YOUNGKIN’S DISINGENUOUS AMENDMENTS HARM VA FAMILIES By: Timothy Rumage, Aubrey “Mikey” Berryman, Taj Alexander Mahon-Haft Whatever your take on a gas tax holiday, it was never Youngkin’s real goal with last week’s budget amendments. It was a salient talking point to misdirect public attention from inhumane policies. It worked. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of families with […]
Unite for Second Chances with Second Look By: Taj Mahon-Haft As anywhere trauma and deprivation reign, hope is priceless and all too rare behind bars. Around here, we’re all closely following this legislative session, often with anxiety and sadness. Too many politicians followed an election season of ads demonizing us with a raft of bills […]
Reading Between the Lines on Education By: Taj Mahon-Haft Watching the election and Youngkin’s early days, I am both impressed and perplexed. Impressed by his use of unassailable rhetorical phrases to frame educational issues. Perplexed why so many Virginians seem to miss what is actually being said. Full disclosure: I am a straight, white man, […]
From Taj Mahon-Haft: I am tearfully, ragingly disgusted by what happened recently in Texas. and again in Buffalo. And in a California church the next day. And a Michigan school a few months back. And so on and so forth literally hundreds of times each recent year. I literally live amongst those judged and labeled […]
*Please note, names have been changed for the protection and consideration of all involved.* No Place to Pee ~ by Taj Mahon-Haft ~ I confess that I did not know Hooch at all before this event, and I still only know him through a few harried conversations. Prison is funny that way. I know a […]
*Please note, names have been changed for the protection and consideration of all involved.* Every day we get counted repeatedly in prison. Four of those times are officially considered “standing counts,” where the guards blow shrill whistles and bellow, “Count time! Feet on the floor! Lights On!!” The whole point of it is explicitly to […]
~ by Taj Mahon-Haft ~ *Names have been changed for privacy’s sake.* Mr. Fern is my neighbor here. He sleeps across the hall and six doors down–about forty feet away. Since I arrived here, before even living on the same floor as him, he has bent over backwards to offer me a smile and friendly […]
~ Taj Mahon-Haft ~ Orignally appeared on www.heartolovelifemoments.com We just passed Valentine’s Day. I actually celebrated, too, and I had a genuinely terrific time. Quite the surprise for a 40-year-old behind bars. I used to shun this holiday, but I have had a complete change of heart. Ha! See, it’s easy to be cynical today […]
~ Taj Alexander Mahon-Haft ~ Being at the jail and then “receiving” was the most torturous time of my life, stuck in solitary for over a year. By the time I was being transferred, I was actually looking forward to prison. Even just the thrice daily walk fifty yards to the “chow hall”–who says that […]