. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P A R O L E . C A L L

(Trying something new here, what I’m calling a flashback. Going back to my journals for stories from my earlier days as a parolee educator.)

A student of mine is convinced that if I eat snake, all my skin problems will go away. Back when Ramiro was in prison, out in the desert, he was assigned to Level 1 where they let you work outside the prison doing maintenance and gardening. His cellmate had a serious skin condition and was putting up with a great deal of embarrassment. One day Ramiro was working outside the perimeter of the prison and killed a desert snake. “You have to kill the snake before you get it mad or it’s no good,” Ramiro tells me, making a swift motion with his hand, showing how he killed the snake quickly and quietly while it slept. He threw the dead snake over the prison gate and later took it to his dormitory where they were allowed a hot plate and pan to cook with. Like a good friend, Ramiro cooked the snake and served it to his cellmate. He says that after only one or two times of consuming snake, his friend’s skin condition cleared up completely.  “Snake will heal your skin, Miss P.,” Ramiro says, urging me to try it. “It cleans the blood.”

— from a 2002 journal entry