Gn 20:17 Then Abraham prayed to God; and God healed Abimilech, and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children.
13 June 2011
Dear Anne,
“Then Jesus said to the disciples, ‘There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property.” Lk 165:1
Because I had only one hundred and five cents it finally occurred to me that I should sell my wares. So I wrote up a brochure for Spicer’s store of tricks and skills and went selling door to door on the forth and third floors. One customer at first said, “But there’s a lot of stores man” and then excusing himself from the phone “Hold on baby, man’s selling skills.” He looked at my list that says Do you need computer skills? and was hooked. Another customer said “Oh, you hussling, I see.” For a few minutes to fill out an online application he accepted a price of $4.00. At $10.00 for a half hour a customer wants a Spanish lesson. For twentyfive cents a customer got a
quick lecture on the organization of creation in Genesis chapter one. For two helping of spiritual conversation, r fifty five cents, a customer asked me first to interpret Luke chapter 16, the parable of the cunning manager, and then whether ethically one who could do good with the money is justified faking a sickness to a doctor in order for a medical benefit. All listened with interest as I delivered my sales pitch. One recommended a special case of need, a guy locked up for ten years who types with his index fingers groping for the letters—I knew—I had helped him in the lab computer lab actually. I showed him how to use the cursor on the mouse to highlight a group of words, how to use the cursor keys and showed him about the backspace key, how to save and print—his resume. And one signed up for a course on the Book of Genesis tomorrow at 10 AM. Tonight I study special paper folding problems for a man studying to be a carpenter. Oh, and I was hired to type up a guy’s book For $0.17 per page, I’ll profit from exposure to this man’s intimate portrait.
Anne, tonight’s learning reminded me that many people are accustomed to trade and barter for goods and services. It was a refresher of exchange theory of living or exchange economics. You and I relate out of our thirst for God, a desire that’s so intense for God, with gratitude, that we give ourselves freely. Yet I wonder if we might recognize the custom of some of our friends who may value what we do. Whether it’s because they see us as gifted in a radical way or just as inspiration, maybe they would like to be offered an opportunity to show their thanksgiving in a monetary measure.
Now thanks be to God I have no debts and no ambitions. Wrong! I feel so indebted to you, Anne, and if others could help me show you my gratitude I would greatly appreciate it. And I’m indebted to my parents, the St. Joseph’s of Seattle community, so many friends, so many new friends, members of the greater SOA Watch community in particular Judith Kelly, Mr. and Mrs. Phares, Nico DeGama, Fr. Roy Bourgeois, los campesinos of Arcatao, la parroquia San Bartolome and my home community the White Rose Catholic Worker. Most of all there’s the legions of behind the scenes, both living and dead, these prayer warriors who have aided my soul. You Jesuits, past teachers and companions. Oh God, if my act could not begin to express my gratitude and my love, so much more infinite is your love! Incomprehensible, most merciful and compassionate God, I thank you. And I continue seeking to serve you inspiring a faith that crosses the line.
Chris
Monday, June 20, 2011
Ah, to be in Mass
Gn 20:13 And when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, I said to her, ‘This is the kindness you must do to me: at every place to which we come, say of me, He is my brother.’”
13 June 2011
Dear Anne,
“Singers and dancers alike say, “All my springs are in you.” Ps 87:7
What a pentecost! Tuesday I received from Rosie R. a letter saying she’d be speaking about
Dorothy Day on Sunday at Loyola’s annual Thomas Merton Society event and wouldn’t it be great if the Feds sprung me so I could attend. That started the ball rolling and with event coordinator’s help sending an invitation letter, sure enough, I made it! Fr. Jim of the Trappist Monastery of Gethsemane presided the Mass. Wow, just to hear my self in unison with so many, praying Credo. And it was overjoy when, because I sat next to Frank, a former Worker of Kansas City, when he and I both said “flesh” instead of “and the word became man.” His nuances surprised me! I like to say “She” for the holy spirit part and whadda ya know, Frank said it
too! And if I were alone no one would have corrected me, but the group prompted me to get it right—No, not “and the life of the world to come. First it’s “We look for the resurrection of the dead’ Silly and then we add “and for the life of the world to come.” But Anne, that’s not all. The
most amazing, most awe inspiring sight: Fr. Jim announced at the beginning how being that our Mass took place in a venue without kneelers, then at those Mass parts we wouldn’t kneel but rather stand or sit as we were able. Well, after this young woman had received the Eucharist, she took to her knees anyway. Only her. Yet she sat on her heels on the ground, eclipsed in prayer; she didn’t want to be seen and it seemed like she was just drawn to put herself closer to the earth somehow. Glory to God!
13 June 2011
Dear Anne,
“Singers and dancers alike say, “All my springs are in you.” Ps 87:7
What a pentecost! Tuesday I received from Rosie R. a letter saying she’d be speaking about
Dorothy Day on Sunday at Loyola’s annual Thomas Merton Society event and wouldn’t it be great if the Feds sprung me so I could attend. That started the ball rolling and with event coordinator’s help sending an invitation letter, sure enough, I made it! Fr. Jim of the Trappist Monastery of Gethsemane presided the Mass. Wow, just to hear my self in unison with so many, praying Credo. And it was overjoy when, because I sat next to Frank, a former Worker of Kansas City, when he and I both said “flesh” instead of “and the word became man.” His nuances surprised me! I like to say “She” for the holy spirit part and whadda ya know, Frank said it
too! And if I were alone no one would have corrected me, but the group prompted me to get it right—No, not “and the life of the world to come. First it’s “We look for the resurrection of the dead’ Silly and then we add “and for the life of the world to come.” But Anne, that’s not all. The
most amazing, most awe inspiring sight: Fr. Jim announced at the beginning how being that our Mass took place in a venue without kneelers, then at those Mass parts we wouldn’t kneel but rather stand or sit as we were able. Well, after this young woman had received the Eucharist, she took to her knees anyway. Only her. Yet she sat on her heels on the ground, eclipsed in prayer; she didn’t want to be seen and it seemed like she was just drawn to put herself closer to the earth somehow. Glory to God!
To UA or not to UA
Gn 19:29 So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, God remembered
Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in
which Lot had settled.
18 May 2011
Dear Anne,
“The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.” Ps 23
Again my neighbor on the clutch with the Bible passage, saying, “It get’s me through
everything.” So Anne, wonderful wonderful news: It’s time for some agree contra action!! This little-engine that-could heart of mine has long been toying with the plan of refusing to take the
Urinary Analysis (UA). Agere contra-style, I’m going against my own will on this one. Though the desire to visit the prisoner of Cook County appeals to me, tonight I’ve found inspiration to go against it. Pablo Picasso said something about art being the result of the artist’s dominance over himself. Look what I’m seeing now: Yes, not submitting to the UA resists conformism to the system. Yes, it once more heightens the conflict of SOA? WHINSEC’s existence once again by consequence of my willingness to suffer. Yes, it once more dramatizes my love for the enemy by taking further the cross a second mile. Yes, it provides the condition for the possibility of relationship with the least of Chicago, knowing the forgotten as one-with. Yes, it problematizes the assumed guilty until proven innocent practice of the US Justice System. and Yes, it attracts the humbling likelihood of criticisms of me such as having a) a martyrs complex b) a lazy work ethic c) and/or it opens attack that I am a stupid, dumb protester d) that is, I probably have red eyes not from reading but because I must have smoked pot.
Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in
which Lot had settled.
