Stay Free: Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha
Cha constructs a Los Angeles sharply different from most representations of the city.
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Posts Tagged: jail
Conversations with Literary Ex-Cons: Samuel Barlow
Writer Samuel Barlow talks with Cullen Thomas in the prison where he was held for half a century.
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The Spot You’re Standing In: A Conversation with Chris Dennis
Chris Dennis discusses his debut story collection, HERE IS WHAT YOU DO.
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ENOUGH: The Forgotten Women
A Rumpus series of work by women and non-binary writers that engages with rape culture, sexual assault, and domestic violence.
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Rumpus Exclusive: “Wisdom”
“The devil has made a fool of you, but do you know Wisdom is at work, too?”
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A Love Letter to Fuckhead
If you’re judging your characters, you’re not doing it right. I’ll always be grateful to [Denis] Johnson for teaching me that.
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Voices on Addiction: The Only Thing That Has to Change Is Everything
The word rehab is short for rehabilitate, which means to restore to a former capacity. Like houses, I remember thinking. Demo the kitchen. Tear down the walls.
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Voices on Addiction: Too Much Hope
I wanted more time with him, but I didn’t want to hope. Too much hope will mess you up.
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Not an Alcoholic
Maybe I wasn’t an alcoholic like my father. Maybe I was an alcoholic like… me.
...moreThis Week in Indie Bookstores
Livraria Folha Seca in Rio de Janeiro was told that a sign about two-time medalist Adhemar Ferreira Silva, who passed away in 2001, violated the Olympic Committee’s advertising policies. Reuters attempts to answer why millennials love buying books. Inmates from Two Bridges Jail are helping the Wiscasset, Maine public library build bookshelves for a used bookstore.
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The Worst Slush Pile
Until recently in Romania, prisoners could reduce their sentences by thirty days for each “book of scientific value” they wrote while behind bars. Now one man, who went to prison for fraud, is being accused of plagiarism by a woman who says one of the books he wrote reads eerily like her dissertation. He may not be […]
...moreDressed to Kill
Italy has always provided the cutting edge in fashion. Now, the cutting edge is providing the fashion. Italian women in prison are now producing top-of-the-line fashion items that are pretty amazing: Here, women inmates at several nearby prisons have turned into stylists, launching a peculiar brand that goes beyond the classical made-in-Italy products. Those products […]
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Voices on Addiction: Baby’s Home
I got to thinking about home. What the fuck is home anyway?
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The Saturday Rumpus Essay: A Brief History of a Bad Heart
She studies you, still panting with an energy that consumes the room, and whispers in a reedy voice: “They say you fucked up your heart.”
...moreSong of the Day: “Jailhouse Blues”
Sam John Hopkins wasn’t known as “Lightnin’” until a music executive heard him play in a recording session in 1946. Ever since then, Hopkins’s gutsy vocals and impressive blues guitar helped him live up to his name. His “Jailhouse Blues” summons the image of a small, rural prison. The blues man’s deep bass demands our attention […]
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The Sunday Rumpus Essay: The Right to Remain
In jail for drunk driving, dried blood stiffening her jeans, Alexis Paige waits to hear if anyone was hurt in the accident she caused and tries to mean it when she tells herself she’ll quit drinking.
...moreWeekly Geekery
Shame. The Internet. Monica Lewinsky. You spend hours killing people, but you don’t feel guilty. So much data. So few uses. All your stories in one little app. Reimagining incarceration. Your annoying Facebook friends have something to tell you.
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A Letter to Eric
What follows is a love letter to my twenty-six-year-old brother Eric, written shortly after he overdosed on heroin. He survived.
...moreLouisiana Town Votes to Save Library
Last week, EveryLibrary reported that “Mr. Lindel Toups, chair of the Parish Council in Lafourche, LA…is orchestrating a ‘special election’ this Saturday to take money away from the library to build a new jail. Yes, literally taking money from the library to build a new jail.” According to local newspaper the Tri-Parish Times, the reasons […]
...morePlaying By the Rules: White Privilege and Rachel Jeantel
Clue: Post-Racial Edition. It was the black kid in the hoodie, with his cell phone, and “hostile” girlfriend.
...moreWhy Reading Kept Me Out Of Jail
I wasn’t a bad kid growing up, I just liked to steal things — vodka, cigars, communion wine — and set things on fire. Once or twice I used profanity in the presence of a nun. But I only had my rights read to me once and even then the cop looked pretty bored about […]
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