Jamel Stevens

Kites That Flew Jamel Stevens

"Kites That Flew" was an accident book that just happened to materialize due to circumstance, happenstance, and my educational journey while living in the subculture of a prison society. I had to survive...mentally and physically. Deprived of my freedom and bombarded by negativity in a hostile environment, I had to assimilate into the cultural norms; despite the culture shock of entering a foreign habitat. I had to learn the vocabulary, lingo, and how to think while subjected to a world of masculinity where egos are constantly tested and fired. Economics and street smarts allowed me to thrive in a cashless society. Through my years of grinding, hustling, and getting paid thru cash apps, I enrolled in many educational programs and eventually went to college. Hustling and going to college...college, and then hustling.....

When anyone is in prison, you will eventually receive kites. A kite in prison is a note written from one person to the next. So, one day after attending a Columbia University College course (Cultural Anthropology, ) I came back to my cell and forgot to throw away the kites that had accumulated before. As I was about to flush them down the toilet, I caught a flash back from my Cultural Anthropology class. I remembered how we studied how anthropologists and ethnographers would study people in a culture or subculture; so, I decided to compose "Kites That Flew."

As an anthropologist, I'm studying the sample(people) and as an ethnographer, I am taking notes, and commenting on the sample. I wrote this so that my readers can view the many occasions that I've encountered with some of the very people that live/work within their neighborhoods, and what they go through while in prison.
show more