"No age lives entirely alone; every civilization is formed not merely by its own achievements but by what it has inherited from the past. If these things are destroyed, we have lost a part of our past, and we shall be the poorer for it." -Major Ronald Ballow

Dear Readers, Sun. 06-28-20

Happy Gay Pride Day! This is the day in 1969 when the Stonewall riot occurred which started it all. It also happens to be King Henry VIII's birthday for any anglophiles out there.
I'm currently listening to my Gay Pride playlist on C3PO which I wanted to play last year & then ended up in The Hole, & now we seem to be on permanent lockdown. The first song on it is "Nutter" by Chusap which I would have dedicated, appropriately, to the Psychology Dept. here. It's pretty funny.
Speaking of funny, I'd like to recommend the group, Betty Blowtorch, whom my buddy Phil turned me on to. The song, "I'm Ugly and I Don't Know Why" is hilarious! Check it out.
OK, so I thought I'd share something odd which happened yesterday when we were briefly let out of our cells to pick up lunch 7 dinner 7 then get locked up again.
I was waiting in the common area for them to let us out to walk to Chow, & I thought I'd check out the bookcart. Education brought bookcarts to each unit during this lockdown so we'd have some different books to read. Anyway, you may recall that I mentioned that I was missing a large stack of books from this last time I went to the Hole. Well... it just so happens that one of my three favorite books from that stack - and the only book I was able to buy for myself last year(most were received from the "free books for prisoners groups") - was on the bookcart!! WTF?
The book is "Britain's Royal Families" by Alison Wein. It is purely a genealogy of the monarchs of England from the 8th century & of Scotland from the 9th century forward. There's no story to it at all, it's solely a list of dates & their relatives. You'd have to be a total dork to enjoy a book like this. (I LOVE it!!) This is probably the only reason I was able to retrieve it.
Now, I last got locked up on March 31 & the lockdown started on April 1. So how the heck did a book of mine get from B-South to C-North in a completely different building, during lockdown?? Very mysterious.
However it happened I am very grateful that this book is now back in my possession. I have no hope of seeing any of my other books again, but at least I have this one. Now I can be all dorky & re-read it all over again! :)
By the way... the quote I used for this posting is especially meant for all the BS that's going on currently.... Another good quote (which I may not get exactly correct) is, "Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it." -Author Unknown
Fri 07-03-20 7:33 p
Utter monotony.
I'm currently in my cell, still thankfully alone, for the whole weekend as Natalie Cole sings "Pink Cadillac" no C3PO.
I have heard- but cannot verify - that guys have asked why we're locked down after 3:30p during the week 7 for the whole weekend, & they were told that it's 'cause we're short-staffed.
That is a complete lie. We still have a CO in the unit just the same as we did before the lockdown. It's the same in every unit (they're not gonna have a unit without a CO). So... how are we short-staffed?
I think the Warden intends to keep us locked down as long as he thinks he can get away with it. There was one other change. Beginning July 1, we now walk to & from Chow in order to pick up our breakfast instead of having it delivered. And during the week we are again required to put on our uniforms just for that 5 minute walk there and back. I think they're just having us walk there so they can save on breakfasts for those guys who don't feel like walking ever.
The one good part about this is that we get a hot breakfast for the first time since March. That was a bonus 'cause those hot meals are really getting old.
I did get some good news. I sent off my first article for that attorney's office last week & they said they liked it & were gonna use it!! Yay! The attorney is Brandon Sample. I don't know the URL for his website, but BrandonSample.com is a good guess. Or, just search for his name & add "attorney" and "Vermont" and it should be easy to find.
I sent in an article on "Compassionate Release" & they said they'd use it this week, the week of June 19th. Hopefully they'll have an archive & anyone can find it.
I sent in one today on the lockdown & haven't heard yet if they're gonna use it.
I would be very grateful if anyone sent them an email & told them they liked my article. <hint/hint> I'd really like to continue writing for the,.
The only problem is that they want to use email & that costs me, & I only have $9 left in my account & that's it. I can't afford to buy anymore email minutes (it costs me to even read an email)
I wrote them that if they'd just send $5 I could buy 100 minutes to use for email & I'd gladly devote all of that to this project but so far they haven't gotten back to me about that.
I'd be happy to write for them for free, but I sure as hell can't afford to pay to write for them.
Fri. 7/10/20 9:41A
Hey y'all! I'm sitting at my desk in Club 12 as I listen to Kay Perry sing "Tommie Sunshine's Megamix Smashup" on C3PO.
OK... no I thought I'd tell you something of the drug trade in prison, especially in relation to this lockdown.
The main two drugs which go around are still "Duece" (K2) and "Baa-Baa" (Suboxone (ap?)). I don't know how they're getting in, but sometimes CO's bring stuff in. I also heard that they sometimes use bug spray for K2.
Anyways, some guys are still able to get that stuff in, but not always in every unit. So, how to get the stuff to different units?
In order to pass drugs between units in the same building (2 units are on top of each other), they've devised a way to pass it thru the vents, They somehow send alone (sometimes long) through the vent down to the unit below. That way they can send "dollar stamps" (actually international mail stamps which are valued at $1 here) up the line by taping (well, winding two stamps around the line & then taping that together.) them on & pulling the line. Drugs are then sent back.
Easy-peasy.
The favorite way to smoke Duece these days is by wrapping a wire around it (sometimes when it's wrapped in toilet paper) & putting both ends of the wire on a battery (on the bottom & the scraped-off side).
Batteries are very scarce now since they stopped selling them, but I've seen a lighter made out of an MP3 (converted to a battery) & I'm sure you can use their new "Wind-up" radios as a lighter. (I know nothing about electronics).
Whilst I'm here, I thought I'd recommend a good book series. It's the "Red Rising" series by Pierce Brown.
I suppose it's technically science fiction, but it's not way-out-there sci fi. All the characters are human & it's set in our solar system. The [people are divided into serious classes due to genetics. The "Golds' are larger and rule society, the "Reds" are the slave class that does the worst jobs.
Their society is largely based on the old Roman Empire, so there's a lot of political intrigue and backstabbing. And of course the slaves rise up, hence "Red Rising."
Someone here had Book 5 which I recently finished. There's a lot of twists & turns & cliffhangers. Let's just hope he doesn't pull a George Martin & stop writing.
Which I think should be a new catchphrase to "pull(ing) a George Martin" should mean when you or someone else starts a project & doesn't finish it & leaves others (or everyone) disappointed.
Example:
WIFE: "Honey, did you clean the garage today?"
HUSBAND: "Sorry babe, I got started but then I pulled a George Martin."
Sat. 07/11/20 4:53p
OK, I'm about to wrap this up & mail it off, but I got some more info from the attorney's office & although I'm not entirely certain, I want to clarify what I believe to be true.
It appears that they have both a hand copy newsletter & online content on their website. I believe the article on compassionate release (which I thought was the better of the two) only went in the hand copy newsletter.
However, they emailed me this week & specifically asked my permission to put the "lockdown" article online, and possibly the newsletter too. So as I understand it, only the lockdown article will appear on their website. For anyone who's read my blog, it's nothing new, just a condensed version.
I would still be very grateful if anyone would check their website for my article around this date (hopefully there's an archive) & put in a good word for me. This is a good opportunity for me.
Also, I was told that they would be OK with my sending stuff via snail mail, so with any luck I'll be able to continue. <fingers crossed> I sure hope we can work something out.
Until next time, I wish you...

Love & Blessings,
KJ