18 May 2011
Dear Anne,
“The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.” Ps 23
Again my neighbor on the clutch with the Bible passage, saying, “It get’s me through
everything.” So Anne, wonderful wonderful news: It’s time for some agree contra action!! This little-engine that-could heart of mine has long been toying with the plan of refusing to take the
Urinary Analysis (UA). Agere contra-style, I’m going against my own will on this one. Though the desire to visit the prisoner of Cook County appeals to me, tonight I’ve found inspiration to go against it. Pablo Picasso said something about art being the result of the artist’s dominance over himself. Look what I’m seeing now: Yes, not submitting to the UA resists conformism to the system. Yes, it once more heightens the conflict of SOA? WHINSEC’s existence once again by consequence of my willingness to suffer. Yes, it once more dramatizes my love for the enemy by taking further the cross a second mile. Yes, it provides the condition for the possibility of relationship with the least of Chicago, knowing the forgotten as one-with. Yes, it problematizes the assumed guilty until proven innocent practice of the US Justice System. and Yes, it attracts the humbling likelihood of criticisms of me such as having a) a martyrs complex b) a lazy work ethic c) and/or it opens attack that I am a stupid, dumb protester d) that is, I probably have red eyes not from reading but because I must have smoked pot.
I wish
Gn 19.28 and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of
the Plain, and saw the smoke of the land giving up like the smoke of a furnace.
19 May 2011
Dear Anne,
“God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son for it.” Jn 3:16
Riding home to Chicago! I’m giddy with so much to share, what a day! First of all my neighboring passenger selected the above passage excusing himself saying “I only know the classic ones.” “Fine. That’s fine!” I said. Isn’t it a perfect one too? Remember how the incarnation brought such joy! Speaking of which, I’ve not even told you that Bobby’s baby was born. No, I know, I didn’t even mention the expectation! Monday night after a conversation I don’t recall now, he sighed and with last breaths before falling asleep mentioned that he couldn’t wait ‘til Friday when the baby was coming. I was like ‘What!’
Then, two days early[1] his wife went into labor. He came in yesterday with his arms raised and said, “The sun is born!” I looked out the window and back at him. The sun had just set. “Huh?” I said. “The SON is born!”
Oh, but it felt bittersweet. He flipped onto his bottom bunk bed and groaned “I shoulda been there.” And in an upright world I hope he could have. He didn’t bother to ask for a furlough back
to Alaska. Even though he knew in former times inmates could routinely get furlough permission, albeit flanked with guards, in order to attend a birth or a funeral—he didn’t ask.
Chris
[1] Bobby told me that the date was set for a C-section because in the first pregnancy his wife had not dilated past a one. They had arrived at the emergency room only to discover that her water had broke long before. “I felt some mucousy stuff in my panties, “She told the nurse. It was okay though because he planned on seeing a future birth. “I ain’t done yet!” he said.
the Plain, and saw the smoke of the land giving up like the smoke of a furnace.
19 May 2011
Dear Anne,
“God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son for it.” Jn 3:16
Riding home to Chicago! I’m giddy with so much to share, what a day! First of all my neighboring passenger selected the above passage excusing himself saying “I only know the classic ones.” “Fine. That’s fine!” I said. Isn’t it a perfect one too? Remember how the incarnation brought such joy! Speaking of which, I’ve not even told you that Bobby’s baby was born. No, I know, I didn’t even mention the expectation! Monday night after a conversation I don’t recall now, he sighed and with last breaths before falling asleep mentioned that he couldn’t wait ‘til Friday when the baby was coming. I was like ‘What!’
Then, two days early[1] his wife went into labor. He came in yesterday with his arms raised and said, “The sun is born!” I looked out the window and back at him. The sun had just set. “Huh?” I said. “The SON is born!”
Oh, but it felt bittersweet. He flipped onto his bottom bunk bed and groaned “I shoulda been there.” And in an upright world I hope he could have. He didn’t bother to ask for a furlough back
to Alaska. Even though he knew in former times inmates could routinely get furlough permission, albeit flanked with guards, in order to attend a birth or a funeral—he didn’t ask.
Chris
[1] Bobby told me that the date was set for a C-section because in the first pregnancy his wife had not dilated past a one. They had arrived at the emergency room only to discover that her water had broke long before. “I felt some mucousy stuff in my panties, “She told the nurse. It was okay though because he planned on seeing a future birth. “I ain’t done yet!” he said.
me vs we
Gn 19:14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had contracted marriage with his daughters, ‘Get up and leave this place,’ he told them; ‘the LORD is about to destroy the city.’ But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.
13 May 2011
Dear Anne,
“The Lord’s love for us is strong; the LORD is faithful forever. Halleluja!” Ps 117
Bobby’s shelf of books includes Farther than Any Man: The Rise and Fall of Captain James Cook by Martin Pugort, Creeds Law by Kerry Newcomb, Revenge of the Mountain Men by William W. Johnstone, Boone’s Lick by Larry McMurtry, Longarm and the Heiress by Tabor Evans, Hondo by Louis L’Amour, as well as Milo Talon and May There Be a Road; The Devil Gun by JT Edson, Max Brand’s Pleasant Jim and Elmer Kelton’s Stand Proud. Then there’s High Druid of Shannaru Straken by Terry Brooks and The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures.
We’ve just been let out for the extension hour given Friday and Saturday nights. Bobby: “Now TO’s dead. They was gonna give him to the count of ten. Dude got to eight and shot him.’ He reads Gunn by Jory Sherman. Earlier he had told me the plot of how it’s Gunn versus a whole group. They resort to tactics like torture to get Gunn’s whereabouts. The friend who was captured tells them to go to hell. Under the torture he nods and nods so they take out his gag and he tells a lie that’s close to the truth: where Gunn used to be and where the group knew he used to be. But they hold on to him and when they get back they give him one last chance or else death, being kicked by a horse. He says, go to hell!
Anne, themes of individual courage fill these books, at the expense of the collective. Here, a whole group is no match for the individual. Unless, that is, the individual’s strength comes from something greater than himself. In this case the friend so loves Gunn he would accept his own death before he surrendered Gunn’s hideout. What greater love is there than a man who would lay his own life down for a friend? Where do you see the Guantanamo detainee in the story?
Chris
13 May 2011
Dear Anne,
“The Lord’s love for us is strong; the LORD is faithful forever. Halleluja!” Ps 117
Bobby’s shelf of books includes Farther than Any Man: The Rise and Fall of Captain James Cook by Martin Pugort, Creeds Law by Kerry Newcomb, Revenge of the Mountain Men by William W. Johnstone, Boone’s Lick by Larry McMurtry, Longarm and the Heiress by Tabor Evans, Hondo by Louis L’Amour, as well as Milo Talon and May There Be a Road; The Devil Gun by JT Edson, Max Brand’s Pleasant Jim and Elmer Kelton’s Stand Proud. Then there’s High Druid of Shannaru Straken by Terry Brooks and The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures.
We’ve just been let out for the extension hour given Friday and Saturday nights. Bobby: “Now TO’s dead. They was gonna give him to the count of ten. Dude got to eight and shot him.’ He reads Gunn by Jory Sherman. Earlier he had told me the plot of how it’s Gunn versus a whole group. They resort to tactics like torture to get Gunn’s whereabouts. The friend who was captured tells them to go to hell. Under the torture he nods and nods so they take out his gag and he tells a lie that’s close to the truth: where Gunn used to be and where the group knew he used to be. But they hold on to him and when they get back they give him one last chance or else death, being kicked by a horse. He says, go to hell!
