3
" «Proprio un elfo snob doveva toccarmi in sorte?» le rispose divertito. «Allora, non mi rimane altra scelta che portarti in campeggio, prima o poi, o in canoa o a fare una nuotata nel lago.»
Lei lo fissò con la sua più riuscita espressione Scordartelo disegnata sul volto.
«Puoi guardarmi come vuoi, ma mai dire mai» ridacchiò lui.
«Oh, invece mai è una delle mie parole preferite.»
«Scommetto che ti piacerebbe…»
«Cosa?»
«Il campeggio. Le stelle, il silenzio, le foglie che mormorano al vento, sai, quelle cose lì.»
«Per non parlare di orsi, insetti e magari di qualche serpente che ha perso la strada di casa. Mi vengono i brividi solo a pensarci. Sono un elfo cittadino a tutti gli effetti e ho il terrore di tutto ciò che si muove e che non sia addomesticabile.»
Lui la fissò con aria divertita. «Incluso il sottoscritto?»
Le si era avvicinato troppo e ora la fissava come se volesse divorarla, in modo così sfacciato che, per puro istinto di sopravvivenza, arretrò di un passo. Non abbassò lo sguardo ma per qualche attimo non seppe cosa rispondergli. Non che avesse dubbi che la categoria esseri viventi non addomesticabili e pericolosi includesse anche lui, almeno a dar retta a tutte quelle farfalle che le svolazzavano nello stomaco, ma come avrebbe potuto rispondergli sì? Così gli sorrise a sua volta, pronta all’ennesima bugia.
«Sono convinta, predatore, che tu, nonostante i grugniti e i continui brontolii e la tua probabile parentela con un grizzly, sia molto addomesticabile.»
Lui alzò un sopracciglio, con un’espressione da schiaffi da premio Oscar. "
― Viviana Giorgi , E infine la Bestia incontrò Bella
6
" Here was a temporary solution. Parole would get Mofokeng and Mokoena out of jail as quickly as possible. Other details could be sorted out later. I accompanied Nyambi to Kroonstad jail at the end of October and remember that as he told Mofokeng and Mokoena the news—that they would be home for Christmas—smiles slowly but surely transformed the sombre, cautious expressions on their faces.Big problem: it was discovered in December, a full two months after the judgment was made, that the court order does not mention the NCCS at all. Consequently, the NCCS interpreted the court's order as having removed the NCCS's jurisdiction to deal with any " lifers" sentenced pre-1994. The members of the NCCS packed their briefcases and went home.No one knows why the judgment didn't mention the NCCS; maybe the judge who wrote it, Justice Bess Nkabinde, simply didn't know how the parole system operates; but eight of her fellow judges, the best in the land, found with her.The Mofokeng and Mokoena families, who are from 'the poorest of the poor', as the ANC likes to say, are distraught.But the rest—the law men, the politicians and the government ministers—well, quite frankly, they don't seem to give a fig. Zuma has gone on holiday, to host his famous annual Christmas party for children. Mapisa-Nqakula has also gone on holiday. Mofokeng and Mokoena remain where they were put 17 years ago, despite not having committed any crime. "
8
" Sure, I told him to fuck himself and yes, I paid for it dearly (ruptured spleen). But after my recovery and given the time to reflect, I have a better understanding of who I am penning this for. Not just for the parole board. Not just for wronged Chinese people, not for racist whites, not for my prison therapy group, not for Manny or Jaynuss, not for Momma, not for my once-again estranged father, not even for Lene (though I hope and, in weaker moments, pray she will read this one day), but for others, like myself. Those who lack foresight. Those often overwhelmed by the present. Those ignorant of and indifferent to the past. Those whose worst qualities come to the surface when tested. Those who are fertile ground for dubious moral judgment. Those who feel, in some mysterious but common sense, unmoored. "
9
" You will not find Jesus in heaven, reclining on a cloud. He isn’t in church on Sunday morning, sitting in the pews. He isn’t locked away in the Vatican or held hostage by a denominational seminary. Rather, Jesus is sitting in the Emergency Room, an uninsured, undocumented immigrant needing healing. He is behind bars, so far from his parole date he can’t think that far into the future. He is homeless, evicted from his apartment, waiting in line at the shelter for a bed and a cup of soup. He is the poor child living in government housing with lice in his hair, the stripes of abuse on his body and a growl in his stomach. He is an old forgotten woman in a roach infested apartment who no one thinks of anymore. He is a refugee in Sudan, living in squalor. He is the abused and molested child who falsely feels responsible for the evil that is perpetrated against her. He is the young woman who hates herself for the decisions she has made, decisions that have imperiled her life, but did the best she could, torn between impossible choices. Jesus is anyone without power, ability or the means to help themselves, and he beckons us to come to him; not on a do-gooding crusade, but in solidarity and embrace. "
10
" Fewer and fewer families can afford a roof over their head. This is among the most urgent and pressing issues facing America today, and acknowledging the breadth and depth of the problem changes the way we look at poverty. For decades, we’ve focused mainly on jobs, public assistance, parenting, and mass incarceration. No one can deny the importance of these issues, but something fundamental is missing. We have failed to fully appreciate how deeply housing is implicated in the creation of poverty. Not everyone living in a distressed neighborhood is associated with gang members, parole officers, employers, social workers, or pastors. But nearly all of them have a landlord. "
― Matthew Desmond , Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City
15
" Because the drug war has been waged almost exclusively in poor communities of color, when drug offenders are released, they are generally returned to racially segregated ghetto communities--the places they call home. In many cities, the re-entry phenomenon is highly concentrated in a small number of neighborhoods. According to one study, during a twelve-year period, the number of prisoners returning home to " core counties" --those counties that contain the inner city of a metropolitan area--tripled. The effects are felt throughout the United States. In interviews with one hundred residents of two Tallahassee, Florida communities, researchers found that nearly every one of them had experienced or expected to experience the return of a family member from prison. Similarly, a survey of families living in the Robert Taylor Homes in Chicago found that the majority of residents either had a family member in prison or expected one to return from prison within the next two years. Fully 70 percent of men between the ages of eighteen and forty-five in the impoverished and overwhelmingly black North Lawndale neighborhood on Chicago's West Side are ex-offenders, saddled for life with a criminal record. The majority (60 percent) were incarcerated for drug offenses. These neighborhoods are a minefield for parolees, for a standard condition of parole is a promise not to associate with felons. As Paula Wolff, a senior executive at Chicago Metropolis 2020 observes, in these ghetto neighborhoods, " It is hard for a parolee to walk to the corner store to get a carton of milk without being subject to a parole violation. "
