The Rock

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March 14: The Rock

Today we went to the “inescapable” fortress of Alcatraz Island. After our twenty minute ferry ride we were greeted by a park ranger who, in his intro, asked us to keep an eye open for the five convicts who have escaped and never been heard of since. It was interesting to learn that the island was not always used as a prison. During the Gold Rush the American Army built up a fortress to protect the bay. Whoever controlled the bay controlled the west coast. Later it became a civil war penitentiary for soldiers. And, finally, a federal prison—built by the prisoners themselves.

We walked through the prison guided by an audio commentary. It’s amazing how loud those headsets are. At one point I noticed Glenn hadn’t shaved this morning and I called it to his attention…However, I still had the headsets on and so everyone around us knew too.

While soaking up the sun around the recreation field we passed a little girl asking her older sister “but, where are all the toys?” Apparently you can’t play in a recreation yard without toys. We thought it was very cute. But it also reminded us of a subject of much debate that has been blanketing all the news programs here. California is considering yet more education budget cuts—which would give the correctional facilities (including prisons) an equal if not larger budget. The California news suggested it was because the prison guard union is more active in politics, and therefore stronger, than the teachers union. Another statistic they regurgitated was that nearly half of all African-American drop-outs end up in a correctional facility of some sort. To sum the logic up then, we’re saying “screw the largest outlet that introduces them to more opportunities in their life because we’re banking on them screwing up anyways. Hey, and when they screw up it gives the politicians more money anyways because the jail guards support them?!” My opinion may be a bit prejudiced considering how much I value education, but I figure you shouldn’t get 100 channels of cable, conjugal visits, etc, when you’re in jail. Glenn says that to incarcerate one man in Australia for a year it costs $80,000—can you imagine how much education that would fund?! I have no solution to offer except that maybe prisons should return to a format more akin to Alcatraz.

Glenn and I were on the second deck’s aft watching Alcatraz Island shrink in the distance when we noticed we were being surrounded by a huge group of seagulls. We watched them for a minute giggling at the prospect of someone getting a “present” from one of our winged friends. Just then a seagull above us began to twitch its legs and Glenn & I ran for cover.

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Photos

Welcome to the ROCK
Alcatraz Island sign that visitors see upon arrival.

Trouble
Brittana did something bad...again.

No Toys
The toy-less recreation field at Alcatraz Island

Lighthouse
The first light house on the west coast--Alcatraz Island.

Crike!
Glenn at the wax-museum at Pier 39.

Comments

[kaz]

WTH
Hi well i am with you guys i also thought the golden gate would be gold , WTF is going on with that ???