Transcription
Piankhi
Reviewing Our Last Meal?
by Albert "Ru-Al"
The very first thing about this printed book that struck me as odd when I opened it was the low-resolution text images. I was expecting the white glossy pages with sharp black text and high-resolution digital images being the bar standard in print book publishing and distribution. Obviously, my boy Ru-Al had banged this out himself with a manual typewriter—like those only prisoners still use—and a xerox copier. Which made me think to myself, "This could've been a zine."
Ironically, the thought of that didn't impress me too much at all and, not expecting much in favor of this prison cookbook as I was born to read tentatively into the first half of it, I unexpectedly found myself re-evaluating my initial rush to discredit the content of the book superficially.The pages began to provide a material context that was more authentic and three-dimensional. There're those forms of written word and creativity that doesn't translate well into the pages of a book. That's when I thought to myself and said aloud to my neighbor, XZYZST, "Ay, this could've been a zine!"
My favorite feature of the book are the recipe titles: "M.J. Help-a-Brother-Out Mackerel and Rice". Which is funny to me since I know M.J. as well as the rest of the recipe title recipients. Something that'd be lost on the majority of brothers housed here at San Quentin death row.
For the prisoners, this is a good guide to eating. Whether you're working with a little or a lot. And the lack of healthy options comes with the territory. Last meals are a condemned man's final indulgence.
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