This letter makes me really sad. A lot of the letters we’ve been reading so far from the prisoners have been positive or uplifting. Even though the people are in prison, their letters are hopeful or insightful about faith, love, or coping with mistakes. This letter gives a more sobering and depressing idea of what it’s like to be locked up, this letter fits more with what my preconceived notions about being in prison would be like. Before we started reading letters from the inmates, I figured life in prison was one of depression and constant sadness. This letter seems to affirm this idea. This inmate seems particularly sad about how small his cell is. I cannot even imagine what it would be like to live in such a small space. Sometimes I look around my dorm room and feel like it’s a prison cell. But this letter makes me realize how wrong I totally am. At least in a dorm room I have my computer and a television and the freedom to come and go as I please. I feel very sad for this man as he reflects on what his “life has been reduced to.” And not being able to handle silence? That must be like torture. When you realize that noise must be made for the sake of making noise, it is truly sobering. It’s only then that you realize how alone and silent the world really is. The final part of this letter where the inmate talks about not being able to love a woman ever again almost made me cry. Some people go through life and simply chose not to love anyone, or to spend their life alone. But this man doesn’t have that choice. His choice has been made for him. I know that on the toughest days, it’s the love of my family and friends and significant others that gets me through, and I can’t even being to fathom what it would be like if I couldn’t have that support. I hope someday that this man can come to the positive attitude that I sense from other inmate letters, but until then, it seems like prison for this man doesn’t just mean physically locked up, but also mentally locked up and away from love and free choice.

This letter is very insightful. People, it seems, hardly every actually think about what they are saying or the labels they assign to something. Like something annoying or funny might happens and someone might say, “That was so gay.” Not thinking there could be a gay person nearby that might have found that offensive. I feel like there are a lot of words like that, words that might offend someone, but people do not even think twice before they say them. Like for instance the words retarted, homo, prick, and other offensive slang type words would be very hurtful to some people I know, and I would feel bad if I had to watch someone calling my friend by these words, or even saying them in the presence of my friend. The author of this letter also points out an interesting fact about what it means to label someone. Sometimes, I feel like we label people and put them into categories without even meaning to. I don’t just mean the grandiose categories like by race or hair color or language spoken; I mean the little categories such as boy, girl, rich, and poor. These words put limits on us every day that we don’t even notice. For instance, I am a girl, and I have been “labeled” as one my whole life. I’m sure this affects me every day in some manner I can’t even conceive, however, I know that because I’m a “girl” I will never have to register for selective service, or shave my beard, or play in the NFL. But what if I wanted to? The parameters of being a “girl” are clearly defined in most places, so the self-fulfilling prophecy always comes true. I can’t play in the NFL because I’m not good enough. But I can tell myself that of course they’re not letting me play because I’m a girl. Thus the prophecy has come to pass. These labels with confining meanings can be dangerous. The author of the letter wonders what happens when we label someone as a prisoner. The textbook prisoner is scary and cold and frightening even. But what if that’s not how real prisoners feel? Most people don’t get a chance to hear the inmates side of the story. This letter is so interesting because it makes me wonder how labels affect the factors and forces outside our control. I’m a girl, so I understand how to act and behave, but people who are incorrectly labeled have a life of trouble in front of them, trying to correct an image. Labels have a funny way of sticking.

Yes. Yes this man is exactly, completely, one hundred percent, entirely correct. This is exactly the kind of man every woman wants. This letter is like someone took all the things I have dreamed about finding in a partner and put them into words. But this letter makes me sad because that’s all it is: silly words and even sillier dreams. There was a time when I was young and I believed that someday I would find a man just like this. A time when I believed in the good of the world and that everybody was looking for true love and would journey to the ends of the Earth to find it. But then I woke up and grew up to the reality that is “love” and “dating” and “relationships” of today. Especially now that I am in college, I find more “men” who only want sex and have no interest in women as people or emotional and intelligent beings. There have been many guys who I have met and given chances to over and over again to only find myself feeling stupid and insignificant when they show their true colors. It seems like men are always asking “what women want.” I feel like to answer this question all they would have to do would be to read this letter. Women just want to be loved, and is that so much to ask when we are so willing to love honestly in return? My favorite part of this letter is the very first line about how a man has respect for women. Recalling that video we watched in class about music videos and the effect that having a “male centered” society has on women; I don’t think many men truly respect women these day. The author of this letter is correct movies, television, and media (such as music videos) give that false impression that women want only to serve men and to have sex with them. It makes me sad that this man had to come to jail to figure out all these very important things. The end of his letter almost sounds like he is apologizing for every rude man in the world. But that is not his job. Mutual respect and love should not be something foreign, but should be felt between men and women on a daily basis.

