Hybachi LeMar calls in from SCI Huntington:

Whitney Houston once proclaimed that she decided long ago never to walk in anyone’s shadow.

A scientific principle in magic teaches that energy follows thought. Pythagoras, a philosopher from Crotona, and accredited sounder of western numerology in fifth century BCE, imparted to his students: “declining from the public ways, walk in unfrequented paths”.

The path of self reflection, especially when starting off, can feel inconsolably lonely. When I’d express myself in grade school, the teachers had me sit my desk outside the class. When I’d hear others laughing, I’d peep through the door window from my seat. The effect was that I grew more withdrawn and would walk home in different directions, preferably ones where no one would see me.

I been in a lifetime of fights; been told I was autistic, so I didn’t know whether to take that as an insult or a compliment since autistic people are geniuses. I been told by a prison guard in the hole that his colleagues don’t see me nor anyone confined in the unit as human beings.

Naturally, the intellectual incompatibility which draws outcasts like us to turn inward, leads to an unconventional thought life. The search for something relatable to embrace; we teach ourselves from different books, through zines. We learn in a different direction; a direction that leads to a sense of meaning and unconventional realizations. We find that it is those that treat you as if you aren’t human whose sense of humanity deserves to be questioned.

In a twist of irony, we discover it’s through descending the darkest hole when you find yourself reaching the irrepressible heights of illumination. It’s the exceptional perspective, in fact, that stands out, that’s viewed as odd, like a Labrador looking diagonally in the mirror.

In retrospect, you see your perspective on life, when it’s your own, plays a pivotal role in placing your life in perspective. These realizations revolve around a personal appreciation toward the shadow you cast. Of making each moment magical by determining where your energy is directed.

In deviating from the demands of blind obedience, you become a fate-turner. You discover that in determining which steps you take, you determine your destiny.

Every stumbling block is a milestone in disguise: the ups and downs come with the territory. Be brave, be resolute. Let nothing stop you in your path of self-actualization. It’s a winding path that gives us, in every turn of events, a new vista where we can reflect.

Does a dog barking from the edge of a cliff know that it’s its own echo’s that’s barking back? And do you know that the world will affirm you to be who you affirm yourself to be in the world?

Thank you.