Speaking of heavy #metal, in my university days I was a DJ in (and later director of) the heavy metal department at the student radio station, which has a 25,000 Watt transmitter.
That was a crazy time, let me tell you.
For example: next to our university is the State's prison, including inmates on death row.
Now, if there's one thing inmates have a lot of, it is time. When they are locked up in prison and awaiting a death penalty that will never come because the State has suspended executions, then they spend a lot of time listening to the radio, at all hours of the night.
You can probably tell where this is going...
So, you have 18-21 year old running a gigantic radio transmitter and blasting sick death and black #metal on one block, and bored inmates next door with access to time, the radio, and the postal system.
That leads to these 18-21 year old uni students receiving letters of all kinds requesting music, critiquing their selection, insulting them, threatening them, etc
Threat of Violence Show more
Anyway, one of the guys I talked to was really interesting to write back to. He was older and we actually had a decent back-and-forth on life and philosophy.
Make no mistake, I was on guard. Writing to death row inmates is and was not a light thing to do. Some of them will try to use that connection for not-so-legal things. But he was pretty open and it was cool to get to have what seemed like a fruitful conversation. It was really humanizing despite this fellow having killed a cop.
@cj You say despite, i hear thanks to.
@policeinchains My words aren't perfect at conveying the life experiences I had. It definitely opened my eyes to the world of privilege I (still) have.
It also makes me vulnerable to my friends and close family who will snap-judge a person because that person is a felon. It's frustrating having to explain "no, these are people too" without being labelled as pro-crime.
@cj Yeah, that's cute. But original toot was just a random anti-cop jab.
@policeinchains Ah gotcha, lol. You probably heard the whoosh over my head while I was trying to figure out if I had misspoke.
Unfortunately, I had to stop writing all together. 'Cause another inmate decided to send me a letter out of the blue that caused all my shit to get confiscated by the police department.
So I did what any 19 year old did and panicked and stopped writing back. Never wrote him back, but he kept writing to me.
And the lesson is: life goes on.