Outside Reading Blog Post #1

For my outside reading assignment I chose to read Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman. This book is a memoir about Piper's experience from her early 20s to when she was sent to federal prison for transporting drug money a decade before her case. During the first chapter of the book it talks about everything she was involved with after her college life and how she got involved with the things she got involved with. In the second chapter she talks about how her life had changed instantly from this trial, she was on the right life track but her past caught up with her. The third chapter really talks about the transition she made from real life into the prison. What I found the most interesting from chapter four is that when she talked about how during her transition from a "newbie" to just a regular prisoner, she talked about how there were different "tribes" of women that took care of the women. They mostly were racially bias unless the people from the prison were just sincerely that kind. I was shocked to see how much racial bias still plays effect into the real world. I wasn't oblivious to the bias before I just didn't think that in a place where everyone is going through a tough time and they're all kind of in the same situation, that there would be so much racial bias. This book really intrigued me because it talks about how she was charged with her crime a decade after she did the crime. On the back of the book there are review quotes and one that stuck out to me from the L.A. Times was, "This book is impossible to put down because [Kerman] could be you. Or your best friend. Or your daughter." This quote made me think about how easily it could be you or someone that you know. Relating this quote to Kerman's situation made me realize how many people think that they're invincible and they're not. Kids around here think that they can get away with anything they want and by only reading four chapters of this book, I've realized how untrue that is. Kerman had just graduated college when she committed the crime and she probably thought that she would never get caught but with something that big, there is no way that her crime would be able to be a secret. I'm not trying to "hate" on the kids around here but there are some people that think they can get away with anything and I think that this book would be very helpful for them to read because it shows that if they make that one bad choice when they're kids, it could effect their life when they are adults.