Views from a BrewTown Sista (aka The Chronicles of Kayleah H. Madison)

During the first few months of getting to know Rockford in 1999, I noticed a since-closed pharmacy store on East State Street, near St. Anthony's Hospital. Best Buy was a short walk away before they moved further east. The name of that store as escape me over the years, but I did get something over there that I still have to this very day: a stuffed teddy bear. Okay, before you start wondering what's a 42-year-old person like me doing with a teddy bear, it as an important saying on both its sweater and wrist: WWJD? By now, you should all know that means "What Would Jesus Do"? It was a little bit of a craze in the late 1990's to get everybody interested in getting their spiritual thing together, or something like that. There never was a day when I attended church service back home that I didn't see someone with those initials on a pin or something. Those who see me in church would notice a similar pin on my name tag. I've had it for as long as well, 15 yea...

Hey, everyone! Has anyone watched that show on The Learning Channel, aka TLC called The Lottery Changed My Life ? This is a show about a few people who wanted to go on cable TV and tell their stories about how their lives have changed since winning a lottery. Keep in mind these people chose to let their lives be told. They could’ve kept to themselves, like many winners do. I have seen people win various amounts of dough, even season tickets to Baltimore Ravens home games FOR LIFE!!! Some of you may remember the story The Lottery by Shirley Jackson. In it the unlikely “winner” was stoned to death by the locals. That person was chosen by an old-fashioned way: by drawing straws. The one with the shortest one was doomed. I got to see a short film in high school based on this story. How dreadful. Like everything else in life, winning something as prestigious as a state lottery will have its price. I have heard about some people to simply blow oodles of dollars in only a few years time...

June 22 Solitude after hours has arrived in Cell Block L. I guarantee I will have a field day when I get back home and add this to my blog! Getting used to the new surroundings, yet the mat that goes on top of this metal bunk bed is not making my sleeping habits any better. Having an actual mattress to sleep on is a far cry from what I’ve been laying my head on since coming back here. First that plastic “boat”, now plain flat metal. Each time I try to sleep I ball up the blanket they give me to use as a pillow. Let’s just say it made my back pains a lot worse. Hearing about how the other cellmates made one person’s family history an instant punch line. I did hear he was supposedly related to that Motor City Madman himself, rocker/hunter/political activist Ted Nugent. Well, stupid is what stupid does, right? I had written in a few other blog pages about my time in the big house. This has without a doubt been the longest tenure I have ever had in my life. There were some other p...

June 21 Leading up to this day with the judge, I had been doing some work on what I was going to say and how I was going to attempt to convince him/her that I can make the necessary payments needed to finally pay off this headache and hopefully get the hell out of there. I got to go to their “law library”, which was nothing more than being one of the cells with a bookcase of law encyclopedias. The information I eventually found was recent, but not current. Someone had told me that there was a motion where I could request that the time allotted while in jail could be compensated towards paying off the fine. This took about an hour and change to look it up, and Game 6 of the NBA Finals had started when my time was up. One cellmate mentioned that one person, who may have had some more experience with law, was successful in accomplishing that task, resulting in about $200 (about $5/day x the length incarcerated) for his tickets. I went ahead with the game plan that I prepared myself f...

June 18, 2013 For the past few days yours truly wasn’t trying to attempt to pack my bags and go on a much-needed sabbatical. I only wish I could afford to do something that drastic while leaving everyone in suspense. That I may actually do one day and see what develops. Late in the evening of  Tuesday, June 11, around 11:30pm, I get a knock on the motel door that Mariah, my long-time roommate, and I currently reside. Turns out it was the local fuzz searching for someone I’ve never heard of. Then, the cops ask for our ID’s. Damn. Reality just hit me in the face:  an outstanding warrant (my THIRD, by the way) for my arrest in neighboring Ogle County over something I know I should’ve taken care of. Click-click go the handcuffs on my wrist for the third time in three years, leaving Mariah in a state of shock. I spent the next day and a half locked in the Winnebago County slammer,   (don’t ever eat the food there. Keeps you hungry!) awaiting transportation to Ogle Coun...