Kites That Flew

＂Kites That Flew＂ was an accident book that just happened to materialize due to circumstance, happenstance, and my educational journey while living in the subculture of a prison society. I had to survive...mentally and physically. Deprived of my freedom and bombarded by negativity in a hostile environment, I had to assimilate into the cultural norms; despite the culture shock of entering a foreign habitat. I had to learn the vocabulary, lingo, and how to think while subjected to a world of masculinity where egos are constantly tested and fired. Economics and street smarts allowed me to thrive in a cashless society. Through my years of grinding, hustling, and getting paid thru cash apps, I enrolled in many educational programs and eventually went to college. Hustling and going to college...college, and then hustling.....

When anyone is in prison, you will eventually receive kites. A kite in prison is a note written from one person to the next. So, one day after attending a Columbia University College course (Cultural Anthropology, ) I came back to my cell and forgot to throw away the kites that had accumulated before. As I was about to flush them down the toilet, I caught a flash back from my Cultural Anthropology class. I remembered how we studied how anthropologists and ethnographers would study people in a culture or subculture; so, I decided to compose ＂Kites That Flew.＂

As an anthropologist, I’m studying the sample(people) and as an ethnographer, I am taking notes, and commenting on the sample. I wrote this so that my readers can view the many occasions that I’ve encountered with some of the very people that live/work within their neighborhoods, and what they go through while in prison.