DannyBoyinExile

Prison is a place where you can always find something to complain, gossip, or argue about, if you choose to. Someone’s always mad at somebody, hating on somebody, manipulating somebody – or just plain doesn’t like the way someone else looks. (Looking at some of the guys around me, I can’t say I blame them for that!)
Thanksgiving, though, is a time when everybody makes an effort to get along. Many of us genuinely do feel the Holiday Spirit. You know – Bah Humbug! (just kidding) This is a good thing, because without our families to celebrate the holidays with, all we have is each other.
The main reason we’re all so happy on Thanksgiving is undoubtedly because of the food! Turkey and dressing is a national pastime – and it feels good that even we are included in that. Every year, we look forward to our Thanksgiving meal, and TDCJ has always made sure that it’s a good one. We actually get two trays for the occasion: the hot tray, with the turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, etc. And the cold tray (usually a paper tray), containing cake, sweet potato pie, celery, pickles, sliced onions – and even some sliced jalapeños, since this IS Texas…
It’s an ordeal to feed thousands of people in a short period of time, so we’re allowed to bring our food back to our wing, where we can take our time and enjoy it, rather than being rushed out of the chow hall to make room for the next group of hungry inmates.
Plenty of bartering usually takes place then: a cake for a pie, the turkey for the ham, onions for jalapeños. Quite a few capitalists even offer to pay outrageous sums of commissary for someone’s meat or desserts. Sometimes it’s an offer that is simply too good to refuse, and someone will take them up on it – but for the most part, people just enjoy their food, since it will be a LONG time before we eat so well again!
Even the guards tend to be in a better mood on a holiday, and in general there’s much less drama and strife than usual. Whether you enjoy watching football, cooking a “spread” with your homeboys in the dayroom, or you prefer to just spend some extra time on the phone with your family, people are happy for the day, and go out of their way to greet each other and be polite. It’s not unusual for a person you’ve never even spoken to, to wish you a happy Thanksgiving.
I even make it a point to say Happy Thanksgiving to the staff that I come across, because I know it’s not easy on them either, considering that they’re here with us, rather than being at home with their own families.
I try not to lose sight of the real meaning of the holiday. I mean, I’m just an inmate, in a prison filled with inmates – but I still have a lot to be thankful for. Many people in the world have it much worse than me – and they haven’t even done anything wrong, to end up in prison.
I have people who love me. (And even a few who read my blog!) =-} I’m healthy, I’m not doing without anything I need – and the administration has even gone out of their way to make the holiday as good as it can be for us.
Tomorrow, all the inmates may go back to fussing and fighting, arguing and complaining – but today was a pretty good day. So says DannyBoy.