David Garlock is an alum from Eastern University who graduated in May, 2016. After only nine months of being out of prison, Garlock started attending Eastern in January, 2014. Before attending, he had applied to two different colleges. He told people at a prayer group that he needed them to pray for him to help make this decision. That night, someone told him that “God is going to be working in your life tonight.” When we went home after the prayer group, he received one letter in the mail. The letter was a happy birthday postcard to him from Eastern.

      Later, he heard a sermon where the pastor talked about Revelation 3:7-8 which says “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Philadelphia. This is the message from the one who is holy and true, the one who has the key of David. What he opens, no one can close; and what he closes, no one can open: “I know all the things you do, and I have opened a door for you that no one can close. You have little strength, yet you obeyed my word and did not deny me.“ He believes that both of these things called him to Eastern University.

      Before he came to Eastern, he was living in Alabama and needed his parole to be moved to Pennsylvania. Bryan Stevenson, his lawyer, sent in this request in November of 2013. Normally, the request would take six months to a year to happen, but for Garlock, it was only three weeks. He viewed this as another sign from God that he was meant to be at Eastern. Throughout the two and a half years at Eastern, he majored in urban studies with a focus in criminal justice and social welfare. He stated that Megan Acedo, Dr. Kimberlee Johnson and Dr. Sheryl Van Horne all had a significant impact on him while attending college at Eastern.

      During his time at Eastern, he also met Jane, who is now is wife, in April of 2015. They met randomly at a doctors office and hit it off right away. By August, they got married to each other. Garlock said that her parents accepted him and loved him for who he was and for his past. He was extremely grateful for this because it was always a fear of his that this would not be the case. They now live together in Lancaster where he works at New Person Ministries.

      He started this job only two days after graduating and really loves this job. It is a Christian reentry home for primarily men who have created sex offenses. There, he is a program director who helps with resumes, job applications, personal growth, and budgets. David Garlock’s story shows us that no matter our past, we can still succeed in life and help spread God’s justice. Two fun facts about Garlock are that he was the mascot at Eastern a few times and while in prison, he wrote 2,000 poems which he still has today.

      Bryan Stevenson, an Eastern alum and author of Just Mercy, spoke at Villanova University on September 14th and discussed the ways people can help improve the justice system in America. Stevenson shared that one way people can help the system was through proximity. He believed that people needed to find ways to get close to the poor, the excluded, the incarcerated, the abused, etc.. He told the audience how most people stay away from bad neighborhoods but he challenged people to get involved with them. The more people the world meets in these circumstances, the better they can understand them and the more they are able to see the hope of their future.

      Stevenson explained how proximity helped shape his career. When he attended Harvard Law School, he did an internship at a prison where he visited a man to tell him that he did not have an execution date within the next year. The man was thankful for this news and told Stevenson that he would let his family know that they could come visit him.

      “I could have never been familiar with these circumstances of life in prison without visiting the man that day” Stevenson said.

      He believes proximity with the people on death row or who are struggling is what made him succeed in his career. Stevenson brought up that America needs to change the narratives in the world. People cannot accept inequalities, but must understand them and change the ones that are making them comfortable with the idea of inequality. An example that he used was how people view alcohol versus drug use.  In reference to someone being an alcoholic, Stevenson said how society describes it as a disease and they encourage relatives and close friends of the person in need to get that person some help. However, in reference to being on drugs, Stevenson said how society calls it an addiction and always gets the criminal justice system involved. He suggested that people begin to think of drug use as a health problem and something that can be changed without the police or prison system.

      “This narrative is a problem due to our fear and anger in the world and we need to change this idea. We are creating the problems that our country faces in America” Stevenson said.

      He shared with the audience some statistics that included the fact that thirteen states in America do not have a minimum age for life imprisonment/death row. That means, a child under the age of eighteen can be sentenced to death. However, despite these alarming statistics, Stevenson explained the importance of staying hopeful. No person can let someone or something take away their hope because “hopelessness is the enemy of justice.” He believed that when a person lacks hope, they are creating the problem within the world.

      “Hope is your superpower” and it is the thing that makes you “stand up when someone says to sit down or speak up when someone says to be quiet” Stevenson said.

      Hope reminds us that each person can reach something and should not be looked at as someone who can never do that or be this.

      “The world cannot be changed unless we do things that are uncomfortable and inconvenient” Stevenson said.

      He challenged the audience to position themselves in difficult situations because it will help them see more of the problems that are in the world. He believes that people cannot change the world in a painless way, because they have to be involved in the pain. He explained that doing these things will break a person but being broken teaches a person how to live, how compassion works and how to have mercy.

      “I do what I do because I am broken too” and “ if we are a witness to the brokenness, we can change the world” Stevenson said.

      Bill went to Bloomsburg University where he met his wife in 1970 and he stated that it has been “true love ever since.” They went on their honeymoon to Fort Lauderdale and have now been married for 43 years. When they first got married, his wife was afraid to fly, so they would drive to Florida and back. Later on, she started flying with him because they enjoyed traveling so much. On their honeymoon, he discovered his love for snorkeling which he continues to do today. Now, he has extended his hobby by taking underwater video footage of his snorkeling adventures. Besides snorkeling, he enjoys golfing once a week.

      While attending Bloomsburg, there was a drafting lottery. Bill knew that he would be drafted so he dropped out of school. Afterwards, he took classes at West Chester. For 32 years, he had his own optical business in the area. Bill stated that “It’s been a good life.” This summer, he and his wife returned to Fort Lauderdale for the second time where they took a jungle boat. They got to see many large, beautiful homes and canals on every side street. Bill finished his interview by saying that his true calling was to be a card swiper.

      If you have not gotten to know him yet, you definitely should. He is one of the friendliest faces on campus and works hard to get to know all Eastern students personally. Everytime he works, you are greeted with a smiling face and someone who thoroughly enjoys meeting the students and faculty. He is one of the greatest people of Eastern University and represents what Eastern is all about as a college. It is a place where people want to know you, and if you reach out, you will form lasting relationships with these people.