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You know who your real friends are in times of trouble or sadness and I think it’s safe to say that this man has many friends, both inside and outside the prison where he lives. The final thing I liked about this letter was to learn how much support there is for the younger inmates in prison. Maybe someday those younger guys will get out and they will remember the wise lessons taught by the older men and they will be able make a bigger difference in the world because of them.

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I find this heartening because I agree that when you go to a new place or are in a new situation, having someone show kindness is such a huge relief and kind people can be adopted into a new sort of family. I am also happy to hear how many people this man still keeps in contact with. I feel bad because there are people I should write letters to, but I can just never seem to find the time. Like the elderly lady from West Virginia whose house I helped fix up. She writes me letters frequently asking how I am and what I’ve been up to, but every time I think of writing her back, something “more important” comes up like going out to dinner with friends or wasting time on the internet. So it is impressive to me that so many people still keep in touch with this man.

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I found this letter from a “lifer” very insightful. I like how he talks about the fact that prison is different from how it is shown on television on in movies. Sometimes I watch a stereotypical movie about how all men in prison are big, scary, cold-hearted murderers and I just accept it at face value that all prisons are like that and all prisoners must be like that. However, this letter and the discussions we have been having in class have been showing me that I need to do some more research about such things and make up my own mind about people and their situations instead of accepting what the media or secondhand stories might tell me. I completely agree with this man that people need to experience things first hand to really understand them. I believe that knowledge is the greatest power. I learned from this letter how much support there is between the inmates in prison.

This letter is startling. The way this man describes his physical, mental, and sexual abuse is eye opening. I can think of many kids at my school that did not have proper fitting clothes or had long hair and seemed shy and scared. I am appalled to think that everyone he told were so quick to believe his parents and that no one took him seriously. I know that in schools today, if any child tells a teacher of being abused or of problems at home, many states and schools have laws that the teacher MUST take the child seriously and look into the problem or refer the child to someone better able to help. I wonder if these rules would have saved this man. If anyone would have listened at an early age, I feel like things could have gone differently. I personally believe that early intervention is the key to helping kids stay on the right track. The fear that this man lived in is unimaginable. I feel like there are things I fear every day. Things like will I be able to live the life I want? Will my family be alive and healthy for a long time? Can I study enough to pass this test? War. Economy. Will my father be able to find another job? But my fears, they are merely passing worries when compared to the daily terror and fear that this man has lived through. My family has always been there for me whenever I need them and I cannot even imagine a situation like this. I believe that families provide a strong base to build one’s life around, but when one’s own family cannot even be counted upon for, well anything in this case, and life has no base to be set up on, things just seem to fall apart. To have to think every day if it would be your last or about the abuse, neglect, and unjustness you would suffer in your own home, is just terrible. I don’t think what happened to this man is fair. It is not fair the house he was forced to grow up in, or the life he was made to survive through, or the fact that no proof for his story exists and he is therefore made to pled guilty. However, the fact that this man has chosen to rise above and live for God gives me hope that even in the worst situations, one has the freedom to determine their own mindset, and this man has chosen faith and survival.

