My last post was a mix of optimism and the Zen that accompanies the acceptance of being in prison aided by a fast-approaching release date. I found myself having a profound appreciation for the parts of the experience I actually enjoyed. When you’re going to be...
Prison fosters a training ground for learning how to be content. Incarceration requires experiencing concepts we know to be true, even if they are challenging to live by. I've written before on how happiness is this vague concept that people spend a lot...
You don't throw things away in prison, and you definitely don't take them home with you. So what happens with everything you have when it's time to leave? The bidding begins. When someone asks if they can put a bid on something what they're really saying...
Richard Feynman is a Nobel prize winning physicist and this book includes stories of his time in undergrad at MIT, graduate school at Princeton, working at Los Alamos in New Mexico, teaching at Caltech and Cornell, and purely analyzing and living life. It is composed of...
This is an intimate story based in India that is about seeking, peace, and spirituality. As a young man the main character, Siddhartha, grows discontent with his current life and sheds himself of all worldly possessions to roam the forest as a destitute ascetic. One...
The Private Equity Playbookby Adam Coffey In one of the more white collar moments you could have in prison a guy showed up who had extensiveexperience in private equity. We've become good friends over the last several months and he shared this bookwith me. You hear...
Every night around 9:55 pm a red light comes on, indicating that it's time to head to your bunk for standing count. We're counted multiple times each day. At 8 am, 12 pm, 4 pm, 10 pm, and throughout the evenings at midnight, 3...
Before coming here I rarely read books. I didn't make the time, or if I had time, I turned on Netflix. I also had littleinterest in fiction, feeling that if I was going to spend time reading, I should be learning. However, we watch TVand...
Crito is a play, a dialogue really, between Socrates and his friend Crito. It focuses on death, justice, and theappropriate response to one's circumstances. While their conversation doesn't reveal what Socrates did whichresulted in his incarceration and subsequent death sentence, it does highlight his commitment...
At the time, it didn't feel like the right move. In the end, I think it was. In reality, it was out of my hands. Into my second month here I enrolled in classes through the education department. My family and the coordinator helped chase down...