Travelin' Man

Mos Def and DJ Honda "Travellin' Man"

Travel, from the mental to the physical, is one of my favorite activities. I haven’t done nearly as much physical traveling as I’d like, but this year looks to be a little different. I already went to New Orleans, and I’m planning for Africa in May, so that’s more traveling than I’ve done in a long time. However, I haven’t been out of the country since I went to Spain with my family in my early teens (Canada doesn’t count because, you know…it's Canada) and I still haven’t been to a tropical island. Basically, I have a lot of the world to see.

I also have a lot of America to see. I went to Philly last month, where I met with the people who will be traveling with me to Tanzania. I had already been to Philly on two separate journeys, but each time it was only for one night, and it was no different this time. Whereas on my last visits I saw a baseball game and had a brief taste of the nightlife, this time I went on tours of two museums! An eight hour round-trip drive to see some old shit!

And it was completely worth it. We started off at Eastern State Penitentiary. When I first got the email about the trip, I thought we were going to see prisoners in a literacy program or something like that. When I finally googled it (always google it) I found that it had closed as a prison some time ago and was now open as a museum. It had nothing to do with the trip to Africa, it was just an interesting tour that we all were going to take.


I met with the group, we took the tour, and I learned some fascinating history. But mostly it was just really cool and creepy and interesting to be inside the prison where all this history actually occurred. And it made me think of how many places there are in this country, within very reasonable driving distance, that have so much history and meaning behind them. I like reading and watching movies to learn about the past, but the best way to learn history is by becoming immersed in it. Being inside a place physically puts you in a certain mentality that brings the past to life. For me anyway.

The entrance to Eastern State Penitentiary

The prison looks like an old gothic castle, and it’s located right in the middle of a highly populated city. On one side of the street, typical Philly brick lowrises, filled with coffee shops, homes, and book stores. On the other side, a giant castle wall 30 feet high.


The prison was basically the first prison in the world to focus on rehabilitation, instead of just punishment ("penitentiary" comes from "penitence"). They also introduced the idea of "solitary confinement," aka "the hole." But they used solitary confinement in a broader sense, too; when it opened, prisoners had their own cell and were forced to remain in complete silence, receiving punishments for even humming. Prison officials soon realized that this was not doing much for prisoners' rehab, in fact, it was making people insane. Changes were constantly made in an effort to keep with the times, and to appease lawmakers who did not believe in their progressive methods, and eventually the penitentiary just became a typical, overcrowded prison. In the middle of a major city. There were a few escape attempts (only one man ever escaped successfully) and some famous prisoners, including bank-robber Willie Sutton and Al Capone. Eventually, Philly residents decided it wasn't a good idea to have an overcrowded prison in the middle of their city (next to a school, nonetheless) and it was officially closed in 1971.

The typical jail cell.

Al Capone's jail cell. Like a bawse.

Five identical halls extend out from the center station; the warden could keep an eye on all five halls at the same time.

Looking down a hall from the center station.

Death Row. Inmates were held here, but transported elsewhere for the actual execution.

The hole.

Backstop for baseball, uprights for football, tower for guards.

The field and the wall. They added that fence at the top, not to stop balls from going out, but from coming in...stuffed with razors, drugs, and once, dynamite. They closed soon after that.

The outer wall. The station on top was actually unmanned...until the first escape attempt.

Window love.

Shower love. Lots of it. 

This alone would make me repent. 

And that's really all the information I'm gonna give you. If you want to know more, you visit. No seriously, you should visit. Especially during the Halloween season because they have what's been labeled America's Best Haunted House, "Terror Behind the Walls." You may want to bring diapers.

We left the penitentiary and went to a deli across the street called Mugshots. 100% of the businesses in the area reference the prison in their names, as well as their products. I got the Machine Gun Kelly sandwich. He was never at the prison, but you know, famous gangster!

After eating we went to the Mutter Museum (pronounced "Mooter"…"Mooseum") at The College of Physicians in Philadelphia. It contained two floors of medical specimens, ranging from animal skulls, to human skulls, to slides with bits of Albert Einstein’s brain, to gangrenous hands in a jar, to fetuses in a jar, to infected colons in a jar. Only a sick individual could enjoy looking at these things. Needless to say, I really enjoyed it.


They had an entire Civil War area, too, where they highlighted the assassination of Abe Lincoln (of course) and also that of James Garfield 15 years later. His was possibly more tragic because it could have easily been prevented with simple precautions. He was shot, but he was actually killed by infections stemming from the attempted removal of the bullet. I read about the entire story on Cracked before, but seeing a fragment of the President’s bone really brought it home. As I said, seeing history in person is so much more powerful than reading about it and watching it on tv.


