Day 77 - 9/7/21 - Tues
- mainemoviepirate
- 8 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Journal Entry:
“Was up at 3:30, thought about staying up but I worked out and fell back asleep until 8:00. The big lights were on. H/L/R drink, meds. Now in the common area, going to work on this Journal and Barbell, type some Walking Distance, and maybe legal research on Compassionate Release (CR) and general sentence reductions.
Almost got the river scene done in Barbell, but where next? Got to figure out if it’s going to be a straight crime-type story or crime-type with a fantasy twist ending.
LUNCH: Chicken Parmesan, roll (two), greens, pasta, some apple crisp dessert. Ate most of it, left some, took rolls for reserve.
Typed two more pages of Walking Distance, and did some work on CR. Finished reading the Heavy Metal book—it took long enough. The book kind of dragged when I got into the chapters covering thrash metal, death metal, dog and cat metal, etc. Though the stories about the metal-related church burnings and other crimes in Europe in the 1990s was interesting enough. Next, on the reading list: Koontz’s Frankenstein Part 2.
SUPPER: Pork chunks, BBQ sauce, pasta, beans. Placed some PC (Pork Chunks) in reserve.
Another beautiful night. Went outside early and stayed until 7 PM. These nights are finite. Not looking forward to the winters here, but I’ll have to cope. It could always be worse. I could be in the SHU. Skipped the ‘You’re in my Seat’ again. Just not feeling it.”
Notes for Day 77 (Four Years Later)
Just doing this rereading/rewriting of the entry, I remember vividly coming up with the river scene in Barbell, lying on my bunk in my CubiCell. Trying really hard to merge my memories of the Mattawamkeag River (the majestic, historic waterway in my hometown back in Maine) and the reality of where I was living now.
Barbell was by far my favorite writing experience, and it’s probably my favorite story I wrote while incarcerated. While Walking Distance was the most 'real' thing I wrote, as many aspects were somewhat autobiographical and based on actual events in my life, it was also an impossible story to work on in the SHU. Because I was already in a dark place, to go further into the emotional corners, I just couldn’t live with it every day. Barbell was more lighthearted, about a wrongful conviction, and about the wide variety of characters that make up today’s incarcerated hidden world.
The final statement about outside, the fleeting daylight hours, the SHU, and how no matter how bad things seem to be, it could always be worse, was very prophetic as the weeks played out.
