Introduction, Joshua Graves

       Hello my name is Joshua Graves introducing myself to the class in this blog thing we are doing. Some of you may remember the fact that I have a very large family on my mothers side and almost all of them live in Ohio. I tend to be rather good at writing about anything that is not myself so any writing that I need to give details about my life tend to be rather forced and short so bear with me. Other than that I feel like this will be a good year and I am looking forward to using the blog again.

       In regards to the poem I wrote, its bad and I really mean that, one of the most forced works I have done in a long time. It consisted of me sitting in front of the computer for a hour and trying as hard as I could to come up with something to put down. I had to wring my brain in order to get the little amount of poem that is on the paper now so don't expect any more than that. If you think I am kidding then just read the thing although there are far better uses for your time if you want my opinion.

Joshua Graves

English 2367 2:19 PM

Mike Lohre

January 9, 2013

Poem for a Friend

My friend Kenny and I had a lot of fun together in the development where we lived

We would spend hours just doing whatever we wanted

Not a care in the world when we were both just kids

He had extremely blond hair, so much so that it was almost white

He was a really athletic kid too and always managed to run faster than me

You wouldn’t be able to tell by looking at him either he was so skinny

As with all things however it ended

One day his family had to move away and he would be leaving

His father got a job offer in another city and they had to move

The last time I saw him is the day we said goodbye to each other

I don’t know where he is now or what he is doing

We also did not make any attempts to contact one another

Due to the fact that we were not friends very long

But he was a great friend and I won’t forget him any time soon

         Out of all the profiles I have read so far I have to say that I find the Moreese Bickham entry to be the most interesting to me personally. The idea that these men have been in prison for so long for crimes that were not even really crimes is baffling to me. He was sent to prison for defending himself against two officers who tried to kill him and his wife when he called them for help. The book even says that the trial transcript is and "eerie read" because it seemed to help Bickham. This and the fact that the current Governor seemed to just ignore the problem of Bickham and similar men still sitting in prison, as did those in the past.

"The prosecution's case against Bickham only seems to bolster his claims of self-defense. It seems that in pre- civil rights Louisiana, self-defense was not an acceptable claim for a black man accused of killing two white law enforcement officers."