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
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Politico
Part of a letter from 12 March 2011
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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
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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.
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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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