Anne, themes of individual courage fill these books, at the expense of the collective. Here, a whole group is no match for the individual. Unless, that is, the individual’s strength comes from something greater than himself. In this case the friend so loves Gunn he would accept his own death before he surrendered Gunn’s hideout. What greater love is there than a man who would lay his own life down for a friend? Where do you see the Guantanamo detainee in the story?
Chris
Moments
Gn 19:5 They called to Lot and said to him, ‘Where are the men who came to your house tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have intimacies with them.’
7 May 2011
Dear Anne,
“Listen, my people, I will speak; I need no bullock from your house, no goats from your fold. For every animal of the forest is mine, beasts by the thousands on my mountains. I know every bird of the heaven; the creatures of the field belong to me.” Ps 51
On Fridays and Saturdays after 10 PM lockdown for count we get another free spell until 11:30. Tonight I lay in my bunk in love with the sounds of the men at recreation. To Crow I put it thus, “I still remember being fifteen in love. We would lay side by side gazing into each other’s eyes.” I still remember the flecks of sunlight buried in her swirling blue irises. I didn’t need to go on about how as a celibate I look with love on my context. He was envisioning his girl again “That is one of the most intimate times,” he said.
Yes, and now the unit has locked down and still and moments unfold in mind. Yesterday. Today intermingling. Old Matt lies on his bunk talking with his dentures out, patting his belly. He returned from an attempted surgery to refasten the tendon of his bicep. “I was still groggy but I think I heard them say, 'Bring him on the 13th.’ They won’t tell you. You’re not supposed to know when they take you so you don’t call someone to meet you in the hospital.”
His injury supposedly happened since locked up, but who knows. When going to the hospital like this, he tells me, they take you to the hole. “Man I was dizzy with all that bright orange: the jumpsuit, t-shirt, boxers, socks—even orange slippers. They had regular sheets four years ago though…”
The main complaint of his was from having to fast prior to surgery, so before he got back to the unit at 6:30 PM he had no food since dinner the previous day at 4:30 PM.
7 May 2011
Dear Anne,
“Listen, my people, I will speak; I need no bullock from your house, no goats from your fold. For every animal of the forest is mine, beasts by the thousands on my mountains. I know every bird of the heaven; the creatures of the field belong to me.” Ps 51
On Fridays and Saturdays after 10 PM lockdown for count we get another free spell until 11:30. Tonight I lay in my bunk in love with the sounds of the men at recreation. To Crow I put it thus, “I still remember being fifteen in love. We would lay side by side gazing into each other’s eyes.” I still remember the flecks of sunlight buried in her swirling blue irises. I didn’t need to go on about how as a celibate I look with love on my context. He was envisioning his girl again “That is one of the most intimate times,” he said.
Yes, and now the unit has locked down and still and moments unfold in mind. Yesterday. Today intermingling. Old Matt lies on his bunk talking with his dentures out, patting his belly. He returned from an attempted surgery to refasten the tendon of his bicep. “I was still groggy but I think I heard them say, 'Bring him on the 13th.’ They won’t tell you. You’re not supposed to know when they take you so you don’t call someone to meet you in the hospital.”
His injury supposedly happened since locked up, but who knows. When going to the hospital like this, he tells me, they take you to the hole. “Man I was dizzy with all that bright orange: the jumpsuit, t-shirt, boxers, socks—even orange slippers. They had regular sheets four years ago though…”
The main complaint of his was from having to fast prior to surgery, so before he got back to the unit at 6:30 PM he had no food since dinner the previous day at 4:30 PM.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
My Conscience Speaks
4 May 2011
Dear Anne,
"While Paul was so speaking in his defense, Festus said in a loud voice, 'You are mad, Paul; much learning is driving you mad.' But Paul replied, 'I am not mad, most excellent Festus, I am speaking words of truth and reason.'" Acts 26:24-25
Sunday has called my attention in a profound way. Two events coincided on that day that I recognized have a direct bearing on my soul. Most devastating was the news of another extrajudicial killing and the President's word admitting his policy of extrajudicial mass murder since last August. Because of a suspect of terrorism living in Pakistan the President sent unmanned aerial vehicles firing hellfire rockets throughout the region. Hundreds and hundreds of incidences of extrajudicial killing were warranted, according to the President's speech, because he had received intelligence of Osama bin Ladin's location in a compound deep in Pakistan. A suspect of terrorism is innocent until tried and proven guilty. the fact that the presence of one suspect alone could sanction indiscriminate invasion resulting in hundreds of innocent lives lost, the legitimation of Drone Warfare itself, deeply disturbs me.
I am a child of the Catholic generation raised by Pope John Paul II. He taught us by example to be global citizens traveling the world: truly he exemplified a ministry of presence. My generation was made conscientious of the responsibility to lead faithful lives, a practice of small steps we took in pilgrimages during world youth days. On Sunday the church remembered his saintly life. I will forever think of his teaching of life in commitment to the neighbor known and unknown requiring risks to accept the burden of the community -- what Pope John Paul II called a virtue, solidarity.
Anne, I believe that I am called to witness solidarity in a unique way now. My heart senses the way ahead. Allowing myself three days of purification I sense the timing has come to demonstrate my love of enemy. This Mother's Day I will see my mom on a visitation, God willing, and then I will make my stand for love, for solidarity.
A more precise mind could formulate what I sense is wrong. When I look around at the men here serving their sentences and then be deported, I am struck again and again by the discrepancy where the government labels these men criminals for trespassing yet has its military, my military, myself, entering foreign countries against which no declaration of war was imposed. The office of the executive controls, enforces, but does it have a right to determine law? Currently it does. I therefore feel impelled to resist the powers that be. My heart mourns the loss of accountability representatives once had to check the powers of the President. As a citizen of this country I know my duty under international law to resist extrajudicial killing. The moment came Sunday when by Presidential decree all the previous drone warfare was excused. As a son of the Catholic church made bolder by the teaching of Pope John Paul II, I make the historic occasion one week from the day.
My conscience speaks. I may be imprisoned but my soul is free. Worship the true God with me, friend; resolute our object of solidarity shall never be LOCKED DOWN.
Chris
Dear Anne,
"While Paul was so speaking in his defense, Festus said in a loud voice, 'You are mad, Paul; much learning is driving you mad.' But Paul replied, 'I am not mad, most excellent Festus, I am speaking words of truth and reason.'" Acts 26:24-25
Sunday has called my attention in a profound way. Two events coincided on that day that I recognized have a direct bearing on my soul. Most devastating was the news of another extrajudicial killing and the President's word admitting his policy of extrajudicial mass murder since last August. Because of a suspect of terrorism living in Pakistan the President sent unmanned aerial vehicles firing hellfire rockets throughout the region. Hundreds and hundreds of incidences of extrajudicial killing were warranted, according to the President's speech, because he had received intelligence of Osama bin Ladin's location in a compound deep in Pakistan. A suspect of terrorism is innocent until tried and proven guilty. the fact that the presence of one suspect alone could sanction indiscriminate invasion resulting in hundreds of innocent lives lost, the legitimation of Drone Warfare itself, deeply disturbs me.
I am a child of the Catholic generation raised by Pope John Paul II. He taught us by example to be global citizens traveling the world: truly he exemplified a ministry of presence. My generation was made conscientious of the responsibility to lead faithful lives, a practice of small steps we took in pilgrimages during world youth days. On Sunday the church remembered his saintly life. I will forever think of his teaching of life in commitment to the neighbor known and unknown requiring risks to accept the burden of the community -- what Pope John Paul II called a virtue, solidarity.
