“By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.” William Shakespeare
.I am giving my prison stories a much needed break, and hope to rejuvenate my creativity in a much different way. In 2025 I want my writing to reflect a transformation that helped me begin viewing life, and continue to do so, in a much more God centered way. I wasn’t much of a spiritual young man. I was raised Roman Catholic but as I got into my latter teenage years I wasn’t that centered on my faith. I always believed in the Almighty but my faith was not the priority of my life then. I worked my way through high school Coop and took a production job with the TRW ( Thompson Ramo Woolridge) corporation once I graduated. The factory was a big difference from where I had been working in high school. The drugs and alcohol were rampant. I did not feel very safe working there, but the money was good. Once I had my ninety day probation in I was put on the afternoon shift.
. My work station was shared with another employee. He was African American and he was only a year older than myself. We didn’t get to talk much while we worked because of the noise in the factory, but I remember it being extremely hot. I couldn’t stop sweating and within an hour my shirt was dripping wet. Our work stations were right next to the heat treat ovens. He pulled a packaged sweat band from his pocket and handed it to me smiling. I put it on and it immediately kept the sweat from dripping onto my face and neck. We got a 15 minute on the spot break after three hours of working, and everything seem to stop in the factory except for the stamping presses. He wanted to know if this was my first time working here and I informed him I completed my ninety days probation on the day shift. It was such a short break but we had agreed to have lunch together. I thanked him for the sweat band.
. Once we were able to go to lunch he gave me a quick tour of were we were allowed to break. The lunch room was not as filled up as it was on the day shift, and he informed me that’s because the majority of the production workers on this shift have liquid lunches in their vans with a little weed as well before coming in to finish their shift. I was glad to just sit down after washing up to eat a meal. I felt like I lost a couple of pounds working and sweating. My new friend informed me his name was David. He had been working here for over a year, and on this particular job for the past three months. I told him my name, and that I had just enrolled in a community college hoping to complete an Associate’s degree in Liberal Arts over the next two years. I was hoping to stay on this shift for at least three months. He laughed. ...My Life Journey To Be Continued…
1 Samuel 17: 32-58
MJ-Way 