This site is the official blog of the Campaign for the American Reader. It is an independent initiative to encourage more readers to read more books ! It also lists a lot of cool books that one might not find on any other booklists ! Yo Yo check it out at http://americareads.blogspot.com/

Great site !  Be sure to check out the Washington State Tribal Directory !   www.goia.wa.gov/

On this site you can customize maps for printing or viewing. You can mix and match layers when making your own map. Or you can play with interactive maps. Check it out at   http://www-atlas.usgs.gov/

The year was 1989 and I worked at Twin Rivers Corrections Center for one year. I trained at the Washington State Reformatory with Rod  and Virginia . About six months into my work there I was asked by Rod if I could go over to the SOC and fill in while Virginia took some leave. What did I know ? I said sure. SOC stands for Special Offender Center and houses psychotic sex offenders. I will never forget my time working there. The library was underground and there was no officer anywhere near. I wore a panic pager on my belt and the room was panned on closed circuit tv every ninth frame. The first day an inmate returned a paperback book that had a bite taken out of it like a sandwich would. I asked him how the book was and he replied  ” It was delicious” ! There was a counselor whose job it was to tell this inmate that he was not getting out. She was beaten so bad that she had to leave state service. After a few weeks there I asked an officer how long he had worked there and he said 15 years. I said how could you do that for so long and remain sane and his comeback was  ” Bates Motel……Norman speaking ” !  I was only there for 3 weeks but it seemed like 3 months. This library was Virginia’s normal everyday environment. My hat goes off to her because she was and is one tough cookie !

“Encyclopedia Article Center ” . I found everything from ” Blackfoot Tribe Letter to FDR” from 1933 to the poetry of William Barnes.

When you work in a prison you hear and use words and phrases that are understood only in prison. When someone greensheets here where I work it means that they are getting out. Movement means that inmates can move from place to place without a pass or getting out of bounds. Movement here is at 10 minutes before the hour every hour. If you live on the hill it means that you are in the minimum custody part of the prison. Callout is the term for the daily list telling all where appointments for the inmates are. Early outs in the phrase for those inmates lucky enough to get to eat before the rest of their unit so they can get to work or school. The hole is of course where inmates are segregated from the rest of the population. They no longer get bread and water but instead are treated to the same meals as everyone else. COA is the place where inmates are very closely watched so they do not harm themselves. Infractions are issued for breaking the rules. A kite is the term for the paper that is sent from inmates to communicate their needs to staff. Officers here are never called screws but I do hear a lot of inmates call them the police. The place where all the keys are kept is Control but the hallway is the sallyport. Any old inmate here is called grandma. New arrivals are referred to as fish. Fogline means the fog is so thick that it could pose a security risk for escape. Fishing is the term for passing items from cell to cell while locked down. This is usually done with string attached. Pat down means a search of the inmate’s body. Here this can only be done by female staff. Medline is the long line of inmates waiting for their medicine.

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The  first time that I walked into the Washington Correction Center for Women it was for a job interview. I remember thinking that it felt more like a college campus than a prison. I got the job and ten years later I am still working here in the library. The first week that I worked here an inmate told me to my face that they did not want a man in this job. I smiled at her and told her that I was here to stay. One of the inmate library clerks admitted that she was guilty of her crime but allowed that the other 800 cherubs here were all innocent. That term cherub stuck with me and I often still use it when talking about the inmates here. I worked for one year in a men’s prison back in the 1980’s and did not care much for that experience. There are many differences between working with male and female inmates. The men got right to the business of finding out if you had a certain book or not. The women want more of a relationship from you and even expect you to know their reading likes and dislikes. Women here are less likely than the men to curse me out although it does happen every once in awhile. In general the women smell better than the men. People always ask me what do the women read ? They read all of the same books that women read everywhere else. Romance books are very popular but they also love mysteries and true crime and a few even read Tom Clancy’s books. I like to plan my day while in the shower and while driving to work. After 10 years of working here I do not know why I bother. No matter how much planning I do, everything changes when I arrive. The announcement over the intercom says “Cease Movement” and every inmate then has to go into the closest building or sometimes face the wall. This is used when there is a fight or medical emergency or maybe a fire alarm has gone off. Sometimes “Institutional Recall ” is called and this means that all inmates have to return to their cells. Usually this is for a count. The old timers here say that WCCW stands for “we can’t count women”. Unlike the men’s prison, there are babies here. If a woman comes here pregnant and gives birth while here she may be allowed under certain guidelines to keep her child with her in prison. Recently I asked my mother if she thought I would ever wound up in prison and her reply was that she thought it was always just a matter of time.

This site is so good that I do not know where to start. Want to read the London Times online ? Or the latest issue of New Yorker ? Book reviews from Village Voice ? George Will’s column ? Lots of Weblogs ! NPR Hourly News ! Much Much More ! Find all of this at:   http://www.aldaily.com

I sent out a site like this earlier in the year. This one is better. Check out the section on E-Mail !

www.bartleby.com/64/