10 July 07

Odds & Ends

I was the laughing stock of inmates on the 4th of July. While they feasted on pancakes and pastries, I stared at a tray containing bread crumbs, twelve lentils, seventeen bran flakes, ten grains of rice, and a small piece of pineapple. Taunts such as, “Ain’t it time you went home on the banana boat you came on,” and “Why don’t you bugger Tony Blair,” could be heard.
Later on, down at Yard 4, Slope, delighted that his plan had worked shouted, “Ya goddam Limey. How’d ya like that tea party?”

I reached a milestone in my short-story career. I received a rejection notice from The New Yorker for my story “Do I Have a Haemorrhoid?” The New Yorker receives over 5000 submissions a month, but it was something I had to get out of my system. Following the rejection, I had a burst of short-story writing. I wrote seven stories in three weeks, all dealing with crime and punishment in Arizona. Heavy on prison violence, rapes, shankings, and gang behaviour. Most of the prison short stories I’ve read were not written by prisoners, so I’m hoping to present a more realistic picture. The stories are based on true characters and events. I sent one of them "Amazing Grace" to Francis Ford Coppola’s magazine Zoetrope All-Story to be entered in a competition judged by Joyce Carol Oates.

The next food visit is on the 18th of August. I received a menu for the New Delhi Palace Cuisine of India from Royo Girl. So it looks like she will be visiting soon. For reasons nothing to do with me, Royo Girl expects to be moving to England for a period of time at the beginning of 2008, and she has agreed that we should meet and hang out.

Thank you to everyone who has sent books from my wish list with Amazon. Not only have you helped me pass the hours, you’ve helped fill the library here, which doesn’t receive many books at all.

Good lookin’ out, dawgs!

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