And that was my trip to Philly: educational, interesting, fun, and creepy all at the same time. I'm eagerly anticipating my next trip, to the Motherland, and looking forward to traveling more after that as well. I'm not making a bucket list or anything corny like that, but there are definitely places I want to visit, and time is of the essence. Pretty soon, I'll settle down and I won't have the opportunity to travel as much as... wait. I'm sorry. I was thinking of a nightmare I had last week. I'll be fine! Watch out, world.

I Love You All...Class Dismissed.

MORE TIME PART 2

The semester has begun, so I'm now working an extra 6 hours a week, not including time for planning and corrections, which makes up the majority of my responsibilities as Professor, and consequently takes the most of my precious time. This does not bode well for my request. On top of everything, I just received a reminder of how fat I have become, and now I need to add exercise to my list of things to do (right after I finish Season 2 of Breaking Bad, Sons of Anarchy, and Dexter). I try to eat well, but mostly it comes down to what is convenient and affordable. I make attempts to improve my diet, but exercise is much more crucial to me at this point. I've stopped eating mammals and I've considerably eased up on snacks (unless you count ice cream as a snack; it falls under "vital dairy product" for me) but I really need to exercise more. Take a look at this picture.

That's me on the right, in the middle of a seizure. Now, I know that most people tend to gain weight as they age, so that needs to be taken into account. Also, you have to keep in mind that my diet at that time consisted of Ramen Noodles, grilled cheese, cheap pasta (occasionally with sauce), corn-dogs from New Orleans Arena, and Hurricanes. Lots of Hurricanes. Not only did I not have money to spend on food containing nutrients that stayed in my system longer than 12 hours, but at that time of my life, I didn't need nutrition to survive. I don't know how I survived, actually. Probably on pure adrenaline and Bacardi.

Anyways, as I stated previously, I am making a triumphant return to the Big Easy, 10 years after I first visited, and 9 years after I lived there for 3 months (when this pic was taken). When my friend sent me the photo, I was shocked. I wasn't shocked that my friend and New Orleans roommate Nick Jake was wearing a light blue fisherman's Kangol, or that my other friend and New Orleans roommate Rizz had a blowout guid'fro (although those things are pretty shocking). I was shocked at how good I looked. I mean really good. Seriously, maybe I look normal size to you, and I know I was never actually "thin", but, let's take a look at me recently for a comparison:

Holy hell! Who is that fat bastard! I can almost hear the wheezing through the picture! I pulled a Mac from It's Always Sunny. And that was 10 months ago...it's only gotten worse.

So I need to get fit, but there's always that issue of time. And the fact that I hate working out. I stayed in shape when I was younger because I enjoyed playing sports. I still enjoy sports, but you can never get enough people together for a game, the gym costs money, outdoor basketball courts are awful, etc. These all sound like excuses, because they are, but I think they are pretty valid excuses. Regardless, I need to find a way to just get off my ass. My big, fat ass.

I have to manage my time better, and figure out what is important to me so I can focus on those things. Even though I hate running, lifting, or basically any physical exertion that doesn't end in orgasm, I need to motivate myself because the "Ben and Jerry's Everything But The..." pounds don't just disappear like they used to.

Unfortunately, managing your time and focusing on what's important is always harder than it sounds. It's why so many people never get around to doing the things they say they will "eventually get around to". Just as  you get a handle on one thing, some thing else pops up that requires your time and energy. I finally got around to writing again by starting this blog, but that was during a break from teaching. Now, school has started again and I have 48 essays to correct in the first week, and that's something I need to do or I won't have a job for very long. And if I don't have that job, I won't be able to do many other things I want to do, like pay for electricity at my condo. With no electricity, I can't write this blog from home, or watch my beloved shows; therefore, correcting papers becomes a priority.

I have no problem with that, it just means that I need to sacrifice some other things I like to do. Things like sleep, which is something I truly enjoy. However, science says you need 7-9 hours of sleep per night, and I gotta follow science. So I can't cut back too much on sleep.

Then there's everything else I mentioned previously, like movies, books, and other hobbies; at some point you gotta give up some of those things, or become much more discerning in what you choose to do.

Then there's the most important things in life, like spending time with friends and family and building relationships; you know, the stuff Ice Cube movies are made of.

No, I meant these.

I was never really good at keeping in touch with people. I don't like talking on the phone, and texting isn't much better. When I was very young, I just assumed that if you were important enough, I'd eventually see you and hang out, but that's just not the case, especially now. People don't just randomly hang out, they have important shit to do, or at least they should. Time slips by, and one day you realize you haven't seen a good friend in months; that's when you understand that you need to make time for your loved ones, it doesn't just happen.

I wish I had more time because I have some really cool people in my life. I apologize if I haven't made enough time for some of you. It is unintentional.

