Prisoners Reach Out

BARS, BLACKNESS AND BUDDHISM, PART ONE              by  Joseph S. Cook There was no preparation for prison in the beginning of my incarceration.  The tiny, wretched two-man cave cells didn’t have a large bearing on my psychology. It wasn’t as stressful as being watched over and harassed, by the white correctional officers.  In addition to the officers the staff hierarchy were all white mostly male from the majority of white communities whose main ideas about black people came from rap music and other forms of stereotypical entertainment.  And now as correctional officers the first consistent interaction with Blacks is from a superior inferior dichotomy (or stand point). A dichotomy that either consciously or unconsciously paints Black men,-and by extension Black women and children as the other, the criminal, the enemy.  Walking into Green Bay Correctional Institution (GBCI), one o...

SIBERIA After WWII communism blossomed in Eastern Europe and Russia (known as U.S.S.R. back then) was sitting upon the thrown of the “Soviet Bloc”.   Two of the main identities of this era was the Berlin Wall, that divided Germany between East and West.   The other was the Iron Curtain, which consisted of electrical bob wire fencing along the Hungary-Austria border.   People of the countries under Soviet authority were imprisoned because they were simply born during a time tyrants had no one to answer to and the mere thought, or suspicion of speaking out against the draconian authority was the greatest crime. Here it is 2016 and at Green Bay Correctional Institution the parallel are the same.   Every man convicted of crime and sentenced to prison has received his punishment.   His debt to society is being paid in installments with years of his own life.   This is not a matter of who’s innocent or guilty.   This is a punishment.   This...

“ To him who dwells not in himself, the forms of things reveal themselves as they are. He moves like water, reflects like a mirror, responds like an echo. His lightness makes   him seem to disappear, still as a clear lake, he is harmonious in his relations with those around him and remains so through profit and   loss. He does not proceed others, but follows them instead.”   “ I exist in the depths of solitude Pondering my true goal Trying to find peace of mind And still preserve my soul Constantly yearning to be accepted And from all receive respect Never compromising but sometimes risky And that is my only regret A young heart with an old soul How can there be peace How can I be in the depths of solitude When there are 2 inside of me This duo within me causes The perfect opportunity To learn and live twice as fast As those who accept simplicity. Joshua Bella 412098 WCI,PO BOX 351 Waupun, WI 53963 born 1984, age 32 mandator...