Yesterday was an eventful day. It started off inauspiciously though. After breakfast I was in my cell, in the dark, brushing my teeth and as I leaned over the metal sink the cell door opened and closed a couple of feet from me and the lights went on. Now that is unusual because my cellie, Jeff, was in his bunk and rarely wakes up for breakfast so I’m used to being in the cell in the dark in the morning. Then I heard someone speaking so I looked up and it was Little Spotted Horse, my neighbor. He is the one that had propositioned me and when I turned him down he later came up to me and in a whisper threatened “I’m going to fuck you the first chance I get.” Most recently he exposed himself to me in the shower…with an erection. I had tried to make it very clear I was not interested and had told my cellie that I never wanted him in our cell and why. So there he stood in my cell but this time he wasn’t coming on to me he was telling me to “get your boots on” which means he wants to fight. I was standing there with a mouthful of toothpaste in my shower shoes. Not the best situation from which to get assaulted.

As I calmly spit out the toothpaste Little Spotted Horse went on about how “you got my name in your mouth,” meaning I had been talking about him with others. It dawns on me that Jeff, the only person in here that I’ve told about Little, must have told someone else and they told someone else and so on. I had even gone out of my way not to mention his name to anyone else. When I discouraged other guys from jokingly flirting with me I explained that someone had threatened me with rape but I refused to say who even when asked. So the irony is that Little wanted to fight me for what my cellie had done. Well, that was ironic, plus the fact that he was doing this just to attempt to salvage his reputation in some friend’s eyes.

Once I spat out the toothpaste I stood in front of him and calmly told him I wasn’t going to fight him. I didn’t debate the issue, point out his hypocrisy, say that it was my cellie or anything else because that would have likely prompted combat. Instead I calmly stared at him and said I wasn’t going to fight. He flexed a couple of times like he was going to punch then stormed out of the cell telling me “keep ma name outa yo mouf” and then cursing faggots once he was in the day room.

Subsequently, one of his friends came to my cell door, saw me putting on my shoes (to do my hour of morning walking in the dayroom) and thought I was getting ready to fight so he said “it’s all good.” I guess that means everything is settled as far as Little is concerned. And yes, I am using his name here because apparently it’s already out…so what’s the harm, right? LOL!

After that nerve-wracking start to the day the end was better. We had the final session of the MCC class. The warden, an assistant warden, and several people from RAP (Re-entry Assistance Program) were there and as Ruth, the instructor, handed out our certificates of completion we went down the line and shook all their hands. Then the wardens left and the people from RAP spoke. All 4 were former inmates (2 women, 2 men) and the 2 guys were recently out on parole. They were there to tell us about the advantages of RAP and encourage us to take advantage of their offerings. They didn’t have to convince me. LOL! They spoke at length about work-release and parole and the one vital piece of information I learned was that you can not work for a family member as your job while you’re in work-release. Well DAMN! I figured I already had a standing job offer that I could use to try to get to work-release ASAP but I guess not. *grrrr* I am working on another angle to try to get to work-detail (the step before work-release but still in the same facility and you get 4 hour furloughs). Apparently they will take people with longer times than is usual for work-detail and use them as catering waiters at the Governor’s mansion. Well I have a decade of experience as a Banquet Captain at the Cornhusker Hotel so I think I’d be amply qualified for the job. *big smile* I’m asking Colin to try to find the address for the lady in charge of the inmate-staff at the Gov’s mansion so I can write her a letter. *cross my fingers*

I also sent a 4 page grievance over TSCI’s use of collective punishment today. Let’s see what comes of that. *grin*