Letter from Andy Stepanian and Malik Lamarr

author: Support Andy!

Letter from Andy Stepanian and Malik Lamarr as Andy's Birthday 
approaches (August 8th!). Please help fulfill their wishlists! 
Malik's wishlist can be found at  http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/
wishlist/17RX31S9HAETM/

Andy's wishlist is at  http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/
1H7ARVHMZ78KG/

————————————————————————————————————————————

Dear Friends,

Here in prison, every day is filled with its ups and down, some more 
up than the day previous, some so down that you wonder if you can 
possibly tolerate another... I can think of days where I saw a 
magnificent sunset and felt my slate washed clean, feeling that 
despite my current living arrangement I am alive and part of 
something beautiful. I get that feeling when I think of our movement 
and its momentum, how despite their efforts to squash the momentum, 
HLS has encumbered $100 million dollars of new debt, I get that 
feeling when I receive a letter at mail call, read a moving piece of 
literature, or see my partner's smiling face as I walk in to the 
jail's visiting room. Her smiling face always heals me, and lifts me 
up out of the murk of my current situation.

Every day is full of these moments, and I have made it sort of a 
routine to not let myself drown in this murk, but to keep an eye open
 for these moments often in plain sight and always be thankful for 
them. A good friend of mine from Austin used to walk around eyes 
always scanning between those she was walking with and the grass 
below her feet, she'd literatly pause kneel down and hand us four 
leafed clovers. I think I have only found one in my life as a little 
kid and it was a really big deal, she however hands them out like 
business cards. When I asked her how she does it she relied with "you
 just got to look". I thought to myself...

"The political education and empowerment of the masses is now 
recognized as a historical necessity. Progressive, organized 
guidance, inspired by effective leadership place in the hands of the 
masses is key! It's key to reconstruct a social reality that is 
better suited to provide for and preserve our political, social, 
educational, and environmental needs. An informed masses equals 
effective leadership from those masses. Without either of these all 
that is producaed is a carnival and circus of emotional outbursts and
 powerful yet impotent speeches. The deconstruction of our liberties
 and environment may be caused by a few, but the reclaiming and 
rebuilding is the responsibility of us all."

When I heard this in the prison law library my ears perked up, and I 
discovered my first four leafed clover on the compound, this time 
without the help of Ms. Austin. Malik was a brother who expressed 
concern for the lack of social consciousness on the compound, and a 
growing trend of self appointed apathy amidst not only prisoners but 
everyone. This would be the first time I got to talk to brother Malik
 and I realized that day that meeting him could very well have been 
one of those moments that turn a bad day good. In the days and months
 that followed I thought to myself . "I'm glad I was looking."

I firmly believe that all prisonsers are "Political Prisoners," 
because it is policy that shapes and governs our prisons, decided who
 goes to them and under what pretext, drafts the predicate laws to 
supply a prison with population, and it's policy like the 13th 
amendment to our constitution that determines that slavery is illegal
 except within these walls. Although I could rant for miles on the 
prison industrial complex, and produce a politically charged run-on 
sentence big enough to fill the yellow pages volumes 1-8, I stick 
with saying all prisoners are political and hence we should view them
 as such. Now, even though all prisoners are "political" prisoners, 
not every prisoner is a "conscious" prisoner. Brother Malik is indeed
 just that; conscious. Moreover, brother Malik is one of those 
diamonds in the rough, breaths of fresh air, flowers tha crack 
through dark seas of pavement.

It seems like folks have been joking around here about my upcoming 
birthday, August 8th. The say things like, "hey veggie boy whacha 
want for your birthday?" or "we were gonna make you one of our cheese
 cakes but we couldn't figure out how to make it our of dirt." I
laugh  along patiently, but it seems like a lot of the folks who
write me  ask me what they can send me for my birthday. I thought to
myself and  turned up nothing, until I saw brother Malik flipping
through the  pakes of the AK press cataloque. I thought one thing
that prison has  taken away from me has been my ability to give and
share with the  people that I care about. I thought we could share
some  consciousness, so I'm awsking all of my supporter to please try
to  fulfill this book with list for brother Malik and I. We are
asking  that you send Malik's wish list to Malik's address at the
prison, and  mine to my own. We do so because there are limits
imposed by the  prison on how many books we can receive at once. We
also emphasize  that hey be sent from a major publisher/distributor
like Amazon.com  or BarnesandNobel.com and not from one of the
smaller publilshers we  all know and love. So this year's birthday I
am going to politely  decline all of your offers for
"file-in-vegan-chocolate-cake" and  instead ask for what I would like
to have back most next to my  freedom, my ability to share with the
people I car about.

This is Malik's book wish list. Please fulfill his list first and 
then mine. The books can be mailed to Malik's address below. Form the
 bottom of our hearts Malik and I think you!

[http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/17RX31S9HAETM/]

Malik Lamarr #04099-084
FCI Butner Medium II
Federal Correctional Institution
PO Box 1500
Butner, NC 27509
USA


Healing the Errors of Living by Ra Un Nefer Amen, isbn#1877662-11-9
I write what I like by Stephen Biko
The Wisdom of Mao by Mao tse-Tung
African Psychology: Towards it's Reclamations,Reascension and
Revitalization by Wade Nobles
Steve Biko: Black Consciousness in South Africa by Stephen Biko
Stokely Speaks by Stokely Carmichael
Blueprint for Blackpower: A moral, political & economic Imperitive 
for the 21st Century by Amos Wilson
Beyond Black and White: Rethinking Race in America by M. Marable
How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America by M. Marable
The Complete Idiots Guide to Grammar & Style, isbn#1592571158
Tree of Life Meditation Systemu by Ra Un Nefer Amen, isbn#18877662-07-0
This is my book wishlist. Most of it is for my own personal research,
 although Foier and the Godzilla stuff is pure entertainment. Again,
I  think you from the bottom of my heart!

Andy Stepanian #26399-050
FCI Butner Medium II
Federal Correctional Institution
PO Box 1500
Butner, NC 27509
USA

[http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/1H7ARVHMZ78KG/ ]

Beneath the Paving Stones: Situationist oand the Beach, May 68 by The
 Dark Star Collective
Blood in My Eye by George Jackson
The Dead Emcee Scrolls by Saul Williams
Forbidden Fruit: Lover Stories From the Underground Railroad by Bey  Deramus
Conspiracy in the Streets: The Extraordinary Trial of the Chicago 
Eight by Jon Weiner
The Gruesome Acts of Capitalism by David Lester
Days of War Nights of Love by CrimethInc Ex-Workers Collective
Vegan: The New Ethics of Eating by Eric Marcus
Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foier
Situationist International Anthology by Ken Knabb

I would also like to receive books on the Exxon Valdez spill in 
Alaska, any pictorial accounts and historic accounts, dates numbers 
etc. lastly I would love it if people can find any books on the 
history of Godzilla, yes Godzilla, the making of Godzilla movies, the
 eco-feminist theories associated with the story of Godzilla and
books  with cool photos of Godzilla. (I'm not sure if that qualifies
as  "conscious" material, but hey I will be pleasantly surprised to
open  a package of Godzilla related materials.)

Love and Liberation,

Andy Stepanian and Malik Lamarr