Blog Post 12

1/19/15                                

Life on the outside has been extremely difficult for Elaine. She claims that she doesn’t feel anymore free on the outside than she did in Bedford Hills Prison, because at least she had purpose on the inside. In prison she was a college student, drug-law activist, and a mother to many prisoners, while only dreaming of nurturing her own children upon her release. In her apartment 13B, there were still relationships to mend. Elaine’s sister Sabrina who had battled drug addiction for over ten years, contracted HIV, and had five children and one grandchild, was not behaving appropriately around Elaine’s kids. Sabrina would smoke in the house, fall asleep on the toilet with her pants down, and disturb the household late in the middle of the night. Elaine already had so much anger built up towards Sabrina for becoming a crack addict, for going to jail, for caring for her own children, and for not taking better care of Yvonne. Meanwhile Sabrina was still angry at Elaine for going to prison. That night Elaine left 13B for her younger sister Michelle’s home in Harlem. She only lasted four days there because both Michelle and Elaine felt a mutual sense that hey deserved more respect from each other. Elaine storms out of Michelle’s apartment at 3 AM with no back up shelter., a clear violation of her parole. She is so exasperated, disappointed, and discouraged that she doesn’t even care about the risk. With no other options, Elaine calls up Lora Tucker (her teacher/friend while she was in prison). Lora comes to pick her up after a twenty-two stop subway ride from Harlem to Queens. Lora seems to be her only stable option right now, and Elaine was very fortunate to have met her while in prison.

I sympathize with both Elaine and her family. Elaine had no business being kept in prison for the amount of time she was, as a consequence for an action that she intended to help her family. She had desperately wanted to get out of prison to be with her daughters, but her daughters don’t show much compassion upon her return home. At the same time Elaine wasn’t there and there’s not an automatic switch attached to her daughters that can allow them to adjust quickly to her being back after sixteen years. As much as Elaine criticizes Sabrina, she left home herself. Hopefully, her stay with Lora will help her re-develop her parenting skills, but if not than she’s not a whole lot better than Sabrina. Between Elaine, Sabrina, and Michelle you see this built up anger and tension. There’s no trust and it seems like the Bartlett family is starting to fall apart.

Blog Post 11

1/19/15                         

Elaine has finally been released from the Bedford Hills prison. She is so excited, crying

tears of joy for the first time in over fifteen years. She is so optimistic heading home on

the Saw Mill River Parkway toward the city. It’s really a heartwarming twist to the past

chapters, although still sad. The outside life that Elaine has been waiting 16 years for

turned into a sad reality after a couple weeks, when she realized that they have no

money, almost no jobs in the family, and that there is a wave of depression and

hopelessness hanging over them. Her daughters, especially Danae have not fully

warmed to her. Danae still refuses to stay at the house some nights. I understand the

perspective of the young daughters who were never of age to remember Elaine being

there for them. And there have definitely been times where I was upset with Elaine for

not being there for them. I then have to remember that Elaine shouldn’t be in prison,

that she was set up. This fact easily slips my mind sometimes because everything her

family is going through. It’s a complicated situation. It’s just disappointing that Elaine

feels that she left prison to return home to another prison between her deteriorating

apartment and visiting Jamel at Rikers Island. George Lino seems to be the one light of

hope shining over Elaine’s disappointing return to the outside. He makes a great pitch of

Elaine to potential employers, but she is still having trouble finding work. I’m hoping

Elaine finds a job and works everything out with her family. I had a strong emotional

response to this section

It’s sad that the only hope Elaine has is outside her family, with George Lino and later in the chapter Lora Tucker. Elaine is so lost. She returns to her family expecting much better. The apartment is filthy, there is no order, and the common theme of overpopulation that many of the self-sustainable Bartlett siblings have to deal with. Elaine had this image in prison of her returning home and putting everything back in order and setting up the next generation of Bartlett’s for success. Seeing that Satara has already had children at eighteen and is contributing to the overpopulation, and that Danae won’t even spend he nights in 13B, this image was unrealistic. Elaine has her work cut out for her. It’s sad, I would be just as discouraged as Elaine.