Anne, I believe that I am called to witness solidarity in a unique way now. My heart senses the way ahead. Allowing myself three days of purification I sense the timing has come to demonstrate my love of enemy. This Mother's Day I will see my mom on a visitation, God willing, and then I will make my stand for love, for solidarity.
A more precise mind could formulate what I sense is wrong. When I look around at the men here serving their sentences and then be deported, I am struck again and again by the discrepancy where the government labels these men criminals for trespassing yet has its military, my military, myself, entering foreign countries against which no declaration of war was imposed. The office of the executive controls, enforces, but does it have a right to determine law? Currently it does. I therefore feel impelled to resist the powers that be. My heart mourns the loss of accountability representatives once had to check the powers of the President. As a citizen of this country I know my duty under international law to resist extrajudicial killing. The moment came Sunday when by Presidential decree all the previous drone warfare was excused. As a son of the Catholic church made bolder by the teaching of Pope John Paul II, I make the historic occasion one week from the day.
My conscience speaks. I may be imprisoned but my soul is free. Worship the true God with me, friend; resolute our object of solidarity shall never be LOCKED DOWN.
Chris
A special prayer intention
From a 5 April 2011 Letter
---------------------------------------
Anne, if you could consider Sticks' prayer intention for visitors. His wife has left him. A lead for the kitchen assembly line, soft spoken, bedraggled unshaven, he admits that's he's at the anger stage of grief. He has, I think, less than six months remaining on his sentence here at Seattle FDC. Anne, his grey eyes yearn for a compassionate listener, even a penpal could sooth his need for connection. This morning he quotes from The Remnant, a book in a series I frankly don't know the author of, saying it narrates a history of the apocolypse, revelation period where the followers of the risen anti-Christ meet in secret with a code greeting, "He is risen" and reply "Chris is risen, indeed."
---------------------------------------
Anne, if you could consider Sticks' prayer intention for visitors. His wife has left him. A lead for the kitchen assembly line, soft spoken, bedraggled unshaven, he admits that's he's at the anger stage of grief. He has, I think, less than six months remaining on his sentence here at Seattle FDC. Anne, his grey eyes yearn for a compassionate listener, even a penpal could sooth his need for connection. This morning he quotes from The Remnant, a book in a series I frankly don't know the author of, saying it narrates a history of the apocolypse, revelation period where the followers of the risen anti-Christ meet in secret with a code greeting, "He is risen" and reply "Chris is risen, indeed."
St. Nick in SEATAC FDC
9 May 2011
Dear Anne,
"As you gain control of your mind, with the help of your higher self, then your mind and ego become your allies. but the uncontrolled mind behaves as an enemy." Bhagavad Gita 6.6
"Yea, that I walk through the valley of death I shall fear no evil," quotes Gian, my celly in Solitary Housing Unit (SHU) Zeta Beta 14 House. He's reading the USA Today that arrived for him this afternoon in the mail. "I feel so badly for the Mississippi Tennessee and Louisiana. I want to go and help with my body." He's a formidable figure even as a sixty year old. With meat cleaver hands and an ox-like head, it was easy to imagine him as the star high school lineman. He spoke of the incident that marked this character for life.
In the locker room one day the bully football players were passing around a box of juice, keep away from the trainer. when it dropped to the ground they shrugged and went to the practice field. The coach came out huffing a few minutes later "Who did that?" Gian saw nobody making a move so he stepped up to take the heat. "I did, Coach," he said. "You're off the team!!"
Gian learned a year and a half later that the seniors had met to decide his fate. The playoffs were just about to begin. "We won't kick 'em off. Just bench him a game to punish him and teach him a lesson," they agreed. The team lost the opening playoff game, however, and Gian only learned the verdict after a year when a friend coughed it up. Henceforth, Gian disowned his friend. "Sure he didn't mind hanging out at my house and using my things but he kept the secret a year before telling me truthfully what happened."
To this day Gian tests his friends. That explains why he is in SHU, for putting money on the books for two buddies "just to see what they'd do with it." But really, because they have been forgotten by their people on the outside. Anne, my celly is a living St. Nick!
Chris
Dear Anne,
"As you gain control of your mind, with the help of your higher self, then your mind and ego become your allies. but the uncontrolled mind behaves as an enemy." Bhagavad Gita 6.6
"Yea, that I walk through the valley of death I shall fear no evil," quotes Gian, my celly in Solitary Housing Unit (SHU) Zeta Beta 14 House. He's reading the USA Today that arrived for him this afternoon in the mail. "I feel so badly for the Mississippi Tennessee and Louisiana. I want to go and help with my body." He's a formidable figure even as a sixty year old. With meat cleaver hands and an ox-like head, it was easy to imagine him as the star high school lineman. He spoke of the incident that marked this character for life.
In the locker room one day the bully football players were passing around a box of juice, keep away from the trainer. when it dropped to the ground they shrugged and went to the practice field. The coach came out huffing a few minutes later "Who did that?" Gian saw nobody making a move so he stepped up to take the heat. "I did, Coach," he said. "You're off the team!!"
Gian learned a year and a half later that the seniors had met to decide his fate. The playoffs were just about to begin. "We won't kick 'em off. Just bench him a game to punish him and teach him a lesson," they agreed. The team lost the opening playoff game, however, and Gian only learned the verdict after a year when a friend coughed it up. Henceforth, Gian disowned his friend. "Sure he didn't mind hanging out at my house and using my things but he kept the secret a year before telling me truthfully what happened."
To this day Gian tests his friends. That explains why he is in SHU, for putting money on the books for two buddies "just to see what they'd do with it." But really, because they have been forgotten by their people on the outside. Anne, my celly is a living St. Nick!
Chris
Monday, May 9, 2011
A Lust for Life
21 April 2011
Dear Anne,
"Simon Peter said to him, 'Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well.'" Jn 13:9
In a swell after the Bible study I was elated to discover on the book cart Lust for Life, the 50th anniversary edition of Irving Stone's autobiographical novel of Vincent Van Gogh. In a blue ballpoint, the inscription inside reads:
"To Crisman -
I read this book rather incidentally right after my return home (sophomore year)...and it not only spoke to me, it screamed and cried to me...the life of Van Gogh represents a similar struggle that we share, that in many ways has brought us together. I trust you will relate strongly. You have effortlessly and beautifully reminded me what in ways this book taught me -- that there is an artist in all of us, in ME...you spark such electrical creativity in me. Thank you. And though we may not necessarily be artists of canvas, we are artists of life. I wish for you so much...mostly peace and love,
Kate"
Anne, this is exactly what I'm talking about. Who was I saying it to -- Crow? Greg? -- that I love life so much.
No, its not even the events that happen, that I experience. But Life itself. The possibilities of goodness. At a certain point "love" can't begin to express this. If love were black and contained every single shade, every color of meaning, of despair and tragic consequence, then I even love Guantanamo Bay Prison and Abu Zubayda.
