When I go outside to the track each morning, nearby mountains still block the sun. I take off my shirt because even before six, the temperature approaches 80 degrees. I take my first steps of the long run, and I feel some comfort as I hear the crunch of gravel and dirt beneath my sneakers. [...]
For the past six weeks I’ve been taking an allergy pill. I would like to purchase my own pills from the commissary, as they do not require a prescription. Yet, to receive the allergy pills, the rules at Taft Prison Camp require that I pass through health services procedures. That means I must sign up [...]
Today I received an e-mail message from Michael Sweig, a legal studies professor from Roosevelt University in Chicago. As a legal studies professor, Michael Sweig teaches business students in a business school who are getting business degrees about law. Professor Sweig has given me the troubling news that more than 60 million people in our country have [...]
I called to wake Carole at six this morning. She was already up and checking for messages on the computer. A google alert had come through with a mention of my name in a New York Times article. The story was on a friend of mine from another prison, Joe Reddick. The reporter had written [...]
This morning I woke at 2:30. By initiating projects to keep me busy, I have simultaneously trained myself to wake at an early hour without an alarm. The key to the discipline, I think, is living with a clear purpose. The prison housing units bustled with noise in the early evenings, though that noise did [...]
Another overcast day, with temperatures at Taft Prison Camp in the 50s. I was writing at the quiet-room desk by 4:00 am. I appreciate that time alone, when most everyone else in the unit is asleep. I am able to concentrate. This morning I worked on making modifications to the PrisonNewsBlog.com that Carole has launched [...]
The day was overcast with temperatures around 50 degrees at Taft Prison Camp. I woke early as usual. By 4:00 am I was sitting alone in a quiet room to write. In the early morning I wrote my Values and Goals for 2009 blog post in longhand. By 8:00 am, I was on the track. [...]