Blog Post 10

1/11/15                              Blog Post 10

Apache at this point is the one who looks like he’s about to figure it out. He is an extremely talented basketball player, and not only does practicing keep him off the street, but it also could provide for his entire college tuition cost. However, just by the luck the Bartlett family has been experiencing, the basketball coach on the Pine Ridge Reservation took advantage of Apache’s lack of parental support and persuaded him to agree to a hollow deal that he had false hopes in. After intentionally holding himself back for a year, Apache is in a worse position within the culture shock and empty promises of South Dakota. Elaine’s children seem to write quite frequently about how much they love and need her, which is so considerate in respect to the border-line neglect they are facing during her sentence.  Yvonne has done an incredible job for a single senior woman caring for so many children. However, it’s clear in the path Jamel has taken that Elaine’s presence is missed. The Bartlett family situation upsets me. At one point Yvonne complains that the children aren’t appreciative enough, but I beg to differ. Satara and Danae are doing much more house keeping work than they should be taking on. Apache is trying to get a scholarship to college and eventually starts coaching to make a living. And Jamel is only on Avenue D dealing because the family is so desperate for money. As heart breaking and biased as the system of clemency is, I’m glad Elaine is getting outside support. It seems like she is close to getting it. I also think it’s great that she has formed a genuine friendship with Lora Tucker, after Lora opened up about her AIDS. Lora Tucker is a woman who teaches courses to the inmates so that hopefully they can leave with one degree or another. I think thats an underplayed blessing for Elaine. 

As I mentioned in post 9, Yvonne’s health is starting to fail. I’m worried about the kids at home, because if Yvonne dies they have no except Apache who is still so young and vulnerable himself. Elaine said her mother was the only thing getting her through prison with high morale pep talks. Shortly later, Yvonne passes away and Elaine pushes harder for her clemency knowing (or hoping at least) that her case will be stronger now that her children have no competent guardian at home. It’s starting to get messy so hopefully she gets it.

Blog Post 9

Eli G

1/11/15                             Blog Post 9

Chapter 13 focused on Yvonne Bartlett, Elaine’s mother. Yvonne has had it very hard. Only one of her seven children has managed to avoid the drug trade, imprisonment, murder, or an AIDS/HIV contraction. She was a single mother and at this point a single grandmother. Despite her being too hard on the her grandchildren in my opinion, she is very welcoming to her neighbors and people in need. She has offered homeless men outside her housing project to spend a couple nights in the apartment. She shelters boys and girls who have problems at home too. Friends and acquaintances pop by in need of a loan or advice, and Yvonne prepares an extra plate of food and says, “Come on in, baby”. She could decode any confusing welfare statement, letters from the government, or monthly bills. Yvonne always dressed to make a strong impression. It shows her resilience in character: “She might live in a housing project overrun with drugs and crime, but she was not going to let her surroundings keep her down...she might be poor, but she had plenty of pride”. She wanted to make it clear that any stereotypes did not apply to her. However, even Yvonne became weak from the life she was living, looking after so many people when she needed support herself. In a matter of months two of her sons died, Ronald to AIDS and Frank to murder. The loss of her sons weakened her durability. She developed diabetes and her kidneys started to fail. Within months she weighed half as much as she used to. Gangrene had spread across her big toe resulting in amputation of part of her foot. All of a sudden Yvonne is depicted as small and frail which is so contrary to the role she had played in others’ lives.

 It’s sad to watch Yvonne’s health decline. She has really been the rock for the Bartlett family and the entire housing project. As the reader my stomach turns knowing that her health is failing and that the inevitable is coming, so I can’t even imagine what the Bartletts were feeling as they watched their one role model deteriorate. As her health started to fail her Yvonne wasn’t able to get over to the Bedford Hills Prison to visit Elaine as often, and Elaine notes how hard that it for her.