Me and my prison pen pals

I'm a weird, sensitive guy with Lyme Disease who's into cryptocurrency, programming, writing, and spiritual training, but I'm really starting this blog for Arlene, my prison pen pal.

It all started with Paul, my friend since the 7th grade, who lived a good law-abiding life as an alcohol and drug counselor but then had this misfortune to be falsely-accused of a crime. So for many years, we wrote and talked on the phone, and I was pretty much his only source of support. We tried to find him pen pals, but nothing came of it.

Then, just recently, Arlene came, completely by chance, into our lives. She became Paul's pen pal, and now she's my pen pal also. Unlike Paul, she has a long rap sheet, mostly drug and prostitution-related, but in talking to her, she's not at all like I expected.

I expected a career criminal. Instead, I found a human being.

She wants to tell her story. She says it's therapeutic, that she wants to get it out to put it behind her, and it's stuff that's hard to talk about. She's said that many people told her she should write a book about her crazy life, and now with my help, she's finally getting started. She's sending it to me in letters, and I will post them here.

So far, it's some incredible stuff, and I hope you follow along with me as her story is revealed. I might include stuff about Paul too, maybe me as well, and all our crazy thoughts and plans.