In fact, I just don't want you seeing me like this:

The lack of chin and neck is almost as disturbing as the fat on the eyelids, but not quite.

I'm gonna get better. Probably not at the staying-in-touch thing, but with this whole Jerry Lewis, water-head thing I got going on.

I Love You All (And We'll Hang Out Real Soon I Promise)...Class Dismissed.

I NEED MORE TIME

Some people fear they will die before accomplishing anything significant with their lives. I fear that I will die before I see all the movies on my amazon wishlist. 

I have hundreds of books, hundreds of movies, a handful of video games, and 15,142 songs in my possession. I have access to an infinite amount of music, videos, games, and literature online, as does anybody with internet access. Although I may be a bit more critical than most with my judgments, I still enjoy a wide, eclectic variety of entertainment. And even though I am more discerning than a lot of people, there is still just way too much good stuff to read, watch, and listen to in one lifetime. With more outlets for artists (or people claiming to be artists) than ever before, more material is released than ever before. Since we are a global society, we now have access to artists and art from all around the world, without leaving our homes. The technology we use to access this art is improving at the speed of light. It's become a cliche (and the theme of some horrible television ads) that consumers can't keep pace with the new products coming out. Of course, as you get older, you have more and more responsibilities in your life that cut down on the time available for enjoying a 2 hour movie uninterrupted.

"I'm going to see Joyful Noise and that's final! I'll finish the report tomorrow, Mr. Bernstein!"

You turn on the tv and there's 2700 channels to choose from (and Law and Order is on at least 35 of them). Online, you can watch or listen to virtually anything ever made. It's overwhelming.

I'm not the only one that feels this way (thankfully). In fact, author and futurist (I want that title!) Alvin Toffler wrote about "information overload" in 1970, when computers were as big as a house and there were 3 channels on tv. Toffler believed that the accelerated rate of technological and social change overwhelmed people, who were more accustomed to slow, gradual change. This rapid change leaves people disconnected and they become "future shocked", suffering from stress and disorientation. 

Curtis Mayfield gets it.

I read Toffler's book, "Future Shock", a few years ago and it was mind-blowing. It's one of those books full of brilliant ideas that seem so obvious after reading it that you feel dumb for never having articulated the ideas yourself. It was a perfect description of what I was feeling and what our society and culture were going through; and it was written 40 years ago. 

Every now and then, I get that sense of being overwhelmed by choice. There are no less than 20 restaurants and 4 large grocery stores within a mile radius of me, and yet, some nights I take hours figuring out what I want to eat, finally settling on whatever is still open. My cable service offers hundreds of movies and shows on demand, in addition to the hundreds of regular channels, but sometimes I can't decide on anything good to watch, so I get stuck on Seinfeld reruns for an hour before I fall asleep. In the past 2 weeks, I literally downloaded (LEGALLY... TOTALLY AND ABSOLUTELY LEGALLY) 1,200 songs to my ipod. I'll never listen to most songs more than once, but I like having them there, "just in case".

I don't think Toffler would be surprised that depression and ADHD are so prevalent in our society. It's the paradox of choice; with so much choice, people feel like they will undoubtedly make the wrong one, so they end up either not making any choices, or regretting all their decisions and not being able to enjoy the reality they chose. 

I can certainly sympathize. After watching Hall Pass, I was very depressed that I didn't choose literally anything else to do with those 2 hours of my life.

Jason Sudeikis: Cause of depression in millions of Americans.

My creative writing teacher in college gave a lot of good advice, but one thing he said always stuck with me. When creating something, there are an infinite number of directions to take. As a writer, I can talk about anything in any style I choose. What's important is to make a decision and stick with it. Now that seems pretty simple, but as an aspiring artist, I felt it was profound. It really speaks to the self-confidence and focus one must have in order to even begin creating.

I think this extends to all aspects of modern life. Sometimes the simple choice of what cereal to eat for breakfast can leave people standing in the aisle looking like Rick Perry at a debate.

Do I want the Honey Nut, or the Multi-grain Cheerios? And then there's Count Chocula lookin' at me over there...hmmm.

Make a decision and stick with it. Yes, that's easier said than done, especially with so many options, but it's the only way to accomplish anything. If I spend 30 minutes trying to pick out a movie, I'm going to fall asleep before I see the end of whatever movie I eventually choose. If I sit on the couch for an hour contemplating whether I should read, watch a movie, or go jogging (that one rarely wins out) I'll end up doing none of those things and just watch Seinfeld reruns for an hour before I fall asleep. And if you think you have deja vu after reading that, imagine how I feel after living it.

So, be confident that you will make the right decision (or the best decision for yourself at the time) and go for it. You'll get a lot more done if you stop contemplating the infinite possibilities of every action and simply take action. The number of shows on your DVR will decrease in no time.

I Love You All...Class Dismissed.