The Dallas/Fort Worth area has a new publicly-funded radio station, KXT 91.7, that plays indie, alternative and world music. I didn't listen to the radio much before my arrest because my favorite bands were almost never there - and I hate commercials. This new station is almost as if I were hand-picking the play list, full of variety and always bringing something new to the listener.
Several nationally broadcast radio shows also show up on KXT 91.7, one of which is World Cafe. The host has an interview and live performance with an artist in the first hour and introduces a new band or project in the second hour with a good mix of other stuff in between.
Today the guests were the husband and wife guitar duo, Rodrigo y Gabriela. I had heard a couple of their songs, which are fast-paced finger-pickin virtuosities. I knew my dad would like their music as a guy who enjoys great guitar works. I've thought about passing along my recommendation until I heard their live performance today. The two musicians picked up the pace, and their experience as street performers shone as they got the audience involved. The emotion pouring out of the music intensified and the second song extended to an encore-length performance.
This is when I realized I couldn't just recommend listening to these this stuff. My dad has to see these two play for himself, and my concert-going brothers need to see them, too. I don't know what I've had a reaction this strong - with tears of joy and a chuckle at each false ending of a song - to anything I've heard on the radio. I really hope Rodrigo y Gabriela are still around when I get out so I can catch a show.
You may think that an incarcerated person has no chance to party in any way for New Year's Eve. The guys around here would certainly surprise you. I've written before about the drugs that still find their way inside these walls. In preparation for the New Year's Eve festivities last night, several guys spent a week making hooch to go along with the weed. Drunk and high is a situation I want to stay way from, so I planned to spend the evening in my cell doing some reading.
Around nine o'clock Alan came into the cell saying, "These guys are getting stupid." The two of us made a prison pizza to share and had cocoa and cookies for dessert. Looking out of our cell door around eleven, we saw five guys stumbling around a table and yelling crazy stuff. Staying in our bunker on the second floor was a good idea.
Every now and then we would hear shouting, but it was never violent. The noise got louder and louder until midnight when one of the drunk stoners screamed, "Happy New Year!" and ran across the second floor throwing confetti. When he got to the ground floor he ran around, banging tables. He knocked out one of the frosted Plexiglas screens on the showers and kept going. Alan and I looked at each other and laughed with that "what an idiot" tone.
We didn't venture out of the cell until this morning after the chaos was cleared up and all the drunks were lying hungover in their cells. This was the most interesting New Year's I've had while incarcerated by far.
For those of you who are curious, here is my reading list from 2009. The books are arranged in chronological order of my reading them with one star for recommended reading and two stars for my three favorites:
1. Kingless Land - Ed Greenwood
2. On the Road - Jack Kerouac * 3. The Jesus Way - Eugene Peterson
4. Truefaced - Bill Thrall, Bruce McNicol, John Lynch
5. Ex-Con for Christ - Dan Dugan
6. Watchman - Alan Moore * 7. Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut
8. Don't Waste Your Life - John Piper
9. Walking With God - John Eldredge * 10. Othello - William Shakespeare
11. Midsummer Night's Dream -- William Shakespeare
12. Dr. Faustus - Christopher Marlowe
13. The Idiot - Fyodor Dostoevsky * 14. Darkness Visible - William Golding
15. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince * 16. Pygmalion - George Bernard Shaw
17. ABC of Architecture - James O'Gorman
18. Architecture - Jonathan Glancey
19. Architecture: A World History - Daniel Borden
20. Building - Mario Salvadori
21. Gulag Archipelago - Alexandr Solzhenitsyn ** 22. The Dharma Bums - Jack Kerouac * 23. The Housekeeper and the Professor - Yoko Ogawa ** 24. Architecture - Sinclair Gauldie * 25. Architecture as Art - Stanley Abercrombie
26. Shortcomings - Adrian Tomine
27. V For Vendetta - Alan Moore
28. Experiencing Architecture - Steen Eiler Rasmussen * 29. Real Christianity - William Wilberforce
30. Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand * 31. Black - Ted Dekker
32. Red - Ted Dekker
33. White - Ted Dekker
34. Same Kind of Different As Me - Ron Hall and Denver Moore * 35. Alvar Aalto - Nicholas Rey * 36. Godric - Frederick Buechner * 37. Turn of the Screw - Henry James
38. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hasseini * 39. A Thousand Splendid Suns _ Khaled Hasseini
40. The Road - Cormac McCarthy
41. Shadow's End - Sherri S. tepper
42. The Walking Road - Robert Kirkman
43. The Postman - David Brin * 44. Jedi Search - Kevin J. Anderson
45. Secrets in the Dark - Frederick Buechner **"How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book." ~Henry David Thoreau, Walden
Since we don't have any money here in prison, we are forced to go back to the Middle Ages to get many things we want by bartering. Yes, we have a commissary, but there are goods and services that the commissary doesn't provide, such as shoe repair, books, or extra ingredients on demand for that scrumptious spread you and your cellmate are throwing together.
