Everyday…EVERYDAY!!!

By Louis Perez

I woke up at 3:30 a.m. to have my breakfast.  You may be thinking, ”Why in the world does this man get up at 3:30 a.m. to eat breakfast?” Well, I´ll tell you, I´m hungry.  Today I had some scrambled eggs, biscuits, grits and pears. I have to tell you, it was really good.

Once I finished eating, I washed up, did some laundry that had piled up, swept my floor and then mopped. I then had my work-out, which really isn´t much, but it makes me feel good.  So now it´s like 5:00.

I haven´t seen my father in some time now, so I sit and write him a letter. I´m listening to my radio (I don´t own a T.V.) and there is some really good smooth Jazz on right now.  This doesn´t take me long, so I go ahead and write a few more letters to some friends that I haven´t heard from in some time either.  I don´t feel like going out today, so I´m staying in. I started this painting a few days ago, so I pull it out, mix my paints, and go to work on it, what with the nice music and the piece I´m working on, it’s like I´m not even here, but somewhere beautiful, clean and nice. I look up and notice that I´ve been sitting here for a few hours painting (I don´t have a job, so this allows me to do what I want right now).  It is now 11:30 a.m. and for some reason, I am hungry again! I have this piece of fried fish. I love to cook, so I break this piece of fish up into pieces add some tuna, diced pickles diced jalapeños, some pickled sandwich spread, salt-n-pepper, a dash of garlic, and some left-over scrambled eggs. I don´t have any bread (I haven´t had any in years), so I ate my tuna salad with Ritz Crackers and I´m here to tell ´ya…it was good! Well, after cleaning up, I wanted to allow the paint to dry on the art piece I´m working on, so I decide to do a little reading.

I know none of you know this, but I read anything I can get my hands on.  I just love to read, and right now I´m reading The Power Trip by Jackie Collins. She has some really good stuff. I remember the very first time I read a book like this. My tía Hilda was sending me all these romance novels by all sorts of authors and was like: “What in the hell is she thinking sending me this trash?!!!?? But as it turns out, I love them! After an hour or so, I can hear the art piece calling me as if saying: “HEY!!! I’M DRY NOW. COME ON AND GET BACK TO WORK!!” You ask any artist and they will tell you they too have heard this! 

So, I put my book away and get back to work. I have a lot on my mind these days and don´t even notice the work I´m doing on this piece, but I am somehow getting it done and it´s really nice. My family is forever on my mind, as are my friends, but what registers most is what is going on around me. I hear yelling, fighting, slamming doors, arguing. I put my headphones on to drown out all the noise and I keep painting.

I have to stop again to allow my paint to dry. You see, I can´t afford to buy good quality materials, so I have to make my own paints and I do this by putting 4 color pencils into a water bottle and adding hot water into the bottle and let that sit for an hour or so. Color pencils are made by gluing two halves together with the colored waxed chalk in between them. Soaking them in hot water allows me to pull the pencils apart to dig out the color. This is what I use to melt down with more hot water to make my paints. I do this with the whole color box which allows me to have 12 different colors.

This is what I do while waiting for the paint to dry.

It is now 2:30 p.m. I am a little tired of painting, so I pull out my Scrabble Board and yell out a Challenge and find one. I play 3 games of Scrabble (losing every one) This takes a couple of hours and, believe it or not, I´m hungry again! 

I decide to have some Roast Beef Enchiladas, so I get to work to making them, and yes, they too are very, very good!

5:00 p.m. now and the news is coming on. I listen to NPR news every day, and also to Amy Goodwin. Both are very informative. There is a lot going on out there and sometimes I just sit here in awe of how all of you deal with so much crap and hate.

6:30 p.m. is here and I take my shower. This makes me sleepy, so I doze off for about an hour or so.  I get up and go see if there is any mail for me and there is, so I go through it right away.  I answer them all, which is the highlight of my day. It feels really good to hear from my family and friends.

I listen to this radio station KPFT. Every hour they have different programs, which is great because they play music that you don´t hear on regular radio.  Any of you out there can pick it up too. Just go online to KPFT.org and you can find any of the programs they have anytime of the day. My favorite?? “Latino Jazz” with Juan Flores. He runs a really good show. And then there is “Into the Darkness.” This is really, really good. They play music from the 60´s to present day. Good stuff. Check it out some time.

Well, it´s getting late now (well, at least for me), so I shut everything down for the day, I clean up again, I have my fan on and it is nice and dry. I make my bed. I lay and say my prayers (of course, all of you are in them), and I turn in.

It´s been such a long time since my last entry. How have all of you been doing??? I hope and pray that all is well with you and that my little letter finds you all in the highest of spirits. As for myself, well, I´m still as cool as Polar Bear Toenails!!! 2018, September, will be my 21st year on Death Row.  

A lot has happened in that time, my friends, but one of the most exciting and wonderful things happened not a month ago. My friend – and yours – Thomas Whitaker, walked out of this place alive. By the grace of God, he walked out of here. As the old saying goes, eh: “Stuff happens!!” And I was soooo happy that it happened to him!! If any of you reach out to him, please tell him that ole Big Lou loves him, o.k.? Gracias.

Thank all of you for sitting here with me for a little while to read this.  I could tell you all how awful, nasty, stinky, gross, ugly this place is, but you´ve heard that so many times, eh? I´d rather tell you about “MY DAY”!! I´m still too blessed to be stressed, so there is no need for me to bad mouth things  I have no control over, eh? 

I hope you all take care of yourselves and are blessed.  

I leave you as I came…

Humbled and blessed

Siempre, Big Lou