CJ Lagman
The Birdman of Alcatraz, Robert Stroud, a convicted felon for manslaughter then murder, defiant in all means while in jail. His conviction for the first was in Alaska, somewhere, can't remember but this was not his first offense. Stroud run his turf working with the women of the street...you know. He went straight to the police right after gunning down this bartender for not being square with the hooker pay...I'll put it like that. He didn't get life for this, but on his murder , he should have been hanged if not for his mother's appeal to then U.S. President Woodrow Wilson and his conviction was reduced to life.
Stroud's defining life was behind bars, because there's nothing prior to his incarceration. He was a runaway with no formal education. Anyway, he became an expert in Avian Studies, it's disease and medicine. Self-studied and later found that his IQ was above average, he was gifted with exceptional intelligence. With what he earned, people in high places look-up on him as the lead for the Avian Studies, and others tried to secure his parole with the condition that he will further his studies to human application. Stroud was close to playing the system as what he believed in. He wrote a couple of books that were published right after the second world war, and almost never happened because it was controversial back then, got something to do with the Penal system, anyway that's another story. His life with his mother was something to look at too, and his strange wife, but that's another story too...LOL. Strouds total time in jail was at least 50 years and I know he reached his 70+yrs of age upon his passing of natural cause in a Medical Center in Missouri. The guy was a genius, but his upbringing was not, thanks to his abusive Father.
Defiant knowing the system doesn't work both ways, having faith to redeem himself for what was gained but still can't help enough to know more of what should have been learned being in isolation. Look-up on by many as their mentor, because of what was earned, but still ended up as a failure. Thought he knows enough to set him free, but not enough. Far no different for our current time . A Novel Virus up and rising ...Life of the Birdman.
"I pay my dues and by far not a criminal yet I am living in isolation. That’s Life within the system of a Pandemic. Darkest days of my generation."
-CJ Lagman
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