For instance, my shoes were coming apart at the seams. Instead of spending $35 on a new pair through the commissary, I paid a guy a jar of hair grease and a couple Ramen soups to sew them up. This was about $3 worth of goods given to a guy who doesn't have any way of having commissary unless he works for it every now and then.
This system of bartering is in place despite the institutional rule against "trafficking and trading." This rule makes even giving away food to friends who are hungry unlawful. Needless to say, most guys ignore this rule. Every night there are groups of people in the day room sitting around a table digging into the same prsion pizza. And when someone leaves to go home, they often give away their useful items like shoes, hot pots, and radios.
Giving away these items also opens the market for a new service - forgery. Special purchase items, such as those useful items mentioned above, require property papers to prove ownership.When guys receive these items, whether by trade or gift, they need the property papers and etching to really make the items theirs. This is to prevent valuable items from being stolen. There are a few people who offer forged property papers and re-surfacing/re-etching to keep the items legitimate and in use.
Then there are the specific items that often can't be found in the dorm. Things like speakers and specific books often need word-of-mouth sent out around the unit to see if anyone has the goods or services you're looking for. I did this for two role-playing books that I needed to start up a game. The two books I found were being traded for about $10 worth of coffee and stamps, quite a deal for what are usually found in the free world for at least $50 new. The trade took place over a few days because it's tough to get stuff from one side of the unit to the other.
Just like when I lived in Africa, haggling is a valuable skill to have. Also, knowing the character of the person you trade with is important. Maybe I'm naive but I tend to trust people in transactions. I've been burned a couple times, but both times the transaction was eventually worked out. It's all in the wacky character of the market.
I had a visit from Sandy and Betsy today. This second meeting was far less awkward for me. I knew what to expect instead of spending the day wondering. It was different right from the start when I recognized both of them, and they also knew who they were looking for. Their smiles upon seeing me were the kind of encouragement I get from anyone else who visits me.
We sat down at a table and launched into conversation. I heard all about their Christmas and family dynamics around the holidays. They asked me new questions about my life here and prior to incarceration. The rest of the two hours were spent just talking life in general like any conversation you might have over lunch with a friend.
What a great Christmas gift to see these two wonderful women. I am so blessed by all the friends, some of which I barely knew before my arrest, who write me. Contact with these folks has been such motivation for me. The community of Christ is amazing and full of good surprises. I really appreciate all of you who write, even if it does take me a little time to write back.
* Three Friends - acrylic by Harry Rich
Those who walk in darkness will see a great light.
His name is Wonderful, Counselor, God of Might,
Eternal Father, and Prince of Peace.
He will be worshiped on bended knee.
God's only son about to be born
Celebrated this bright Christmas morn.
The angel told Mary "Do not be afraid.
You are with child. Jesus is his name."
In those days of Augustus a decree went out
For the number of citizens to be found.
So Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem,
But the inn they went to had no room for them.
During the night Mary gave birth
While shepherds were startled, hearing "Peace on Earth."
From an angel multitude of the heavenly host.
"Your Savior is in David town. Go now! Leave your post!"
The shepherds ran down the hills and into the town
To see Christ Jesus, Kings of Kings, with no crown.
They left and told all that had been seen and heard;
The first pastors to go out preaching the Word.
Now we, also simple, are called to do the same
Bringing glory and honor and praise to His name.
Isaiah 9:2, Luke 2:1-20
Christmas was pretty good this year for me. The cool stuff started yesterday with a meeting with a friend I had made in county jail and had written a few times. I saw Cameron in the dining hall, then hung out with him at rec for a couple of hours, catching up on everything new. He is one of the very few guys my age here that has an intelligent mind, We're also both big gamers and have similar taste in games. It's great to have a friend around that I can actually talk with about my interests.
Late Christmas Eve it began to snow, as huge front moved in. The little bit of flurries grew into a full winter storm (at least for north Texas) with snow whirling through the air in the high wind. When I woke this morning and looked out the window, I saw pasture land covered with white. The snow had stuck and I had my first white Christmas.
Our Christmas meal was even better than Thanksgiving. The kitchen is $60,000 under - UNDER! - budget so they went all out to make Christmas great. We had smoked turkey and turkey ham, stuffing and cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, and dinner rolls. Our dessert tray had apple and pumpkin pie slices from Sara Lee, a cup of Blue Bunny ice cream, a big brownie, and two oatmeal raisin cookies. After finishing the main tray, I only had room in my belly for the ice cream and then only because it would have been no good if melted.
Tonight I was surprised to see that the volunteers who usually come out on Fridays had actually come out on Christmas day. We had a great worship service and message as a great close to a wonderful day.
