The library here has one amenity that no other prison library I've seen has - inter-library loan. I'm surprised any libraries at all would lend books to a prison, but we have an agreement with the local high school library, which doubles as a community library.I used the Tex-share program when I was going to community college to visit the nearby university for research materials. Just like that community college, our prison library has weak selection of books. The agreement we have with the local library effectively quadruples our collection, quite a boon for a reader like me with different tastes than the usual guys.
I gave the system a try this week. When I asked my boss to check on the availability of a few books, only one of the five was in the local library's collection. My coworker had better luck with a few books targeted for young adult readers. Apparently they still favor high-school reading over sci-fi and non-fiction for an older audience. The book I got is on the bestseller's list anyway, so it wasn't a surprise to find that they had it. I guess other guys will gain more from the inter-library loan agreement than I will. It's just cool that it's in place.
We had a powerful worship service last night that could have only been God's doing. Late last week I felt like God had given me direction to lead a song that we had never practiced. I asked the choir director if I could fit it in at the beginning of the service right after we got everything connected. He was trusting and said sure.
Before the service got underway, I quickly went over the song with the keyboardist and other guitarist. I had not idea how things would turn out, but is asked the Spirit to lead. Through a series of last second decisions, the new song got bumped to the end of the lineup. Now there was even more pressure to not break the flow of worship leading into the message spoken.
From the very beginning, it was on! We sang an upbeat hymn followed by a couple songs in Spanish and a swinging gospel tune. The worship was more alive than I've seen since I've been here. I've been playing in front of people since I was fifteen, so I'm usually not nervous, but tonight I had to lead a song we had never played as a group following up and continuing a great atmosphere of worship. I was shaking inside.
I Peter 5:6 says. "Therefore humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time." I just handed it over to the Spirit and went with it. With my eyes closed, my hands strumming, and my voice singing, I noticed others joining in. How was this happening if I hadn't done this song before? Only by the Spirit. I really hope that the choir can usher in this kind of worship more often. I'm so glad God has blessed us to be able to lead others to praise him.
The Reason For God - Tim Keller
If you don't trust the Bible enough to let it challenge and correct your thinking, how could you ever have a personal relationship with God? In any truly personal relationship, the other person has to be able to contradict you. For example, if a wife is not allowed to contradict her husband, they won't have an intimate relationship.Remember the (two!) movies The Stepford Wives?...
Now what happens if you eliminate anything from the Bible that offends your sensibility and crosses your will? If you pick and choose what you want to believe and reject the rest, how will you ever have a God who can contradict you? You won't! You'll have a Stepford God! A God essentially of your own making, and not a God with whom you can have a relationship and genuine interaction. Only if your God can say things that outrage you and make you struggle (as in a real friendship) or marriage!) will you know that you have gotten hold of a real God and not a figment of your imagination. So an authoritative Bible is not the enemy of a personal relationship with God. It is the precondition for it.
Out of the many donated books we have received over the past couple weeks, there are a few that I haven't read that look pretty interesting. Unfortunately, I just started a fairly long book, so I won't be able to try the new stuff for a while. What I've done is promote them to friends to take on the test drive so they can let me know whether the books are worth the read. No one took my "suggestions" until my friend, Lelan, agreed to read one for me a few days ago.
Today Lelan dropped by the library while we were empty. "Why did you suggest this book to me?" he asked. "It's not a good one at all."
"I didn't so much recommend it," I said, "I thought I wanted to read it myself, but wanted to hear how someone else liked it. Why is it so bad? What's going on?"
Now Lelan is a former theater teacher, thus his dramatic side comes out with ease. He launched into a fascinating retelling of the story of the odd book, leaving me and my boss enraptured. When he took a break, we asked questions to pull out more details, told with thespian flair. Lelan's bookmark was placed midway between the two covers of the volume., so we didn't get to hear the whole story. Full of anticipation, my boss cried. "I want to know what happens! Finish it and come back!"
I felt bad for passing Lelan a bad read but it was really fun to hear his version of the story. I can't wait to hear the conclusion either.
This was the last day (hopefully) that I did the book cart without Ereman. I've had to leave the morning church service two weeks in a row now because of the book cart, and I'm hoping not to need to do it again. I thought I was finished before lunch but was proven wrong later in the day.
The afternoon was filled with a pleasant visit from the younger of my two friends. This was the first time I had a visit with Betsy on her own and, just like before, it was like hanging out with an old friend.
On the way out of the visit, I was told that an officer at another dorm was looking for me. Hmmm, that's strange, I thought. Why would a guard from the other side of the unit want to see me? When I arrived at the dorm the officer showed me a spine tag from one of the book cart books.
"Can you find out which book this is so I can look for it? It seems like someone is trying to steal from the book cart."
Oh yeah, I can find out which book it is. I work hard to make a quality book cart for the guys and someone wants to steal from it. I got back into the library and looked up the number of the book in our paperwork. I even found the name of the guy who checked out the book to make sure he knew someone was trying to make off with his book and get him into trouble. Only a few minutes later I returned to the officer with the info I had dug up. It felt kind of like a detective mission. I don't know if the book was found yet but at least I did what I could, considering the circumstances. I really don't like people who ruin a good thing for others, especially when I put effort into making the good thing better.