Chris~
Dear Anne,
"Simon Peter said to him, 'Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well.'" Jn 13:9
In a swell after the Bible study I was elated to discover on the book cart Lust for Life, the 50th anniversary edition of Irving Stone's autobiographical novel of Vincent Van Gogh. In a blue ballpoint, the inscription inside reads:
"To Crisman -
I read this book rather incidentally right after my return home (sophomore year)...and it not only spoke to me, it screamed and cried to me...the life of Van Gogh represents a similar struggle that we share, that in many ways has brought us together. I trust you will relate strongly. You have effortlessly and beautifully reminded me what in ways this book taught me -- that there is an artist in all of us, in ME...you spark such electrical creativity in me. Thank you. And though we may not necessarily be artists of canvas, we are artists of life. I wish for you so much...mostly peace and love,
Kate"
Anne, this is exactly what I'm talking about. Who was I saying it to -- Crow? Greg? -- that I love life so much.
No, its not even the events that happen, that I experience. But Life itself. The possibilities of goodness. At a certain point "love" can't begin to express this. If love were black and contained every single shade, every color of meaning, of despair and tragic consequence, then I even love Guantanamo Bay Prison and Abu Zubayda.
Chris~
Insane in the Membrane
From 21 April letter
------------------------
"A petition was circulated in the Place Lamartine. Ninety men and women signed it.
To Mayor Tardieu:
We, the undersigned citizens of Arles, are firmly convinced that Vincent Van Gogh, resident of Place Lamartine, 2, is a dangerous lunatic, not fit to be at large. We hereby call upon you as our Mayor to have this madman locked up.
It was very close to election time in Arles. Mayor Tardieu did not wish to displease so many voters. he ordered the superintendent of the police to arrest Vincent. They found him laying on the floor below the window sill. They carried him off to jail." Lust for Life by Irving Stone (1984).
Eric stopped by for a visit. When I told him how Van Gogh was taken to an insane asylum he said, "This place is like an insane asylum. Only here, we're the sane ones. The CO's are insane. The system is insane."
------------------------
"A petition was circulated in the Place Lamartine. Ninety men and women signed it.
To Mayor Tardieu:
We, the undersigned citizens of Arles, are firmly convinced that Vincent Van Gogh, resident of Place Lamartine, 2, is a dangerous lunatic, not fit to be at large. We hereby call upon you as our Mayor to have this madman locked up.
It was very close to election time in Arles. Mayor Tardieu did not wish to displease so many voters. he ordered the superintendent of the police to arrest Vincent. They found him laying on the floor below the window sill. They carried him off to jail." Lust for Life by Irving Stone (1984).
Eric stopped by for a visit. When I told him how Van Gogh was taken to an insane asylum he said, "This place is like an insane asylum. Only here, we're the sane ones. The CO's are insane. The system is insane."
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
The shifting paradigm
14 March 2011
Dear anne,
"How tarnished is the gold,
how changed the noble metal,
How the sacred stones lie strewn
at every street corner!"
"Hey Spicer," Greg said, "You look like you've been working out!" I burst out laughing. No, I definitely haven't. And Greg, who hasn't either isn't beyond ribbing me for something we've got in common.
Anne, months ago I accepted the reality that an act like "crossing the line" would engage me both with my society's demons as well as my personal demons. Instead of trying first to absolutely evict my own, I resolved to embrace my imperfection with an openness to the greater goodness of society also.
My letters have offered you, I hope, revealing testimony of one citizen-user's experience of the US Justice System. It has come in pieces, in fragments, and admittedly in biased storytelling. For instance, yesterday I scribbled to you about Greg, and to give you, I thought, a good impression of him, I began by mentioning his reference to Grapes of Wrath. I never detailed his appearance or all of his criminal background, for although he shared a good deal, I thought of it as "immaterial" evidence. Then something occurred to me reading last week's New York Times article, "3 Officers Hurt in St. Louis Shootout, Suspect Killed."
I found myself entirely unsympathetic to the frame of the article. Immediately, I looked for holes. The man was a known felon, okay, so what? Greg has 13 felonies, would he be shot? Greg vented yesterday about the legal kidnapping he experienced and had even mentioned in a kind of fury how wrong it was that with a gun he would not go quietly. I imagined that the suspect may have held this indignation when he fired on the invading US Marshalls and then I became conscious of my bias, of how my paradigm of the world slowly shifts in my sole act of being here.
Just writing this, somehow, I would like to feel better. For I have in fact felt that I have done nothing today. I seem to merely have awoke for meals and already we're at the 10pm count. Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins and your loving letters, friends, have indulged me.
Thanks,
C
Dear anne,
"How tarnished is the gold,
how changed the noble metal,
How the sacred stones lie strewn
at every street corner!"
"Hey Spicer," Greg said, "You look like you've been working out!" I burst out laughing. No, I definitely haven't. And Greg, who hasn't either isn't beyond ribbing me for something we've got in common.
Anne, months ago I accepted the reality that an act like "crossing the line" would engage me both with my society's demons as well as my personal demons. Instead of trying first to absolutely evict my own, I resolved to embrace my imperfection with an openness to the greater goodness of society also.
My letters have offered you, I hope, revealing testimony of one citizen-user's experience of the US Justice System. It has come in pieces, in fragments, and admittedly in biased storytelling. For instance, yesterday I scribbled to you about Greg, and to give you, I thought, a good impression of him, I began by mentioning his reference to Grapes of Wrath. I never detailed his appearance or all of his criminal background, for although he shared a good deal, I thought of it as "immaterial" evidence. Then something occurred to me reading last week's New York Times article, "3 Officers Hurt in St. Louis Shootout, Suspect Killed."
I found myself entirely unsympathetic to the frame of the article. Immediately, I looked for holes. The man was a known felon, okay, so what? Greg has 13 felonies, would he be shot? Greg vented yesterday about the legal kidnapping he experienced and had even mentioned in a kind of fury how wrong it was that with a gun he would not go quietly. I imagined that the suspect may have held this indignation when he fired on the invading US Marshalls and then I became conscious of my bias, of how my paradigm of the world slowly shifts in my sole act of being here.
Just writing this, somehow, I would like to feel better. For I have in fact felt that I have done nothing today. I seem to merely have awoke for meals and already we're at the 10pm count. Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins and your loving letters, friends, have indulged me.
Thanks,
C
Monday, May 2, 2011
A page of Greg's story
13 March 2011
Dear Anne,
"A stray sheep was Israel that Lions pursued; formerly the King of Assyria devoured her, now Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon gnaws her bones." Jeremiah 50: 17
One of the orderlies made a point to evangelize me about the injustice of the system. Greg, I'll call him. Greg has spent 83% of his adult life in prison. It boils down to drug addiction, meth specifically. His original charges were fraud and then for possession of ammunition after becoming a felon. He violated probation, missing a urinary analysis test. The federal marshalls went to Graham from Tacoma to kidnap him from his parents house. He was in the backyard power washing the sidewalk when they entered through the electric fence, guns drawn. He had warned his girlfriend it could happen, that he would just disappear for two weeks until he could get out a phone call. It did. He told the judge how he just needed a drug program. He was supervisor with an asbestos removal company making $38.05 an hour. He had paid off $8000 of the $16,000 child support debt for his two boys. They live in Yakima. He currently makes $0.12 an hour as a dorm orderly when it costs $0.30 for Ramen soup. He knows how it will be at the halfway house; they'll force him to pay down part of the child support first, then out of the gross earnings 25% is taken to pay the cost of the halfway housing. 50% is taken for child support automatically from his paycheck.
Why do American taxpayers pay for him to do nothing here? He wonders. He could get a violation of probation for associating with felons outside, but in here it's okay? Couldn't he have an employment that pays a real wage so he could make a dent in the child support responsibilities? He wants people to become educated about the prisons, the fact that for meth and a gun a kid will get ten years.
