🔵 By Weston Langwell. Photo by lauragrafie.
Hello World, if you are reading this I hope life is treating you well. I’d like to take some time to tell you about an epiphany I had, in regards to perspective, while I was spending 19 days – 7 really miserable ones – in my institutions SHU or special housing unit. To help with a little understanding the SHU is basically a jail within the prison: used for disciplining segregation, or admin segregation (protective custody) or in my very special temporary case “awaiting bedspace” because of overcrowding. That is an entirely different animal of story, for another time maybe.
Speaking of animals, are you a dog lover? Have you ever been to an animal shelter or what we call them where I’m from – the dog pond? You know what I’m talking about a long rectangular hallway with one door or gate for entry and kennels, cages or cells along one wall. What are the firs things you notice? The noise? Smell? Heat? As you walk down the hall you greeted by that “kennels” occupants: some rush to the fence – bars – greeting with barks, yelps or growls; others barely acknowledge the new intrusion into their narrow worldly window with a minimal glance in the direction of the human into their prison. Enter the new perspective, that of the dog.
The inmate in residence. Now remember that narrow worldly window I mentioned. Well add an extreme case of nearsightedness to that and fuzzy up all the bars, walls, and people, and you can really begin to see how these are the dog days. The cops walk regularly so with time their shapes become identifiable if not recognizable but every now and then a new shape moves through my 7 foot wide window looks in and walks off. Very quickly the noise level raises, the dogs that can’t keep their tongues in their mouth start barking extra loud. Of course I was able to see a woman walks on range, I was the first cell so every outsider looking in first looked in on me, most times they just moved along, on occasion I’d get an “You ok?”; Ha! Like you really care if I’d had responded it would have been like I was actually speaking dog, it’s 101° outside and I’m waiting for bedspace in a SHU that has NO AC only a few fans blowing around the sweaty, sticky, hot air all day long; so ya psyche lady, education lady, whoever you are causing all this heavy panting and excessive noise on the range I’m just peachy! Thanks for asking.
Even if I knew this chapter would end, I couldn’t help but feel like a trapped, caged animal with my view of the world shrunk by 99% and all I had to see was the end of the cage in front of me; hot water to drink, hot air to breathe with sporadic interruptions from the voyeurs who came by to make sure us dogs were still breathing and sweating away our meager existence. Well I did have some books to ready, and I was lucky enough to find the good ones on the carts that were more card than book. It’s always nice to get lost in a good book. They can up and transport you anywhere the pages lead you. And on that I’ll end on a positive. Find a good book to get lost in every now and then. But thank you for taking time to better appreciate a gods life maybe I’ve motivated you to go to a shelter and rescue one. Everyone needs rescuing in one way or another. Until next time!