1) It takes at least two weeks to get a letter from the time it is sent to the time it is in my hands. Realistically, it is more like 2.5-3 weeks. The C.O.’s say that it is being built up at the post office. I truly doubt that.
2) I have only received one issue of The Economist that should have been coming to me since 1/1/25. I suspect when the mail ultimately comes through, there will be a whole stack of them that hit me.
3) I know that about nine books were ordered for me about two weeks ago. Just got two of them this morning. The library now looks like it will be close to the end of the week before it reopens. Luckily I have three books in my private stash (owned & borrowed), plus the two that came today.
4) Every once in awhile, someone walks besides me that smells like smoke. I asked if they were smoking cigarettes and if so, where are they getting them. Again, the ingenuity of the prisoner is amazing. Of course, some cigarettes are smuggled in, but a major proportion are made when people collect the chewing tobacco/snuff/dip from the C.O.’s garbage, dry it and roll it into a cigarette.
5) I don’t think judges take into consideration of all that can happen to an inmate & his family when one of the parents go away. It can (and did in our case) lead to bankruptcy. I think it is well known that when a person gets less sleep, they are more prone to dementia and an earlier death. Even with the “sleeping pills” that I take, I average only about 4 hours of sleep. Thus, my sentence of time in prison also means a greater likelihood of dementia and an earlier death. In some cases, the parents get divorced. I think judges need to take all of this into consideration.
6) I have a friend “Dave” who is in RDAP. He finishes RDAP in about two weeks and then goes home a few days later. His sentence was about 15 months. He was a raging alcoholic outside. He said when he started drinking before coming to prison, he was black-out drunk for 2-3 days. I asked him if he thought that he would be OK when he got out. We ended up talking about it for an hour as it is obviously on his mind. He said that within 10 minutes of his house are lots of bars, grocery stores with liquor being sold there and 24-hour liquor stores. His buddies get together, play cards & golf and there is always about half of them consuming alcohol there. He understands the risks and is taking them seriously; plus he knows that if he drinks again, his marriage will be over. It was an interesting discussion and I hope he does OK on the outside for his & his wife’s sake. I could tell that he really wanted to talk about it.
7) I got two books today in the mail – Uncle Tom’s Cabin & Moby Dick. Both of them were very small print. I started reading the first book and I can see why it had an impact on slavery, abolition and the Civil War. A very powerful read. A friend told me that Moby Dick was originally published in a serial magazine a chapter at a time. He recommended that I read it that way too – one chapter each week. He said I will enjoy it more. First time I ever heard anything like that but I am going to try it.
8) I spent Sunday doing the WSJ Weekend Crossword puzzle with my friends down the hall – Mark & Gino. It took the three of us three hours to finish it. I had not done a crossword puzzle in at least two decades, but it was a nice way to use the brain. They said they will invite me back for the next round as they do it every weekend.
9) We were on a bit of a lockdown today due to the “snowstorm” that went through Central Kentucky today. By NW Indiana standards,this isn’t even a storm. As a result, I could not go to the library. I stayed in my room and helped my cellmate with math in preparation for his GED. I want to be a help to as many people inside as I can. It is the right thing to do. Another roommate saw me helping and asked me to remind him how to do long division on paper. So, we went through a couple exercises on that as well.
10) I got a watch about two weeks ago. After wearing a watch for probably the last 45 years, not having a watch made me feel like I was half naked. It sure is nice to have one. Funny that all the guys who teased me for getting one are now the ones asking me what time it is.
Cheers,
Dennis Zeedyk
37175-510