He appreciates the privilege of how things are. "The further south you go, the more politics...races don't talk to each other."
It infuriates Greg to remember how a sex offender was given $20,000 bond right in front of him but he got $60,000. "The guy gets out in two months for a treatment program but I'm stuck for 8 months." He says the recidivism rate, or likelihood of a repeat offense for probation violations is 85% compared to the recidivism rate for sex offenders of 100%. It looks to Greg therefore that society would rather prevent the loss of a few hundred people's good credit than secure the protection of children against a crime that will destroy their whole lives.
----------------------------------
The following is written by Greg, enclosed with Chris' letter.
By Greg
3.13.2011
All the things that earth provides for humans to live and coincide
the earth, the moon, the evening stars, the planets above like the one they call mars.
We have birds and bees, flowers and trees, incredible love and hopes and dreams,
we have all these things we're meant to see, all the things above the earth and in the sea.
Why then do we pretend to toy, by building bombs meant to destroy.
It is said there is enough to kill all, you and me and even the birds and the fish in the sea.
Why is it hard to get along when laws they write are meant to fight.
What is the deal when they'd rather kill than heal.
I really just can't understand, why it's okay for them and not me to stand.
I stood up on my own two feet, they stuck me in prison and called my defeat.
They make up lies and tell it their way, telling everyone else "WE'RE WRONG" and that's ok?
I write from in prison just happy and free, because they took my freedom but my heart leads the way!
I hope from now on you'll see what is true, knowing who prints the money and makes the laws: they do!!!
Dear Anne,
"A stray sheep was Israel that Lions pursued; formerly the King of Assyria devoured her, now Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon gnaws her bones." Jeremiah 50: 17
One of the orderlies made a point to evangelize me about the injustice of the system. Greg, I'll call him. Greg has spent 83% of his adult life in prison. It boils down to drug addiction, meth specifically. His original charges were fraud and then for possession of ammunition after becoming a felon. He violated probation, missing a urinary analysis test. The federal marshalls went to Graham from Tacoma to kidnap him from his parents house. He was in the backyard power washing the sidewalk when they entered through the electric fence, guns drawn. He had warned his girlfriend it could happen, that he would just disappear for two weeks until he could get out a phone call. It did. He told the judge how he just needed a drug program. He was supervisor with an asbestos removal company making $38.05 an hour. He had paid off $8000 of the $16,000 child support debt for his two boys. They live in Yakima. He currently makes $0.12 an hour as a dorm orderly when it costs $0.30 for Ramen soup. He knows how it will be at the halfway house; they'll force him to pay down part of the child support first, then out of the gross earnings 25% is taken to pay the cost of the halfway housing. 50% is taken for child support automatically from his paycheck.
Why do American taxpayers pay for him to do nothing here? He wonders. He could get a violation of probation for associating with felons outside, but in here it's okay? Couldn't he have an employment that pays a real wage so he could make a dent in the child support responsibilities? He wants people to become educated about the prisons, the fact that for meth and a gun a kid will get ten years.
He appreciates the privilege of how things are. "The further south you go, the more politics...races don't talk to each other."
It infuriates Greg to remember how a sex offender was given $20,000 bond right in front of him but he got $60,000. "The guy gets out in two months for a treatment program but I'm stuck for 8 months." He says the recidivism rate, or likelihood of a repeat offense for probation violations is 85% compared to the recidivism rate for sex offenders of 100%. It looks to Greg therefore that society would rather prevent the loss of a few hundred people's good credit than secure the protection of children against a crime that will destroy their whole lives.
----------------------------------
The following is written by Greg, enclosed with Chris' letter.
By Greg
3.13.2011
All the things that earth provides for humans to live and coincide
the earth, the moon, the evening stars, the planets above like the one they call mars.
We have birds and bees, flowers and trees, incredible love and hopes and dreams,
we have all these things we're meant to see, all the things above the earth and in the sea.
Why then do we pretend to toy, by building bombs meant to destroy.
It is said there is enough to kill all, you and me and even the birds and the fish in the sea.
Why is it hard to get along when laws they write are meant to fight.
What is the deal when they'd rather kill than heal.
I really just can't understand, why it's okay for them and not me to stand.
I stood up on my own two feet, they stuck me in prison and called my defeat.
They make up lies and tell it their way, telling everyone else "WE'RE WRONG" and that's ok?
I write from in prison just happy and free, because they took my freedom but my heart leads the way!
I hope from now on you'll see what is true, knowing who prints the money and makes the laws: they do!!!
One, two, three, four...this is what you have in store
From a letter 7 March 2011
From the FDC SeaTac Inmate Orientation handbook:
"Official counts are scheduled to ensure accountability of all inmates committed to the facility. During the course of the day, Monday through Friday, there are five official counts. The counts are as follows: 12:01 am, 3:00 am, 5:00 am, 4:00 pm, and 10:00 pm. In addition, a 10:00 am count is conducted on weekends and federal holidays. The 4:00 pm and 10:00 am counts are standing counts. You must stand, no exceptions. If staff are conducting a picture count you will be required to state your name and register number to the requesting staff. It is your responsibility to be ready for the count when the time nears. The Unit Officer will announce, "COUNT TIME" when it is time to count and you are expected to:
From the FDC SeaTac Inmate Orientation handbook:
"Official counts are scheduled to ensure accountability of all inmates committed to the facility. During the course of the day, Monday through Friday, there are five official counts. The counts are as follows: 12:01 am, 3:00 am, 5:00 am, 4:00 pm, and 10:00 pm. In addition, a 10:00 am count is conducted on weekends and federal holidays. The 4:00 pm and 10:00 am counts are standing counts. You must stand, no exceptions. If staff are conducting a picture count you will be required to state your name and register number to the requesting staff. It is your responsibility to be ready for the count when the time nears. The Unit Officer will announce, "COUNT TIME" when it is time to count and you are expected to:
- STOP doing what you are doing and go to your assigned cell or area;
- Remain silent during the count;
- Remain in your cell until the officer has announced that the count is clear.
Rant
Here's a little snippet of a rant by James.
-------------------------------------------
7 March 2011
"I can't wait to get the hell out of America," says James. Last night we take laps for a half hour. It's not quite a Dennis Miller face with a bit of Paul Bunyan and a bit of leprechaun with a shaggy gray-tinged auburn beard. "In LA, man, sure there's the beaches but there's a whole lot I didn't need to see: the abuse of wealth, the ostentation, the racism, the prejudice. People don't even care," he rants, "that their government stomps around the hemisphere and invades countries around the world...just look at how it all began, with mass genocide against the lands inhabitants."
-------------------------------------------
7 March 2011
"I can't wait to get the hell out of America," says James. Last night we take laps for a half hour. It's not quite a Dennis Miller face with a bit of Paul Bunyan and a bit of leprechaun with a shaggy gray-tinged auburn beard. "In LA, man, sure there's the beaches but there's a whole lot I didn't need to see: the abuse of wealth, the ostentation, the racism, the prejudice. People don't even care," he rants, "that their government stomps around the hemisphere and invades countries around the world...just look at how it all began, with mass genocide against the lands inhabitants."
