Returning

amy doyle

26 Oct 2024 — 6 min read

Craig and I got back from Scotland three weeks ago. Kiki asked me if I had culture shock, which I didn't expect, thinking that our countries were so similar, but I did (am) experiencing some culture shock, and hmm, there are so many more differences between the US and Scotland that I now realize than I had known before. I guess that's one of the points of immersing yourself in another culture...right?

Originally I was going to title this post "Re-entry", which, I think is a sign I saw as I headed for the customs line at the airport. However, I feel like that is making light of re-entry of prisoners coming home from incarceration. It's the same I feel about the term "lock down" that was used during COVID. During COVID you had to stay home, oh geez, how hard is that? You've got a remote control, Amazon delivery and Zoom. That was "shut down", not "lock down". (I am sorry for people who lost loved ones during COVID. I was fortunate. So not trying to minimize that here.) But, "Lock down" in prisons is taking a bad situation and making it more frightening and more horrible. As many of you know, I've had a dear family member who spent time (unjustly in my opinion) in prison, so I'm super sensitive to us using prison terminology non-chalantly to everyday situations that aren't all that bad. One of the things we don't do well at all in the US is prisons. The US has the highest incarceration rate of any first world country, and the 5th highest incarceration rate in the world. The US has more than 20% of the world's prison population, even though we only have about 5% of the global population. (Wikipedia and American Civil Liberties Union). Are Americans more bad than other peoples? No, of course not. I think, however, we have become more punitive, incarceration the go-to, easy answer, (and there are a lot of stats to support this) and incarceration has been part of the US-capitalistic economy. I kid you not, a few years ago when, then Governor Andrew Cuomo was smartly-so closing prisons in New York and reducing the incarceration rates, small towns were in an uproar that it meant they would loose jobs and revenue. Ewww, a town based only on the misery of other people?? Don't even get me started.

I recently saw this article in the New York Times:

"In Rare Move, Judge Changes Mind After 27 Years and Frees Brooklyn Man:

Judge Frederic Block said his ideas about punishment had evolved since he sentenced Walter Johnson to five life terms in 1997. At age 90, he decided to take action... On Thursday, Judge Block called the punishment he imposed 27 years ago too harsh, the product of ill-considered laws and his own inexperience. He freed Mr. Johnson, who hours later walked out of prison and back into society." (Corey Kilgannon, October 18, 2024)

I think it takes a lot of courage to admit when you're wrong, especially on something so huge as this. Yet, another example of how "justice" is subjective and biased. Oh, so much to talk about on this, but...

Re-entry, yes, where were we? Re-entry programs in New York are less than inadequate. Michigan seems to have much better services and well-thought out programs. I don't know how people do it coming out of prisons unless they have a huge level of family support. If you have an ear of a politician in New York, prison reform and re-entry are topics that don't get enough attention, especially as prisoners don't have a voice, and aren't allowed to vote for many years when they come home. Begging the question of when do you stop being punished??

Grocery Stores

Ok, I'm on a rant, probably more so than many of my blogs, but, bare with me, it's the space I'm in right now. I'm not saying that there is a similarity between grocery stores and prisons in our country, but grocery stores do feel like they've gotten a bit out of control.

It was a mistake to go to the grocery store the next day after we get home from Scotland, but I've gotta eat.

woman checking labels — Photo by Bernard Hermant / Unsplash

How do you have a whole 20 foot aisle, both sides, devoted to soda? Soda has no nutritional value, what-so-ever, but it's taking up huge space across our country. I was completely overwhelmed. In Edinburgh we had about 6 small grocery stores that we could walk to. The best one, the Waitrose, was great. You should google Waitrose and learn more about them, they are absolutely fantastic (you can take your plastic film salad bags there for recycling, for example). You could fit about 3-4 Waitrose stores inside Wegman's, but, here's the thing, Waitrose had everything we needed. And, small parking lot as most people could walk there, or take the bus. Now, I know that European countries are much smaller than the US, so it's not an apt comparison, but, since the US is my country, I get to complain. It's like complaining about your husband (not that I ever do this), but if I did, I can complain about him, but no one else can...right?! Seriously! So, US grocery stores, and US cities included, it seems we have designed our cities and communities to accommodate cars, not to accommodate people and communities for that matter. In my town of Ithaca, there is one HUGE Wegman's grocery store that most people have to drive to. It has a huge parking lot (using lots of petroleum for paving, etc.) and it's not in a neighborhood by any means. What if we broke that huge grocery store in to 3-4 smaller stores and spread them out throughout the town? You could walk to your grocery store. You could stop at your coffee shop along the way. You could drop off your library books, you could stop at your neighborhood hardware-store, you could say hi. You get the idea. We talk about isolation in the US (rocketing suicide rates, mental health crisises). I don't know, there's something about neighbors looking out for neighbors. That huge Wegman's and huge parking lot, actually spreads us out farther from one another, rather than encouraging a diversity of businesses and stores and neighborhoods. I really feel that one-stop shopping has become boring. It's convenience, I get it, but don't you just love when you go to charming downtowns and and go in and out of the quaint shops?

So, I get that I'm preaching to the choir, but feel free to pass on this discussion if it may help to get the conversation going, and evolving-change happening.

So what's good?

It's been a spectacular fall! Probably one of the most beautiful falls in Upstate New York I've seen in several years. I'm glad I'm home for it.

This I took on Flat Iron Road in Caroline, during a bike ride, which I did not have a bike to ride in Scotland, so happy to be out again :).

And my friends and family. So heartwarming to see everyone again. Tea with my neighbors Edie and Christian (omg, Edie makes the best scones), walks with Bill and Mia (okay, so we ended with a glass of wine!). So glad to be back at my pottery lessons with Barb. She is the very best, in so many ways. I've joined a book group with Debbie Allen that I'm really enjoying. She makes me think. Denise and I had a short, but delightful visit. I'm so appreciative of her and Dan making the visit to us in Scotland. She reminded me that it was real, it wasn't just the most fantastic dream. And I'm looking forward to some trips in November with my family. More on that in future blogs.

Craig and I went to the wedding of his niece Ramona and her now husband, Andrew. It was absolutely joyful! And so good to hang out with Bret and Lisa, and Jon and Tracy, and to meet the rest of the family. We are still smiling!