The first thing that makes this guy the quintessential “white guy” is that he is in fact white. You can tell from his skin color that he does not have hiding Italian, Mexican, or African genes. He is not very tan, nor does he have overly dark hair or eyebrows. He is literally a white guy. The next thing that gives him the white guy stereotype is the fact that he is passionate about guns, more importantly the treatment and care of his guys. I’m from a very small, back country Pennsylvania town where every guy I know seems to fit the “white guy” stereotype. There it is almost as if white guy and redneck go hand in hand. They are all very concerned with guns, ammo, and hunting. Now obviously this video isn’t about concealing a shotgun, but like the other redneck/white guys I know this man is very concerned about having his gun at the ready and having it with him at all times. Another thing that makes this guy very white is the clothes he is wearing. They are very plain; his white shirt is tucked into his blue jeans. To me, this is a very down home, very American style. I don’t know many black or Mexican men who tuck white cotton polo shirts into light blue jeans. One other white guy trait is that he talks very clearly and slowly enough that everyone should be able to understand him. If he had an accent no matter how many other “white” things he did, this man could never be given the “white guy” stereotype. Because this man speaks clear and proper English, people would already assume he is white even without seeing him. A final thing that makes this man the typical “white guy” is that he’s sort of awkward. When he talks about unbuttoning his pants he sort of pauses and doesn’t know what to say. I cringed a little bit when he talked about looking at other people’s crotches. I feel like people from other races are smoother when they talk about awkward things. This man comes across as sort of nerdy and uneasy when he talks about intimate things. I think nerdy awkwardness and redneck tendencies are what most people think of when they picture the ideal white guy.

Watching this video about a stranger trying to kidnap a random kid on the street, I am not that shocked. I feel like the news shows videos about things like this all the time. Every time I turn on the television, I am bombarded with stories about all the kids that are taken, all the young girls that are raped, all the random drive by shootings that leave families shocked and without answers. So to this video all I can think is, “Well of course that happened. It’s just another day.” However, after our lecture in class a couple days ago about the statistics about kids talking to strangers and getting abducted, I have a new take on this video. We learned in class that research shows that strangers are 99% likely to help a child that is lost or in danger rather than try to snatch them. But these numbers seem unbelievable. Today, we teach our children to NEVER talk to strangers and that everyone is out to get them. I feel like this goes back to the personal troubles versus social issues we have been talking about. I believe that it is a social issue, not that kids are seemingly getting kidnapped every day (because they’re not), but that we are so scared by the news and so willing to hear their advice that we have created a false sense of fear and urgency. I think people need to look at the bigger picture and realize that news stations don’t care about them or how to help them, they are merely in it for viewer ratings and to sell themselves. Of course they’re going to find the saddest videos or the ones that make us feel most afraid, because those are the ones people are going to tune into watch. Of course you want to hear about this poor child that got snatched! What if it happened to you? Oh my gosh you better start living your life in fear and watch your child every second! I don’t think this sort of fear will go away anytime soon. All that can be done is to get the true statistics out there from people who actually care about the welfare of the general public. In short, stop watching the news, because it’s only creating more and more social issues rather than fixing them.

Watching the video about polyandry in the Himalayans was very eye opening to the way other cultures differ from American “norms.” It’s easy to forget that where I live and the things I believe are not the only way of thinking or doing something. I feel like because I haven’t traveled at all in my life, I am limited on my understanding of the world. However, seeing a video like this makes me curious about how things are done in other cultures, countries, and environments. I was a little shocked to see how accepted the practice of polyandry was in this country. In America, anyone who practiced this would be looked down upon and not understood. But seeing how these people believe and follow reminds me of the TED video we watched recently in class. That video talked about freedom and why having more and more choices doesn’t necessarily make people happier. These people in the Himalayans seemed to be very happy with their way of life. No one was complaining or suggesting different ways. This could be because they are limited on their choices. These people have limited land space and need to restrain their population so they don’t become over crowded. That fact coupled with the fact that there are more men than women leave few options for marriages and families. Within these few options, these people have picked polyandry as a way of still having families and loving relationships, while keeping the population down. Today in America, there are so many different choices for everything from what to eat for lunch to what to wear to how to live your life. As far as marriage and family life is concerned, someone could chose to marry someone of the opposite sex, marry someone of the same sex, not marry, have kids, adopt kids, be a single parent, and there are even more options than these. However, even with these choices, people in America still feel guilty for finally making a decision, or are paralyzed by all the different options. The amount of choices in America does not mean we are actually happier than people in other places. In fact, polyandry isn’t even a choice in America which says something about how really “free” we are. Although the people from the Himalayans are living their lives much different than I could ever live mine, it doesn’t mean either way is right or better.