Transcription
Christmas? Or just another day in prison?
12-25-14: 11:00am: Listening to: Land of confusion by: Genesis
Merry Christmas, Buon Natale, Feliz Navidad. Whatever your words for Christmas are, I wish everyone a happy one. Today, in this new prison, it just doesn't feel like Christmas. There is nothing. Not even 1 single decoration hanging up anywhere. No church, nothing. Christmas has always been one of my favorite times of the year. Even well before I was Catholic. But the memories continue to fade. In here today Christmas is a day of violence. We will probably be locked down soon. There has been a few fights here & a stabbing. And every single one of them have been over the telephone. We have a new prison phone company called Securus. They purchase phone time, they buy 4 minutes for $.01. They sell it back to us prisoners for $.06 per minute. So for every penny they spend, they make $.23 profit. But they don't work in small figures, they purchase millions of minutes at a time. My $2 calculator doesn't add that high. But on my block there are about 50 guys and 1 telephone. So most guys won't be able to call their families today on Christmas. I only ever called me Nonna (Grandmom) on Christmas day. I always call my mom tomorrow because that's my moms birthday. Hopefully the prison will add more phones soon!
A lot of these guys think that they'll be seen as "soft" or "weak", if they show each other common courtesy or basic human decency. They are young and have no one to teach them. I know that in here, we can overcome all obstacles if as prisoners we could come together for the common good, or goals, instead of hating each other for where we grew up at or the color of our skin. My sisters all have mixed children. I love all of my nieces and nephews, out of the ones that I do know, 6 out of 8 are mixed, and I'd hate to see those kids grow up in a world like this. Every time we bring up race, we just make it into a racist debate or situation. There's too much hatred in this world to ever make it perfect but we can try. I choose not to care where you are from or the color of your skin. I do believe there is good in every race, every color, every religion. I didn't always feel this way but what matters most is how I've grown, how I've changed and how I feel today.
I was just looking at the version of the TV guide channel we get here, just a simple grid that goes round and round non-stop. But I see that TBS and now TNT both are playing the movie "A Christmas Story" for 24 hours and that it's from 1983. 31 years old and I have never seen it. I still haven't seen E.T. either so maybe one day I'll get around to it. I don't sit around and watch TV all day. I try to stay as busy as possible. I'm currently hounding the employment staff trying to get a job, any job, but I'm told there are only about 400 jobs here for 1,300 prisoners so the waiting lists are very long. We'll see what happens. I might only get paid $.19 an hour but for every hour I work, that's 3 more minutes I get to spend on the phone with my mom. The thought of losing her makes me want to spend every second I can with her. Sadly, no word from my daughter at my birthday or Christmas. Well by the time this is posted, the holidays will be over so I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and I pray the New Year is better for us all. Take care and God Bless. Ciao.
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Replies (6)
A Christmas Story is a great movie. Brings you back to a more innocent time, when people did not bludgeon and dismember their room mates. There is a scene in the movie where the dad character gets a leg lamp which is presented in the front window.
Some years back, my wife bought me a replica. It goes up the first of December every year. We have a fairly large house in a main road, so the lamp is seen by many people each night. I'd love to put them in every window, just as a gag sometime.
The holidays this year were wonderful. Thanksgiving, we met up with friends we had met over the years for a holiday in Jamaica. Thanksgiving dinner was served by the sea, with the waves crashing, a smile on everyone's face as we all enjoyed the Caribbean breeze blowing over the table. None of us really have family, but made our own, and it was amazing.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you as well. I hope your mom is doing well and that you hear from your daughter soon. Good luck with trying to get a job!
But, back to something of a better note. If you get rated to a three, what sort of job does that allow? Is the pay better, or just simply the job itself.
You noted that $40k is below the median income level, and this is true. People at jobs in places like McDonalds and the ilk cannot make it on those wages, but I have always been of the opinion that those jobs are not meant to be for a family income. Sadly... They are. You worked in an industry prior to your lock up that would / could have made you decent money outside. I remember part of this being discussed during your court case. If you were out working today, the chances of making well over 40k in construction/roofing, what have you are really good.
There is a push right now to raise minimum wage substantially. I have always hated the term minimum wage. It implies such a disdain on the part of the employer to the employee... As in "you are only worth the minimum of what I am required to pay". I understand the logic behind the law, but hate the term. Walmart recently announced they are raising all of their employee wages, it may get the ball rolling. The thing is, when everyone has more money, there is more in the system, and prices go up... Essentially a net gain of zero.
good luck on starting a new charity campaign. I saw the postings for your last one, it must be nice to have an outlet of that nature.
The thing is, this is an individual who attacked a bailiff at the courthouse, and had to be brought into the courtroom in shackles. This is someone who stabbed people while in juvenile detention. His issues started long before the day he decided to kill Ron and dispose of the body parts. Clearly a product of crap parenting, but also lacking a will to raise himself above that. Lots of people have bad parents, and manage to raise themselves from that issue.
For that, I feel sorry for Mr. Pezecca. For murder, no sympathy.
Ron was 58, and yes, he was a cancer patient. It was Melanoma however, and not life threatening. Ron was a pretty big guy, and by no means weak... He could hold his own. Against a roofing hammer to the back of the head, no one would be able to hold their own however.