“You Done Wrong—Do Write.” “What Did I Say Say While in Sing Sing?”

Back in my days as a classroom history instructor, I was afforded the luxury of creating many new courses for the department’s curricular menu. That show of confidence by administration and the gift of autonomy it bestowed was an aspect of my job I really liked. Over four decades, that license gave rise to classes on a wide range of subjects—The Vietnam War, The ‘60s, Medieval and Russian History, The Cold War, Utopia, Reel History, The Second World War, Greek and Roman History, The History of the Constitution and the Supreme Court, Meet the Beatles, The Civil Rights Movement and the like. One prospective course I flirted with but never found opportunity to offer involved the body of literature written by people in jail. Prison literature, but with a more humorous course title than that to attract student interest. (As evidenced above).