"No-Touch Torture" ?

"This is a form of no-touch torture. It sends inmates in one of two directions: catatonia or rage."-Alfred W. McCoy, University of Wisconsin at Madison (The Paradox of Supermax: The nation's toughest prisons may be driving inmates mad-and in the process, making us all less safe. Time, Feb. 5, 2007).

I have spent this Sunday reading the new Time and came across this startling article about "supermax" prisons where each inmate is confined to a tiny cell with no human contact or even change in light for up to 23 hours a day, save one hour for exercise. There are many critics to this type of incarceration, not just people like me who see threats to anyone's basic civil rights as a threat to mine. So food for thought:

The origin of solitary confinement in the U.S. is actually benign. It was the Philadelphia Quakers of the 19th century who dreamed up the idea, establishing a program at the city's Walnut Street prison under which inmates were housed in isolation in the hope of providing them with an opportunity for quiet contemplation during which they would develop insight into their crimes. That's not what has happened.

So I know it seems like blind idealism to think that a prisoner would sit in jail and meditate on his wrong-doings. And clearly that didn't work; I don't think that is the intention in supermax prisons today. Maybe the real change needs to come from the people on the outside who view prison as a place to corral bad guys. What about thinking of a prison as a correctional facility, designed to restore goodness in its inmates? Driving them mad seems as far from the goal as it gets.

By the 1830s, evidence began to accumulate that the extended solitude was leading to emotional disintegration, certainly in higher numbers than in communal prisons. In 1890 the U.S. Supreme Court weighed in, deploring solitary confinement for the "semi-fatuous condition" in which it left prisoners. The case was narrow enough that its effect was merely to overturn a single law in a single state, but the court's distaste for the idea of solitary was clear. "The justices saw it as a form of what some people now call no-touch torture," says Alfred W. McCoy, a professor of history at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and author of the book A Question of Torture. "It sends prisoners in one of two directions: catatonia or rage."

Read the article and find that there is hope. Lawmakers have taken steps to amend the system and restore rights to the prisoners. As so perfectly stated:

"We have to ask ourselves why we're doing this," says psychiatrist Stuart Grassian, a former faculty member at the Harvard Medical School and a consultant in criminal cases. "These aren't a bunch of cold, controlled James Cagneys. We're taking criminals who are already unstable and driving them crazy."

My heart bleeds.

Fairy Tales Aren't For Kids

Isn't he amazing?

I just saw Pan's Labyrinth tonight and I am forever changed. We grow up knowing familiar fairy tales and remember them as sweet stories, but we put them behind us as stories that brought us classic characters and taught us right and wrong and good vs. evil. And even with our fondness for our childhood stories, new fairy tales are few and far between, especially for adults. Pan's is a grown-up fairy tale. It has all the right elements of magic and fantasy, hardship and evil, tragedy and even some goddess moments. The fantasy world is presented in a subtle way and is, as Tim put it, peaceful despite the dark circumstances of the human world. It is a bit graphic at times and probably inappropriate for most children (hence the R rating). The cinematography is spectacular. Guillermo del Toro is the writer, producer and director. He is famous for several epic Mexican movies and the American movies, Blade II and Hellboy. I haven't seen any of his other movies, but understand why he is so respected in the film industry. Pan's is so beautifully thought out and executed and it gives me so much insight into del Toro's brain and motivation. I don't want to write too much about the movie because I don't want to spoil it for anyone else who hasn't seen it. But when you see it, let's talk about it. I am inspired.

The Solution

I hope these will be the solution.....except I can't find them anywhere. They ordered them for me at Scarpa; they won't be there until March 16th. Zappos.com is sold out. I tried another shoe website, but I did it this weekend so I won't know until Monday if they are backordered. So if you see these, get 'em for me! There are others available, but I am very specific in my color choice....professional clogs, size 40, oiled burgundy leather :)

Mah Feet Hurt.

I am having foot pain. For awhile I was blaming it on slippers in the classroom and Crocs. But I stopped wearing Crocs and slippers and still have it. Pain is everywhere. My heels, ankles, arches, toes. It is miserable. And even though I am not standing in front of a chalkboard teaching all day, there still is quite a bit of standing to be done. So, as with all my other ailments, surely 90 minutes of exercise a day would help... but that's a whole other entry on a whole other day. I began complaining about my ailing feet today at school because I am cranky. Corey recommended Dankso, which I had been browsing on zappos.com and Becca and a few parents said to go to Richey and Co. in Barracks Rd. It is their business to help people with ailing feet.

Literally I went straight there after school. I didn't even go home first to check email. At the store, I walked into a warm welcome by three gentlemen. I declined help because I wanted to browse. Once I was ready to talk I waited by the register because one man was with a customer, another was changing a light bulb and the other was walking around reading things and writing on a clipboard. Finally one man (who appeared to be the manager) noticed and prompted another salesman to help me. Guys, it was the worst experience of my life in a fancy shoe store! I went to this shop because it was HIGHLY recommended and the salesman I got was awful. (I should disclaim: Like I said before, I am cranky. I had a crazy day yesterday, I am getting a cold and therefore not sleeping and my feet hurt. Many negative factors.) I told him my feet hurt and I needed some advice on shoes. I mentioned I wanted to try Dansko, and he asked me where my feet hurt. I told him some specifics (literally everywhere) and told him I would like to wear the shoes everyday. He proceeded to show me black leather orthopedic shoes with THREE ROWS OF VELCRO STRAPS. I was thinking, "What about me makes me look like the woman in here who is 93 with a walker, trying on VERY SIMILAR shoes?" Instead I held my tongue and shook my head. Then I just said, "Let me try on Dansko." He boringly asked me my size, said they run big and brought one size down out. They were too small. I kept mentioning this. He was unconcerned. I said one was tighter than the other. He added an insert to the one that was looser to see if that was better. (Um, NO?) I told him I wanted red shoes. He left to go to the back and I decided to speak up and ask for the 10. (Like I said, I am cranky and sensitive today. I seriously almost cried when I realized my salesman was a deadbeat.) He went to get the next size and came back with BACKLESS clogs. No sooner could I process this mistake then I heard, "Well, let's just try this one on because it will fit the same as the others." So I'm thinking, "The same as the ones with BACKS?" (Now I realize as I am looking back on this that I should have taken the driver's seat this whole time, but I was deferring to the professional because I assumed he knew what he was doing.) I asked him if I could just try on the shoes in 10 for size and then maybe order the red ones? (Because this is what it took, me prompting him on good customer service.) "Yeah," he says, "I just wasn't sure if you wanted to order them." (I had been all back and forth with him already about the color of the shoes. He kept offering other colors, but, seriously, I am not spending $115 on a second choice. Of COURSE I want to try to order them.) So instead of getting the size 10 first, he checked his computer and found that red was not available in size 10 anywhere. And then he just stood still. Doing nothing. We hadn't even figured out if the size fit or not. Fighting back tears, I put my sneakers back on. I said, "Um, thanks and sorry I couldn't buy from you." He said he hoped I would come back sometime and maybe they'd have the right color. WHAAAAAT! I wanted to berate him right there for ruining everything. His store had come so highly recommended and I was so ready to have help figuring out my foot pain. Instead I am taking my business somewhere else and letting Mr. Richey know just how awful my visit there was. I wonder if I can send an email...