Letters from the Inside, Thomas Bart Whitaker, #19

Dear Kelly,

Howdy. Has your kitchen floor been fixed yet? That seems like a royal fucking mess, what they did to you. I don't know if I would have had an OCD attack, but I would have been seriously pissed off. How does it look now? Have you been able to get everything cleaned up?

I'm sorry, I have no way to make copies of my letters. I guess I could buy some carbon paper the next time I order envelopes, but I dont' really have any place to keep all my back-up letters. We are only allowed 2 cu ft of property, and I need that for my legal stuff. You are not the only person who has not received letters that I mailed out lately. Its gotten pretty bad, the way they are messing with us. I am not prone to conspiracy theories, but I don't have any other way to explaining what is going on. I have a friend in TN that hasn't gotten a letter from me in the last six months, and I write her every two weeks. Nothing I can do about it, really. Once they decide someone shouldn't write, they don't allow it.

I'm suprised they let the Tackmann article [Ed.: NY escapee] in, also. I think they just missed it, to be honest. That does happen. I have noticed that they remove what I presume to be stickers from your envelopes. Not sure what else it could mean, that there are sometimes ripped portions on your envelopes.

I've looking into the PEN thing, and have requested a mentor, so we will see what happens. I dont' really see me beating out the ...ah, shall we call it the "black-panther-reactionary" types, as they seem to win all the prison contests, but it will be good for me to try. You know that I am not really one for the spotlight, but I do need to try to follow your example and get out there more.

I don't have the PHIL test back yet, so I don't recall the exact questions, but one of them went something like: How is the injustice that Anaximander attributes to existing things related to the Homeric virtue of moderation? Stuff like that. I'm getting a little nervous waiting for the grade, but its not like how it was when i was in school the first time around, where my whole sense of worth rode on every grade. If i did poorly, well, I have more tests this month to redeem myself.

What is this new job like? What will you be doing? Would you be able to do your old work on the side for extra money? I like the idea of tele-commuting...that is the way to go. No need for a wardrobe for work, or all the bullshit office politics that one goes through at most jobs. Let me know if it works out for you.

Funny you should mention Yoga, as I am trying to strech out more these days. Can you recommend a few easy intro positions for me? I don't really see msyelf getting too into it, but a few basic positions would do me some good.

You really pick out some winners, watching these programs. Yeah, I know Fratta, unfortunately. [Ed: Bob Fratta is someone I recently wrote about here who I saw on a 48 Hour Mystery episode. He was convicted of having his wife shot and got the Death Penatly. He is currently housed with Whitaker. In all accounts I have read about Fratta's case, his wife wanted a divorce because he increasingly asked for depraved sex acts. They are referencing feces consumption in sex play.] Serious douchebag. I hae no issue with homosexuality. I could care less what two people do in the privacy of their homes. That said, Fratta has serious issues on this stuff. Him and a guy named Hood [Ed: Interestingly theNYT has an article about Hood posted today.] were knocking boots when they were over at Ellis Unit, which was an open environment, unlike here. They are still pretty disgusting to hear when one is in the dayroom. I don't know if he is a sociopath, but I can say that this term is used far too often, as if it can explain anything away. Bobby Fratta is a seriously broken individual. I don't know what one is to do with him. That said, I will always say that the way he is treated here is wrong. And you are correct about being born with the wrong wiring. Some of us just don't have things set up upstairs like everyone else. That said, there is always some environmental factor which exacerbates this. If Fratta (or I) had had different experiences growing up, we wouldn't have acted as we did. Its both nature and nurture. The reason that sociopath is an easy term touse, is that it requires no work beyond the label. Its hard work to find out what happened to a person years ago. This requires psychoanalysis, psychologists, and investigators---IE, money. So a label is more convenient. Plain and simple. And here is the thing: sociopathy can be beaten. You just have to work out a different way of arriving at the same destination other people get to naturally. A simple example: say you see some poor wretch on the sidewalk, and feel the need to help this person. You may give him/her a coat or some money. Now, maybe I would never do this. I wouldn't see the point. In fact, this person's laziness may end up making me think they deserve their misery. but, I can arrive at the same action (giving money or coat) , by designing a set of ethical rules, in this case, that in order for me to maintain my superiority, I am required to help those less fortunate. Whereas your action would depend on empathy, mine would depend on an internal rule. But the result would be the same. You care about that other person. I are about myself as reflected in the opinion of the other person. There is a real distinction there, but for practical purposes, this is negligable.

What's going on with your defamation suit? Remind me of the particulars, as my response to your questions was i the missing letter. You have no connection on paper with this URL, right? I'm having a hard time seeing them prove this, then. Have you filed a motion for dismissal yet? I don't see any causal connection between something which was written in a newspaper and this website. You have to be shown as the responsible party in this connection, I believe. This isn't really my area of the law, but this seems pretty open and shut to me. Counter sue his ass for the legal fees. The American way. Or so I am told. Hey, I didn't say I didn't like the Xmas card. I just said it was a little disturbing, in a ha-ha way. I mean, who comes up with this stuff?

I guess what I was referring to in noting the difference between a sociopath and a psychopath deals wiht how each thinks. Sociopaths tend to be highly organized and systematic. Psychopaths are the exact opposite, generally. (There is a class of psychopath caleld a "highly structured psychopath," though.) By nothing that, what I was trying to say was that they keep changing the story in huge ways. To call a person both of those titles, means one hasn't the foggiest of what is meant, or of what goes on in a person's head. It just goes to show this attorney was only trying to save his own ass.

I am thinking this typewriter is about to die on me. The motor keeps making these odd noises and motions. Just what I need. What other writing contests are there out there? I have heard about a few, but they all cost money to register, which doesn't work for me so much. I think I have asked you this before, but have you ever heard of a good company for start-up writers to get published? There seem to be so many self-publication firms out there, but how does one decide if one is better than the other? How you YOU go about getting something published in book form, if you decided to do this?

Well, I hope that this finds you well, and your house repaired. Any luck on finding anyone after the explosion with NoteGuy? Haha, you really are a Seinfeld character, you know that? I love it. Take a few deep breaths, Kelly. Stay safe.

TBW