked up.

"I'll never forget my first interview with Olivia," says Dunne, in a clipped British accent. "She was so out of place, so different from all the other girls. She wasn't into drugs; she wasn't into gangbanging; she wasn't into hanging with homeboys. All she talked about was getting out so she could go to college. She was one of the rare kids we see who is focused on the future. It was her intellect, though, that really distinguished her. She was so articulate and such a smart cookie."

At the time Dunne interviewed Olivia, there was a four-month wait for the Dorothy Kirby Center. Dunne was so impressed with Olivia, and it was so evident that Olivia could benefit enormously from the center's therapy program, that she managed to facilitate her admission immediately. During their first counseling session, Dunne told Olivia she needed a year of therapy at the center.

"That's impossible," Olivia told her curtly. "I have to be out in six months so I can attend college."

Dunne smiles at the memory of Olivia's chutzpah. Because Olivia is different from the other girls, Dunne says, she is frequently teased. They refer to her, sarcastically, as "Brain" or "Miss Gifted Magnet." But for the teachers, who have a number of students who cannot even read, Olivia is a delight, and the use her in their classes as a teaching assistant. She has a better rapport with the teachers than with the girls in her locked unit.

I ask Dunne if there is a chance Olivia will be released in time for college.

"She's got to make a lot of progress if she's going to be released early," Dunne says. "In the group therapy, for example, she participates, but in a superficial way. She tries, but she's so disconnected from her emotions. Her intellect has been a godsend for her. It's saved her. But everything's so external with Olivia. Eventually, she's got to face some of her daemons. I admire and respect her desire to attend college. But she really needs a full year here.

"I wish I could have started with her when she was twelve or thirteen. Olivia was bounced around from place to place so much. she's built up such a tremendous defense system. But with what she's been through, that's understandable.

"The kids we get usually have criminal histories that are a lot longer than Olivia's. This is her first arrest. I think she's here because of her runaway history. If she was living at home, the judge probably would have given her probation. The problem now is that Olivia still won't take responsibility for her actions. She says, 'So what. It didn't hurt the bank.' I want her to take responsibility for what she did.

"At this point, I'll just have to see how she approaches the therapy, how she progresses over the next few months. Then I can have a better idea about whether Olivia is ready to be released and can attend college in the fall."

And Still We Rise is one of the most inspiring books I have read in the last few months it was so amazing and so well written that as the world was attacked and I was paralyzed with watching constant CNN, this book was the only other thing that got my attention. A truly inspiring, true story.