Life after prison is hard. Kafkaesque even.
CJS conducted a reentry simulation intended to teach us all a Very Important Lesson™ about the difficulties ex-cons face after incarceration. We had four weeks (of fifteen minutes each) and certain requirements depending on who we are and what we did. I was Tyler, a young man who had just done two years in juvie for drug possession. And what an eventful four weeks he had.
Roles were randomly assigned, and there was a decent turnout, but no one was assigned the role of Tyler’s mom, Salem. As such, we determined that she was neglectful of Tyler, providing only the bare minimum of support while otherwise leaving him free to go about his business (despite his probation requirements). At the start of the week, he tried to make his government-mandated counseling appointment on time, but he needed a Social Security Card to access the service, so he wasted valuable time obtaining the required documentation. Afterwards, he tried to work on getting his GED, but made no progress. At the end of week one, he found out that his girlfriend was not only pregnant but also expecting imminently.
That weekend, he got unbelievably high to cope with the stressors of having to probably become the father of a baby who almost certainly isn’t his by blood. He realized Monday morning that he needed to put getting his GED on hold and focus on getting a job, but he knew he needed to get screened. Unfortunately, because he got high that weekend, the tests came back positive, and he was sent to jail shortly thereafter when he checked in with his probation officer. He spent his second week of “freedom” behind bars yet again while his public defender worked tirelessly to get him back out.
Another week dawns, and Tyler’s out of jail. But his money’s dwindling fast, he needs cash, and he needs it sooner rather than later: news reaches him that the baby’s been born, and he’s currently on the hook for child support. His grandmother gets the flu and passes it to him. He loses his cell phone, his burner phone, and his wallet, and with his wallet goes his identification, which has to be replaced and costs money he doesn’t have. On a whim, he fills out a survey and is randomly selected shortly thereafter to win $40, but he has to go to the bank to claim his winnings, which requires ID he doesn’t have, so he decides it’s easier to rob the bank instead. Being a desperate teenager, he’s barely at the bank counter before he’s hauled off to jail yet again, as he awaits his guardian angel of a PD to work yet another miracle. While in jail, a friend smuggles Tyler some rather nice cookies, which set him back another $20.
Out of options, Tyler goes to the church and asks God to forgive him. Yet again, he’s Somebody Else’s Problem™, bounced between uncaring institutions and their callous representatives like the world’s most infuriating game of table tennis. Just as he’s about to give up, though, buried alive beneath an avalanche of misfortune, he finds an abandoned bag of money belonging to the bank. $1000 in cash. Not a massive windfall, but more than nothing, a chance to get back on track. Tyler ended his fourth week clean: clean of drugs and clean of debt, for now. Life’s not sunshine and roses for him by any means; his mom’s still neglectful, he’s still on the hook for the kid, he has no steady employment, and he’s made no progress in his education. He’s still living on the edge, but at least he can live.
So, I just went on a rant in DMs about Star Wars to an old friend from the Australian Book Site for about half an hour; I think I burst a blood vessel in my left eye. In my defense, the so-called “Confederacy of Independent Systems” and Palpatine’s Sith Empire were Losers™, and the Separatists were Not A Real Faction™ (in-universe) on top of being Losers™.
Anyway, Ape and Essence! Finally, I have some time to discuss it. The screenplay’s thesis, as spelled out by the Archvicar to Dr. Poole, is that industrialized warfare of the kind which swept the world in the early 20th century (the First, Second, and thankfully fictional Third World Wars) is so pointless, the slaughter wrought by it so cataclysmic and in opposition to Life™, that it’s functionally indistinguishable from mass demonic possession, reducing the masses to little more than rabid apes mindlessly marching deeper into the abyss. This is because Aldous Huxley thinks subtext is for cowards. At least that’s what I got from it.
As I write this, it is around 7 PM. I am sitting in the Anova courtyard; it is a pleasantly brisk day with a beautifully bright and cloudy blue sky, although that might be the beer talking. I had two blue moons at the reception, which may not seem like a lot until you realize I had them in very close proximity on a more or less empty stomach with minimal hydration. Accordingly, I am sloshed. Big movements like walking and staying balanced are trickier, but thankfully, fine movements like typing are easy. In fact, typing is very easy, since the chattiness that comes with me getting tipsy applies to writing.
On that note, LegReg ended half an hour early, and most of us decided to go to the guest lecture. In the finest of Justin traditions, I appointed myself holder of doors and held the door for as many people as I could. I was actually fairly late for getting a seat in the auditorium where the lecture was held, not so late as to miss it, but it took me a while to spot an open… well, spot.
The lecturer was Arch-YIMBY Nicholas Bagley, and the short of it was about how the administrative state is getting, in his view, excessively hamstrung by procedural review in the courts, which vests tremendous power in special interests and in the lawyers who represent them rather than the mechanisms of electoral politics, and that this situation needs to change if we want the Government To Do Stuff™ like building housing or energy infrastructure. It was a very polished lecture; I mean, he’s given it before, and I was taking notes on how he conducted himself.
As to his actual proposals, I think of my friends (especially my NLG friends), I’m the most sympathetic to his arguments. I chatted with Abbey, Franklyn, and Tatyana as I gobbled up hors d’oeuvres and washed them down with Blue Moon. They all made very good critiques of his points, especially as relating to things like Abominable Intelligence Datacenters™. Tatyana actually went up to Bagley to ask him more questions, and after Abbey and Franklyn departed, I got another Blue Moon and followed suit. Tatyana was specifically interested in a comment Bagley made about hiring civil servants, such as public school teachers, in which he proposed that pensions should be reduced and salaries increased significantly. Tatyana was concerned that this would be counterproductive in ensuring teachers are motivated to teach for the right reasons.
Jess and Misha came up and talked to Bagley about the housing market, and it was really interesting. Bagley took a very YIMBY approach to new development, while Jess and Misha argued in favor of preventing things like gentrification and developers forcing people out of their homes and whatnot. I think I might have been too fence-sitting-ish in the discussion, but I’m surprised I’m able to string a sentence together at this point. I mean, it seems with every passing minute, I get tipsier and tipsier as the alcohol works its way through my system. I’m not sure how loud/obnoxious I was at the end. A real shame that my meds make it hard for me to hold my liquor. A real shame.
Anyway, I could say more, but I need to drink more water. Hydrate or diedrate and all that. I heard someone mention Todd In The Shadows briefly when I was walking back to my building, and for a second, I sobered up as TGWTG videos flooded my mind’s eye.
I can describe what we learned in Property later. Kthxbye
Sierpinski Tetrahedron 