Artist/Designer Friend in Prison
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- whatthefunk
A good friend of mine from college, who I lost touch with over the last 5 years or so was recently sentenced to 5 years in prison for getting caught selling guns while on probation for another felony drug charge. This dude is one of the most creative guys I've ever met and such a force - great sense of humor, gift of gab, and he's a hustler. I can't condone his actions but a friend is a friend and we've recently been communicating through letters and email (yeah, email in prison, weird.) This guy could have been a CD or owned his own company but he started running with some shady dudes and started making cash, lots of cash, doing some off color things.
He's involved in a welding class where he's all psyched about learning TIG and starting to do creative stuff again. His illustration and sculpture work was amazing, he has such a unique style and I'm going out to visit him in a couple of weeks and was wondering if you guys had any ideas of what I could do for him to lift his spirits or initiate some sort of creative project that we could collaborate on to occupy his time. I have some ideas but wondered if anyone here could suggest something cool, different, or interesting.
I'd like to set him up with a website or something to post his work that he's been sending by mail and there are a few of us who are working on a collaborative illustration but you know how that goes, gets old quick.
Thoughts?
- meffid0
David Choe?
- hah
Man, that guy is sick. But hilarious.juhls - ironic cuz they have a very similar stylewhatthefunk
- i love david choe.isakosmo
- lol, I met David once, the nicest guy too.monoblanco
- hah
- RW0
Have him use Tumblr to map a route out of prison piece by piece ala' Prison Break. This tale of using a web 2.0 social media platform to escape will make him infamous and he'll forever have work in the creative industries...
- capn_ron0
is he able to send you sculptures? If that's the case, you could organize a show of his work somehow and then let him know you did that. I bet he would be excited to finish some pieces and have them shown while he's in there. Then you could shoot some photos of the show and send them to him.
- beautiful0
send smokes.
- d_rek0
Sell his works and create a fund that benefits the victims of his crimes.
- Douglas0
i had an art friend who spent a few days in the slammer. said he made loads of cigarettes by drawing naked ladies for the other guys to wank to. you're buddy should be fine.
- IRS0
You could work on a time machine together. The welding skills will come in handy.
- ali0
I'd start with a Big Stan ass tattoo.
Just kidding... I'm not sure what the project could be but if it somehow related to a charity for victims of gun or drug related crime it would be a step towards redemption and maybe points to him for an early release.
- dMullins0
I'm still trying to figure out why you think this "friend" needs some sort of creative outlet while he's serving hard time FOR ILLEGALLY SELLING GUNS WHILE ON PROBATION FOR ANOTHER FELONY CRIME.
A cyanide cocktail should do wonders, for him and the rest of us.
- bumdrizzle0
lockem up and throw away the key.
no good criminals.
- thebottlerocket0
I am surprised that in your hand-wringing middle-class concern for criminals you've not spared any thought for the people who have be killed and injured by the guns he has helped supply.
Perhaps you should try to 'channel a creative support group' for those who have been subjected either directly or indirectly to the guns he's smuggled or the other felonies he's committed rather than acting like some painfull group therapy session to make you friends time, go just a little bit faster and lift his spirits.
What surprises the most though me is how, in your original post, you seem to dismiss the choices he has made and trivialise them with terms like 'fell in with some shady characters' and 'doing some off colour things'.
Honestly.....
- hey, fuck off - he's a friend. that's what friends do - stick by each other thru tough timeshans_glib
- so he's a nno good drug dealing gun runner, but he's still a good friend. that shouldn't stop just cos the guy's a crim...hans_glib
- LOL @ this response. The point = over your head.dMullins
- (not a friend of mine, i should add.)hans_glib
- maybe as a friend you should give him a dose of reality and not trivialise his misdemeanoursthebottlerocket
- if i was his friend i would. but he ain't so i won't. i'll just hate him like the rest of you :)hans_glib
- my point was that there's nothing wrong with whatthefunk sticking by his mate.hans_glib
- point to me where i said 'don't stick by your mates...'thebottlerocket
- mnmlst0
karma is a bitch.
- Mr_Right0
It sounds like you have a crush on this criminal friend. ?
- Jimbo820
Soap on a rope?
- Jimbo820
- dude, i was eating yogurt just then....gaah...zenmasterfoo
- fooler20
make him a cake with a file in it or give him a carton of smokes to shove up his ass.
- isakosmo0
maybe as a friend you should give him a dose of reality and not trivialise his misdemeanours– thebottlerocket
>> what he said
- cannonball19780
What were you expecting asking how to help a criminal we don't know? That somehow we'd be vicariously compassionate? Here? Infant, you.
- vespa0
Bottlerocket remember bosco at Uni? my point being that people can get caught up in stuff, especially in their youth, and it's hard for their friends and family to watch talented people throw it all away...
The point of the criminal justice system is that people pay their dues, by going to prison etc. This guy sounds like he's paying for his crimes.
Whatthefunk maybe you could start a project with your friend to help young people in the community NOT to get involved in anything like what he did. He's going to have inside knowledge on how people get recruited etc. Help him turn his experiences into something positive?