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Brightest moment of the year
12 March 2011
Dear Anne,
"Rend not your garments, and return to the LORD, your God. for gracious and merciful is he, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment." Joel 2:13
Among feelings the least Homeric of them all could be contentment for only in his Penelope's arms can Odyssey's journey conclude, and there, upon contented, renewed feast of lovemaking can he rest in the knowledge of his beloved. Far be it from me to judge Western literature; I know how I clung to my contentment last night, after a feast of jokemaking and sharing of stories with Cole. In the quiet hovering afterward I lay. All the ribald humor and guffawing aside, I rested in the deeper knowledge that we are one. He had felt shy, describing the raid and the aftermath. What began as my reading aloud the extensive article "No Bars: The High Tech Prison is Here" in The Atlantic (Sept 2010) led to his own account of pre-trial monitoring that lasted a year and a half. During the week, Cole had the choice how he used eight spare hours, allotting them in a lump for a weekend hike or mountain biking day. Then I recounted, for the first person since entering the criminal justice system, details of the protest at the School of Americas. I lay afterwards remembering.
Oh, Anne, what I most enjoyed this year was to participate with the Puppetista crew in the making of puppets, together, communal meal sharing. As we went, creating the story that would be told Saturday and Sunday through the menagerie of color and choreography. That no brother or sister of ours in Mexico, Honduras, or Colombia, though their human rights may yet be nullified by US militarization, our mother shall consume -- and here I think of the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man -- she will consume us. We can be content in the knowledge of this. Note: I said not that we could be complacent but at ease in the will of God's judgment, Her spirit of wisdom.
Chris
Dear Anne,
"Rend not your garments, and return to the LORD, your God. for gracious and merciful is he, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment." Joel 2:13
Among feelings the least Homeric of them all could be contentment for only in his Penelope's arms can Odyssey's journey conclude, and there, upon contented, renewed feast of lovemaking can he rest in the knowledge of his beloved. Far be it from me to judge Western literature; I know how I clung to my contentment last night, after a feast of jokemaking and sharing of stories with Cole. In the quiet hovering afterward I lay. All the ribald humor and guffawing aside, I rested in the deeper knowledge that we are one. He had felt shy, describing the raid and the aftermath. What began as my reading aloud the extensive article "No Bars: The High Tech Prison is Here" in The Atlantic (Sept 2010) led to his own account of pre-trial monitoring that lasted a year and a half. During the week, Cole had the choice how he used eight spare hours, allotting them in a lump for a weekend hike or mountain biking day. Then I recounted, for the first person since entering the criminal justice system, details of the protest at the School of Americas. I lay afterwards remembering.
Oh, Anne, what I most enjoyed this year was to participate with the Puppetista crew in the making of puppets, together, communal meal sharing. As we went, creating the story that would be told Saturday and Sunday through the menagerie of color and choreography. That no brother or sister of ours in Mexico, Honduras, or Colombia, though their human rights may yet be nullified by US militarization, our mother shall consume -- and here I think of the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man -- she will consume us. We can be content in the knowledge of this. Note: I said not that we could be complacent but at ease in the will of God's judgment, Her spirit of wisdom.
Chris
Politico
Part of a letter from 12 March 2011
-----------------------------------------
Timmy took a Pepsi and reiterated that he was just asking questions. He wasn't calling me a liar or anything!
Ryan has told me his story, now idling out with one week remaining until he goes to a halfway house until April. He said that while I'm here for being silly, he's here for being stupid. He got into it with the administration. They wanted him to act like he was in prison so he treated them like he does the prison guards and they didn't like it. Since 1974 he's been out of prison only seventeen months. A girl, a car and some cash await him on the outside. he's twice been picked up for violating parole, having moved addresses without giving notice. he says he wants to keep his head down and his butt out of trouble this time. At the same time that he wants to be a citizen, he says he just doesn't think like one. Heroin, it keeps him down. Half in the drug program are teens to 20, others are in their 50s, like him.
I don't disagree when he reams on the police, what we call the guards -- "I hate anybody making a cent off us," he says -- sort of, minus the vulgarity, minus the meaning. Oh, and Timmy has "alot to learn, you"...er, me...the politics on the inside.
Chris
-----------------------------------------
Timmy took a Pepsi and reiterated that he was just asking questions. He wasn't calling me a liar or anything!
Ryan has told me his story, now idling out with one week remaining until he goes to a halfway house until April. He said that while I'm here for being silly, he's here for being stupid. He got into it with the administration. They wanted him to act like he was in prison so he treated them like he does the prison guards and they didn't like it. Since 1974 he's been out of prison only seventeen months. A girl, a car and some cash await him on the outside. he's twice been picked up for violating parole, having moved addresses without giving notice. he says he wants to keep his head down and his butt out of trouble this time. At the same time that he wants to be a citizen, he says he just doesn't think like one. Heroin, it keeps him down. Half in the drug program are teens to 20, others are in their 50s, like him.
I don't disagree when he reams on the police, what we call the guards -- "I hate anybody making a cent off us," he says -- sort of, minus the vulgarity, minus the meaning. Oh, and Timmy has "alot to learn, you"...er, me...the politics on the inside.
Chris
Changing Celly
As you read in a former post, Chris got a new roommate. It seemed that somehow the switch was orchestrated by Cole, Chris' former roommate who he apparently quite bonded with. His new celly is Matt, and as I have heard from his parents, they are getting along quite well too. I think Chris is feeling a bit emotional in this post, which is why I think he wanders the way he does -- undergoing the emotional change of roomie. Just a guess on my part.
----------------------------------------------------
11 March 2011
Dear Anne,
"When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the Magi, he became furious. He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the Magi." Mt 2:16
[My celly snoring in the background] I should like to sleep in peace tonight and when my new celly snores then if I hear it I shall say to myself, "Ah, another prophet cries out in the wilderness." I shouldn't rest, or how can I? By definition, sleep shall evacuate my awareness of my body or my surroundings. what then, in such a mysterious state of unknowing, yet remembering, what then shall the LORD say? Anne, I would let you count the hairs on my head. Yet I seem to push against a wall, an unmovable monolith that is my only possibility. I dare not suggest less than Descartes, that I think therefore I am, but how am I impacting the downward oppressive wall? My insight rewarded itself in clearer knowledge of my frail powers and my stupid pride. I felt and still feel such affection for Cole, and was touched when he visited this afternoon and had me back over to hear more jokes. It seemed to me unnecessary, since I can cross his path on any given lap or share a meal, and yet it sealed our transition to friendship, a relationship of choice rather than of circumstance. By now, as a result of your generous reading, some of the new characters in this drama have made your acquaintance. And I know, your prayers. I am told that a wise man knows when to shut up. I boast in my ignorance however and feign no idea what half it is I have scribed. One thing I do know, my tender companion: without you I am a broken record.
Chris
----------------------------------------------------
11 March 2011
Dear Anne,
"When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the Magi, he became furious. He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the Magi." Mt 2:16
[My celly snoring in the background] I should like to sleep in peace tonight and when my new celly snores then if I hear it I shall say to myself, "Ah, another prophet cries out in the wilderness." I shouldn't rest, or how can I? By definition, sleep shall evacuate my awareness of my body or my surroundings. what then, in such a mysterious state of unknowing, yet remembering, what then shall the LORD say? Anne, I would let you count the hairs on my head. Yet I seem to push against a wall, an unmovable monolith that is my only possibility. I dare not suggest less than Descartes, that I think therefore I am, but how am I impacting the downward oppressive wall? My insight rewarded itself in clearer knowledge of my frail powers and my stupid pride. I felt and still feel such affection for Cole, and was touched when he visited this afternoon and had me back over to hear more jokes. It seemed to me unnecessary, since I can cross his path on any given lap or share a meal, and yet it sealed our transition to friendship, a relationship of choice rather than of circumstance. By now, as a result of your generous reading, some of the new characters in this drama have made your acquaintance. And I know, your prayers. I am told that a wise man knows when to shut up. I boast in my ignorance however and feign no idea what half it is I have scribed. One thing I do know, my tender companion: without you I am a broken record.
