4AM RITUAL
BY JACOB SOPHER
I try to make the most out of my time in prison. I’m lucky to be at a prison near an urban center which offers many educational and social opportunities. I’m currently taking two in-person classes offered by university education program and a correspondence course that I started so that I would have something in case I got transferred to another prison with fewer educational opportunities.
In addition to coursework from these three classes, I also correspond with friends and family. I’m a writer and a prison journalist and I write one or two articles a month for the prison journalism project and several other publications. I absolutely love journalism and creative non-fiction. It is my art form and allows me to express myself clearly. All these endeavors require time and concentration. I work full time, and, in the evenings, I go to the yard and walk the track. I like to go to bed early, around 8pm and wake up at 4am.
The early morning is a magical time for me. The quiet, chilly solitude is peaceful serenity. The first thing I do upon waking, before I turn on the lights, is to kneel beside my bed and say my morning prayers. I pray for wisdom and the strength to do the right thing that day. As a practicing Catholic, I pray to Jesus and Mother Mary. Sometimes other non-Catholic Christians question me for praying to Mary. I won’t debate theology here, but I do think it is special that we Catholics honor a woman by praying to Mary and asking for her intercession. I end my prayers with a doxology, the last words of which are “world without end.”
I then get up, turn on the light, and now it’s time for coffee. If it’s a good morning, I have a packet of sweetener to go with my coffee. I love my first cup of joe of the day and look forward to it. As the warm brew and caffeine hit me after the first few sips, I crack open the books and begin to study. Or I grab a blank page and put my pen down and start to write. As I work, I listen in headphones to Sirus XM music channels provided on the prison TV network.
I enjoy my early morning study sessions. They help me feel that I am being productive during my incarceration, not just doing time. I enjoy the solitude, the coffee, the sense of peace, without them I would be much less grounded in my days. | SJ