Today sure was a wild day. It started like a normal day and played out as such until the middle of the afternoon. I was working in the library and we kept hearing rumors of a couple of guys in Ereman's pod getting sick. Since the big stomach flu outbreak, every time more than one person in a dorm shows signs of sickness, that dorm is put on quarantine lockdown for at least three days. Even then, the guys whose sickness initiates the lockdown are confined to their cells for an additional four days - a week total.During our lunch break in the afternoon we heard over the officer's radios that Ereman's dorm was locked down. Then the guards came looking for anyone out of that pod. Ereman had to report back to his dorm, which meant he wouldn't be able to work this weekend and I would do the book cart on my own. I am fully capable of doing the cart on my own, but it just means that I won't have a day off. I hope the quarantine only last the usual three days so I will have help next week in the library.
Also, during our break I went over to the education department to create and print out some inventory sheets and labels for our one-week books. After I finished the inventory, I went to ask the principal if I could print it out. She brought the finished product and I explained that I also needed to print some labels, showing her the sheets in my hand. The principal directed me to the library secretary to help me.
Now, I figured I would make the document and get help loading the sheets of labels into the printer, but the library secretary had a different idea. She began to create a document and format everything strangely. I suggested that I could use the Excel to make a document in a flash, thinking I would save her from taking time away from whatever she needed to do. She initially said no, then, with some annoyance, told me to use the computer lab to make the labels.
I whipped up the labels in about five minutes and wondered why she was annoyed and thought I should apologize for my assertiveness. As I handed off the file to the secretary, the principal stopped me in the hallway. Apparently, I was not allowed access to her computer and, when I did the inventories, the secretary thought I was trying to take over her computer and tell her how to do her job. I don't know how she got that impression, but I told the principal I would apologize.
When I entered the secretary's office, she had an "I told you so" look and a sheet of misaligned labels. She hadn't done a test sheet on regular paper like she had done for herself. She had wanted to prove me wrong.
I apologized and told her that I was never trying to use her computer. I knew the computer lab was available and planned to do my work there. I also was not trying to tell her how to work, but trying to take initiative on my project ans save her time.
In response, she hammered me in calm but stern tones, saying she would never take instructions from an inmate. She is there to help us, she said, and refuses to be taken advantage of.
Wow, she still doesn't get it. I understand where she is coming from but I don't know how she came to her conclusion about my intentions. I hope that the situation improves over time because I am forced to have a lot of interaction with her through my job. Even if it does get better, I will just maintain a courteous attitude.
The day ended on a good note as we closed the library on account of heavy snowfall. From my cell I could see large flakes floating down to the white blanket beneath my second-floor window. This is the biggest snowfall I've ever seen. I wish I could go outside to play in it and cast aside my cares.
“Nonsense is so good only because common sense is so limited" ~ George Satayana
The library was closed today because our boss called in sick, which meant that we peons had to drag the book cart around the whole unit. I don't so much dislike the act of rolling around as the endless "This stuff is all trash", "Did you bring any good books this time?" and "When you gonna put more [favorite author] on the cart?" The book cart is populated by beat-up donations and books we take off the shelf because we have too many copies, so it usually doesn't have much quality stuff on it. Ereman and I have worked hard at reorganizing the cart and adding some better books. Unfortunately, it is still the very ugly duckling in a not-so-beautiful library.
Such was my attitude, weary of the cutting comments, when Ereman and I turned in the cart. We both wish we had more to offer. Our tired selves went into the education department to let the principal know we had finished.
It was to our great joy and surprise to find the principal sitting at the table in the break room pulling books out of a box that held many more. I recognized some of the covers and exclaimed, "Wow, I didn't think she brought that many!"
Last week I asked my mom to bring up some books out of my personal library at home to donate to the library here. When I saw her this weekend in visitation, she said she had brought those books and a few that she had quickly gathered out of her and my dad's collection. "Okay," I'm thinking, " twelve books or so is going to
be a great addition."Well, this box I'm seeing in the break room has at least twenty books, probably more than double what I expected. Awesome!
"Looks like you two have some work to do this afternoon," the principal said with a big smile. We spent the rest of the day prepping these "new" books for the shelf in a much better mood than earlier today. And my mom said she had more books to pull together; those are in addition to books that another friend said she wants to donate. Maybe this library will receive a complete makeover. It sure could use it.
I have decided to begin a unique experiment and somewhat daunting task this weekend. My end goal is surround sound and bass for my cell (okay, not really surround; just two satellite speakers.) I don't know yet if I'll pull it off. As much as I know about computers, I do not know electronics well at all. It's going to be a lot of experimentation.
The two satellites are already made. I cobbled then together with a set of old headphones, two ice cream pint containers, two toilet paper tubes, and a bit of plastic wrap. I cut out a hole in the bottom of the pint container to fit a toilet paper tube snugly through. With the lid of the container I cut out all the paper inside the stiiffer ring. I pulled the plastic wrap tight across the top of the open container, and then fit the ring on so it looked like a drum. I pushed the toilet paper tube up against the plastic to focus the sound.
I have taken this contraption and rubber banded it over my headphones, which have been separated in a way that I can place them about eight feet from each other or connect them as headphones again. The sound created is very clear down to about 100 Hz. The plastic is like an amplifier, while the container is a kind of resonator for a richer sound.
The woofer I'm making will splice into the same line. The box is a 6 x 6 x 10 octagonal tube. I need to make my own speaker coil out of leftover wire from busted earbuds (for $1 you don't expect quality). I also have to make my own cone to resonate the vibrations between the coil and the magnet into sound. The back of the tube will be covered with taut plastic wrap to make the bass even fuller. When finished it should sound quite nice, assuming my less-than-amateur skills amount to anything.
