This is wonderful. Your progress is truly inspiring. You don't know me, but my name is Marie, and I am a non-profit manager who works in Philadelphia prisons and jails, providing GED tutoring support for incarcerated learners. People from around the country are able to keep up with your journey through this platform, thank you to the organizers who make this possible. Continue spreading your positivity and empowerment. :)
Part two of two I think some people become lazy when they get successful. I know I’ll get flack for saying this, Jay Z got dull!! Dave Chappell said this quote, which I agree with, ‘Success can take you, where character cannot sustain you.’ Ergo: Tekashi 69 or Daniel Hernandez. Are you familiar with him? His notoriety is now as being a snitch, but he was refreshing in the rap game. Sounded anarchic, new, brought a much needed new flavour. It will be interesting to see what kind of sentence he gets, and how the music world treats him when he gets out. People tend to be more accepting of people who can stand on their wallets. Money talks and all that. As an older person I still find music interesting. Even though I’m too grey and too old to dance anymore, (arthritic hips and back) You should definately write down your dreams the moment you wake, Jung used to keep a notepad under his pillow for that very purpose. Dreams are bizarre, you can have the most incredible dream, wake up, and be in awe of it and then moments later it dissolves like sugar in hot water and you can forget it instantly, yet still feel it’s remnants on you. I have a lot of ‘missing trains’ and ‘late for exams’ dreams. Dreams are weird, have you ever watched a dog asleep who is dreaming? Their feet twitching as they chase dream cats! Dreams must serve a purpose or are they just nocturnal entertainment? So happy to have received a reply from you. T
Part one of two, Hello Douglas. I hope you are well. Regarding blogging, or vlogging on YouTube. I got to tell you there are several ex inmate channels on YouTube that are fascinating to watch. There’s a black bloke called ‘Big Herc’, I think his name is Marcus Timmons he has a channel called Fresh Out the Penitentiary. Another white guy called Wes Watson he is more into building muscle and personal character, and some other guys too, but the two I named have the most interesting content. Big Herc even had a prison cooking segment showing how in jail inmates cook with ramen noodle, making burritos and other jail delicacies! Most clips are like 15 minutes long, but others they stream live and get donations, so there is a living to be made there. Wes Watson told quite a troubling story about how prison yards are segregated into colour race and gangs. We don’t have that here in the U.K. yet, but maybe it’s coming. He talks a lot about building muscle in jail doing ‘burpees’ and stuff like that. I’ve recently read the Kerry Max Cook book, Chasjng Justice. He spent 22 years on death row for a rape murder he was totally innocent of. Came within 11 days of execution. Texas cops lawyers, you name them, they all screwed him. Trouble is when they have your nuts in their hands, you can’t do much when they start squeezing them. In your country the level of justice you get depends on how much you are willing to pay to get a good lawyer. Texas especially seem very eager to execute people, the Rodney Reed case is disturbing, he is definately innocent and has sat in a jail for decades. People on the outside interpret silence and inactivity for guilt. But these cases are like quicksand, the more you move the worse it gets. I’ve tried to write to governors of Texas in a vain attempt to intervene, but nothing yet. They won’t listen to me anyway, why would they, I’m not even American? Years ago when I was 16 I met some Texans on a train, they were the first Americans outside of my dads brother, that I had ever met. They were from Austin. They told me, back then, that Texans were a different kind of American, that they were more persistent and unlikely to bend to others will. Which is great when you are building a state, but treacherous when confronted with a mistake you won’t acknowledge. I’m terrified for Rodney and his family. Hopefully someone will see some sliver of humanity and stay the order. I’m unfamiliar with your case. UK internet servers won’t allow me to download your case, and it’s expensive too. Unfortunately I’m a poor person!! Music wise I am rather fond of rap. Early stuff Wu tang, Busta Rhymes, Salt and Pepa Faith Evans, Beyonce Biggie Smalls. Stevie Wonder Red Hot Chili Peppers, quite eclectic really. I despise modern rap, trap music, anything that is ‘over produced’ collaborations bore me, all that Justin Beiber DJ Khalid stuff is dire boring and repetitive.
Greetings in the might name of Jesus to you as well! I am well but am very sorry for the delayed reply. I'm glad that you've been experiencing grounded spiritual joy. Congrats on the job, and I hope you've continued to make progress toward being a tutor since you last wrote! God bless.
