Fortunately, the penitentiary was a much different place when I came down in 1974, with a much different class of prisoners. Many were veterans and benefitted from the G.I. Bill that paid for secondary education so they went to college here. The prevailing attitude was that we should take advantage of anything that bettered ourselves…one of them signed me up for classes and I continued until the university program was discontinued on the unit I was assigned to at the time…I was a senior at Stephen F. Austin State University. Liking the idea of autodidacts, I have continued to educate myself in any way possible. Continuing to learn and staying busy have kept me fairly sane and, hopefully, not too terribly institutionalized.
It may be part of learning, but the number one thing that has helped me cope, aside from familial support, has been my lifelong love of reading. It is a habit that was instilled into me at the very earliest of age by my mother and maternal grandmother. That habit has remained, indeed, grown over the years and allowed me to travel to so many times and/or places and “live” many experiences. Reading has saved me in here. Another thing is that I make a real effort to keep, albeit at a remove, abreast of technological and cultural changes going on out in the freeworld. A news junkie of a sort, I listen to news programs and read magazines daily. I, also, follow national politics closely.
