Trivial Pursuits

After nearly two years of reflection and writing, I still don’t think I’ve been able to convey how it feels to be in prison.  I do know that I’ll never be able to listen to complaints about being “trapped” at home during inclement weather or “stuck” in an airport or "delayed" in traffic again.  Prison is a whole ‘nother level of all that.  Yet we find ways to fight the mind-numbing boredom, after all, I’ve learned that it is not necessity but incarceration that is the mother of invention.   Life here sometimes reminds me of the contrived hi-jinks I remember so well from childhood sit-coms like Gilligan’s Island and Hogan’s Heroes.  The island castaways and World War II POWs of these old shows found ingenuous ways to while away their 30 minutes a week, but you can take their creativity and multiply it by at least ten in here.  Got a tin can, some paper, tape, cellophane, a pair of old socks?  Guys in here can build you a home-made deep fryer, a tattoo gun, an amplifier, a speaker, a sandwich press, a cheese grater and slicer, locker shelves, a hot plate.  I’m leaving out a lot of the improvised inventions, but you get the point.  I’ve even seen eyeglass lenses ground and fitted to new frames!

We’re like a Silicon Valley think tank in here, minus a few things like California weather, gourmet food, awesome pay checks, and general hipness.  But otherwise, like those think tanks, we’re just people who have all day every day to solve problems and devise new products.  Oh yeah, another difference:  Whereas the tech geek’s reward for a cool new device may be a big bonus, ours is more likely an extended stay in a private one-man suite in what the administration calls a Special Housing Unit, but that you will remember from old movies as “the Hole.”

When we’re not inventing sleep masks out of old underwear, we have found that an entire day can be happily spent debating 70s and 80s sit-coms, guessing locations and main characters.  For example:  What's Happening?  (L.A.); Different Strokes? (NYC); Good Times? (Chicago).  Without irony, I can say that every day here is an extended game of Trivial Pursuit.  So what’s the big deal about being in prison, then?  Just remember that we do all this stuff primarily to keep from dwelling on the fact that we’re stuck here.  The human spirit is amazing, after all.  I have met some of the most mentally and spiritually strong men in prison, men who can hold their heads high whether they’re leaving soon or not so soon with their dignity intact.  Let me sign off with an apology for the lack of focus this week, but at times my mind drifts.  Hope you enjoyed the ramble.  Much peace and love to all!