Today I received a complementary copy of a book titled "Counting the Years," published by The Think Outside the Cell Foundation (it's the 3rd title down in the list at this link). They selected one of Whit's blog entries ("An Oral History of My Future") for inclusion in this volume, one in a series of four to date. The Foundation is an arm of Resilience Multimedia, founded by Sheila Rule, a journalist at the New York Times for more than 30 years before retiring in order to dedicate herself to Resilience. If you're able, support this enterprise - and Whit's legacy - by ordering a copy of "Counting the Years." If it's inconvenient to order (shipping, cost, whatever), just let me know and I'll send you a copy myself (I'm purchasing a dozen or so).
Jeff
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Just to follow up, the book is only available directly from the "Think Outside the Cell Foundation", Amazon doesn't carry it. The link is: http://www.thinkoutsidethecell.com/our-books. It's one in a series of 4 anthologies they've published so far. The one with Whit's and my contributions is third in the list at this link, "Counting the Years."
They don't ship outside the US, so if you are unable to order directly and would like a copy, I purchased extras and would be VERY happy to send one to you myself.
I was following links about recidivism this morning, and somehow stumbled onto this site. That was seven hours ago. I have been sitting here, mesmerized, reading every word, and going back and rereading ever since. Your son was an amazing writer, and his death is a loss to the world. I cannot imagine your pain, but I hope there is some solace in knowing that his talents continue to be appreciated.
moondoggie,
You absolutely made my day with what you wrote. While what I want most is now irretrievable, there is indeed "solace in knowing that his talents continue to be appreciated." Your response is exactly, precisely what I hope for. I have no idea what your own life experiences are or where you're coming from, but somehow you truly Get It. Thank you so much for taking the trouble to tell me.
Jeff
My son is sitting in county jail waiting to be transferred to prison. He spent most of last year in county jail for drug charges. He was finally turned loose on probation with a ten year backup, and I breathed a sigh of relief because I saw no signs of drug involvement. But two days before Christmas he was arrested for stealing tools from a construction site, and his probation was revoked. I have no idea what motivated his actions. He had a job, money, no need for the tools, his drug tests came back negative, and nothing in his history that indicated he would steal. So that's the world I come from, and what brought me to this site. I'm sure you know, as I do, that the crimes don't define the person,but Whitney made that clear in a way that I could never express. I'm glad to read that he has been published, and there is a play in the works. I am going to purchase one of the books, and I hope that the play opens the door to an even larger audience.
moondoggie (Sally?),
Please feel free to email me directly - the address is in the "Contact information..." folder. If there's anything I could do regarding your son that would be helpful to him - or to you for that matter - I would jump at the chance. Writing him? Sending him printouts of the blog entries? I doubt he'd be able to receive the whole thing at one time, but I could send a few entries at a time. He needs to at least know how utterly terrifying, demeaning and disempowering prison really is, and that terrible things happen even to essentially good people - mostly to those people in fact. It sounds like your son isn't looking at serious time yet, but he should hear what that means. Lots of us on the outside can tell him that, but Whit's blog, it seems to me, is brutally honest without self-pity or preaching, and comes from someone who lived it and died of it. The immediate cause - and circumstances - of his apparent suicide are even worse than you could imagine, and I think your son ought to hear that story as well. BTW, I have a bunch of spiral bound copies of the blog - just Whit's actual entries from 11/08 through 3/09, not what I've added - made up for people like you who've been especially touched by it. I'd be pleased to send you one.
Post a Comment