Chris
Friday, April 1, 2011
Call to action for us all
11 March 2011
Dear Anne,
"You shall distribute this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel. You shall allot it as inheritance for yourselves and for the alien resident in your midst who have bred children among you. The latter shall be to you like native Israelites; along with you they shall receive inheritances among the tribes of Israel. In whatever tribe the alien may be resident, there you shall assign him his inheritance, says the Lord God." Ezek 47: 21-23
"You're not very observant," says Stan about my inspection of his room. He counts out the extra sheets he has: two pink and a plum. And another pink. I didn't see it, or I didn't care and so I didn't see it.
You may not realize the door is shutting on you. The opportunity closes fast. I care that the SOA/WHINSEC closes, do you?
If it fascinates your imagination, investigate a little closer and see. Smell the stink of evil. I know a way to clean it up, to go in faith across that plain white line with truth. Be civil in your intention, but form it quickly now or it will be too late. Don't you want to help close the SOA doors? Jump on the band wagon. Everyone's doing it.
But see, you need to form your affinity group now. Reconfigure your mind on this. Legal measures must be taken soon to ensure your defense is adequately provided. By right you can put forth a full defense, meaning for your future attorneys a great face off. Give them the lead time they need to assemble a team of first rate witnesses to prove the case. First of all, for an international defense you have to have the US Magistrate agree that the SOA/WHINSEC is a wrong -- a pre-trial. Hence the importance of front loading the preparation. All the motions have already been assembled by the legal team. But since being ruled on last in 2006, no further test has been made for a serious legal fight. Should you see the urgency as I do, get moving, raise the sirens, beg your benefactors, recruit, recruit, recruit!
Chris
Dear Anne,
"You shall distribute this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel. You shall allot it as inheritance for yourselves and for the alien resident in your midst who have bred children among you. The latter shall be to you like native Israelites; along with you they shall receive inheritances among the tribes of Israel. In whatever tribe the alien may be resident, there you shall assign him his inheritance, says the Lord God." Ezek 47: 21-23
"You're not very observant," says Stan about my inspection of his room. He counts out the extra sheets he has: two pink and a plum. And another pink. I didn't see it, or I didn't care and so I didn't see it.
You may not realize the door is shutting on you. The opportunity closes fast. I care that the SOA/WHINSEC closes, do you?
If it fascinates your imagination, investigate a little closer and see. Smell the stink of evil. I know a way to clean it up, to go in faith across that plain white line with truth. Be civil in your intention, but form it quickly now or it will be too late. Don't you want to help close the SOA doors? Jump on the band wagon. Everyone's doing it.
But see, you need to form your affinity group now. Reconfigure your mind on this. Legal measures must be taken soon to ensure your defense is adequately provided. By right you can put forth a full defense, meaning for your future attorneys a great face off. Give them the lead time they need to assemble a team of first rate witnesses to prove the case. First of all, for an international defense you have to have the US Magistrate agree that the SOA/WHINSEC is a wrong -- a pre-trial. Hence the importance of front loading the preparation. All the motions have already been assembled by the legal team. But since being ruled on last in 2006, no further test has been made for a serious legal fight. Should you see the urgency as I do, get moving, raise the sirens, beg your benefactors, recruit, recruit, recruit!
Chris
Write On
9 March 2011
Dear Anne,
"The Lord forbid," Nabath answered him, "that I should give you my ancestral heritage." Ahab went home disturbed and angry at the answer Nabath the Jezreelite had made to him: "I will not give you my ancestral heritage." Lying down on his bed, he turned away from food and would not eat. 1 Kings 21:3-4
Before I finished the 12 rules of better breakups in Psychology Today Jan/Feb 2011, Cole entered the cell and exposed the issue. "So I have somebody you should talk to , to be celly with. He's in five house downstairs."
"Wow, I thought we were getting along."
"Yeah, we do. It's not you. Matt's not getting along with his celly and he's been on me to move in."
"You could own up, man. I know you guys wanted to be together before I came. I respected the you that was blunt and just said you wanted him to move in."
He shows me the guy, not knowing his name, "I think he's lonely." It turns out the cell is one of the loudest and according to the guy he was put there to detox. He says at least twice, in spite of my descriptions of dealing with worse, that I really wouldn't want to live there.
I go and find Matt, my opponent in Stratego. He's narrowly dodged the bullet twice on getting assigned a celly. He wants to keep the cell to his own, naturally. Nothing personal. Cole and Matt play pool. It turns out according to Matt that he and Mel have patched things up. I'm curious about Mel because Stratego Matt said, since I admired him for being a reader/writer type, that Mel could be someone to talk to. Since we sometimes sit together for a meal and have a pending chess match I'm further intrigued when I hear Mel likes biographies. Stratego Matt rotates into the pool game and next I do.
He lost his career as a slot machine technician. The guy he helped attempt robbery on the casino turned him in. What have been a state crime by law three years ago became a federal felony. On top of that he got put on the blacklist, sent to Vegas, and distributed throughout the nation to put the watch out against anyone who has ever tried to wrong a casino.
He puts four hours a day into the creation of the fantasy mentioned a few days ago on our walk. The maps, character backgrounds, chapter outlines, language dictionary. Its a labor of love now nine months and 70% complete. "For my kid," he says.
Chris
Dear Anne,
"The Lord forbid," Nabath answered him, "that I should give you my ancestral heritage." Ahab went home disturbed and angry at the answer Nabath the Jezreelite had made to him: "I will not give you my ancestral heritage." Lying down on his bed, he turned away from food and would not eat. 1 Kings 21:3-4
Before I finished the 12 rules of better breakups in Psychology Today Jan/Feb 2011, Cole entered the cell and exposed the issue. "So I have somebody you should talk to , to be celly with. He's in five house downstairs."
"Wow, I thought we were getting along."
"Yeah, we do. It's not you. Matt's not getting along with his celly and he's been on me to move in."
"You could own up, man. I know you guys wanted to be together before I came. I respected the you that was blunt and just said you wanted him to move in."
He shows me the guy, not knowing his name, "I think he's lonely." It turns out the cell is one of the loudest and according to the guy he was put there to detox. He says at least twice, in spite of my descriptions of dealing with worse, that I really wouldn't want to live there.
I go and find Matt, my opponent in Stratego. He's narrowly dodged the bullet twice on getting assigned a celly. He wants to keep the cell to his own, naturally. Nothing personal. Cole and Matt play pool. It turns out according to Matt that he and Mel have patched things up. I'm curious about Mel because Stratego Matt said, since I admired him for being a reader/writer type, that Mel could be someone to talk to. Since we sometimes sit together for a meal and have a pending chess match I'm further intrigued when I hear Mel likes biographies. Stratego Matt rotates into the pool game and next I do.
He lost his career as a slot machine technician. The guy he helped attempt robbery on the casino turned him in. What have been a state crime by law three years ago became a federal felony. On top of that he got put on the blacklist, sent to Vegas, and distributed throughout the nation to put the watch out against anyone who has ever tried to wrong a casino.
He puts four hours a day into the creation of the fantasy mentioned a few days ago on our walk. The maps, character backgrounds, chapter outlines, language dictionary. Its a labor of love now nine months and 70% complete. "For my kid," he says.
Chris
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