Thank you for reminding me to slow down in life and appreciate the small things. It makes me feel guilty that I can enjoy those small luxuries and you cannot. I feel even worse knowing that most of the time I loathe going to the grocery store. >.<
I just wanted to share that I was a little bit excited when I saw the word cesspool. I had recently come across the word and did not know what it meant, so I looked it up. But I did not have to look up what the word meant this time. :)
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I think some people become lazy when they get successful. I know I’ll get flack for saying this, Jay Z got dull!! Dave Chappell said this quote, which I agree with, ‘Success can take you, where character cannot sustain you.’
Ergo: Tekashi 69 or Daniel Hernandez. Are you familiar with him? His notoriety is now as being a snitch, but he was refreshing in the rap game. Sounded anarchic, new, brought a much needed new flavour. It will be interesting to see what kind of sentence he gets, and how the music world treats him when he gets out. People tend to be more accepting of people who can stand on their wallets. Money talks and all that.
As an older person I still find music interesting. Even though I’m too grey and too old to dance anymore, (arthritic hips and back)
You should definately write down your dreams the moment you wake, Jung used to keep a notepad under his pillow for that very purpose. Dreams are bizarre, you can have the most incredible dream, wake up, and be in awe of it and then moments later it dissolves like sugar in hot water and you can forget it instantly, yet still feel it’s remnants on you. I have a lot of ‘missing trains’ and ‘late for exams’ dreams. Dreams are weird, have you ever watched a dog asleep who is dreaming? Their feet twitching as they chase dream cats! Dreams must serve a purpose or are they just nocturnal entertainment?
So happy to have received a reply from you.
T
Hello Douglas.
I hope you are well.
Regarding blogging, or vlogging on YouTube. I got to tell you there are several ex inmate channels on YouTube that are fascinating to watch. There’s a black bloke called ‘Big Herc’, I think his name is Marcus Timmons he has a channel called Fresh Out the Penitentiary. Another white guy called Wes Watson he is more into building muscle and personal character, and some other guys too, but the two I named have the most interesting content. Big Herc even had a prison cooking segment showing how in jail inmates cook with ramen noodle, making burritos and other jail delicacies! Most clips are like 15 minutes long, but others they stream live and get donations, so there is a living to be made there.
Wes Watson told quite a troubling story about how prison yards are segregated into colour race and gangs. We don’t have that here in the U.K. yet, but maybe it’s coming. He talks a lot about building muscle in jail doing ‘burpees’ and stuff like that.
I’ve recently read the Kerry Max Cook book, Chasjng Justice. He spent 22 years on death row for a rape murder he was totally innocent of. Came within 11 days of execution. Texas cops lawyers, you name them, they all screwed him. Trouble is when they have your nuts in their hands, you can’t do much when they start squeezing them. In your country the level of justice you get depends on how much you are willing to pay to get a good lawyer. Texas especially seem very eager to execute people, the Rodney Reed case is disturbing, he is definately innocent and has sat in a jail for decades. People on the outside interpret silence and inactivity for guilt. But these cases are like quicksand, the more you move the worse it gets. I’ve tried to write to governors of Texas in a vain attempt to intervene, but nothing yet. They won’t listen to me anyway, why would they, I’m not even American? Years ago when I was 16 I met some Texans on a train, they were the first Americans outside of my dads brother, that I had ever met. They were from Austin. They told me, back then, that Texans were a different kind of American, that they were more persistent and unlikely to bend to others will. Which is great when you are building a state, but treacherous when confronted with a mistake you won’t acknowledge. I’m terrified for Rodney and his family. Hopefully someone will see some sliver of humanity and stay the order.
I’m unfamiliar with your case. UK internet servers won’t allow me to download your case, and it’s expensive too. Unfortunately I’m a poor person!!
Music wise I am rather fond of rap. Early stuff Wu tang, Busta Rhymes, Salt and Pepa Faith Evans, Beyonce Biggie Smalls. Stevie Wonder Red Hot Chili Peppers, quite eclectic really. I despise modern rap, trap music, anything that is ‘over produced’ collaborations bore me, all that Justin Beiber DJ Khalid stuff is dire boring and repetitive.
Thank you for reminding me to slow down in life and appreciate the small things. It makes me feel guilty that I can enjoy those small luxuries and you cannot. I feel even worse knowing that most of the time I loathe going to the grocery store. >.<
I just wanted to share that I was a little bit excited when I saw the word cesspool. I had recently come across the word and did not know what it meant, so I looked it up. But I did not have to look up what the word meant this time. :)
I liked "perhaps I should learn how to purr" "and jump up in a lap". It made me smile.
I was attracted to your words of truthfulness, and anything related to God fascinates me.