April was a fairly static month for me. No great revelations or opportunities came my way and I never ventured out very far from home. I may have only used two tanks of gas all month.

That said, the most interesting article I read was “Inside America’s Toughest Federal Prison” in the New York Times Magazine. The article is about deplorable conditions within the ADX Supermax Prison in Florence, Colorado (located only about 100 miles from where I live) where inmates are kept so secluded that they are at times unsure they still exist and cause themselves gruesome bodily harm because their psychiatric state is so tortured. Prison reform is one of those great conundrums that face our country, like the problems with education, environmental protection, and inequality, where there’s no solution in sight.

I went on a lot of long walks, and even hurt my foot going over 20 miles in one day. I’m very lucky to live in a large picturesque neighborhood with a lot of shady sidewalks.

I read books about North American geology, how to live a creative life, struggled with comprehending electromagnetism, the parting wisdom of historian Will Durant (1885-1981), and the propaganda theories of Edward Bernays.

Via Amazon Prime, I watched much of the American Experience: New York City series. I’d never before appreciated the city’s rich history, from the building of the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge to the Draft Day Riots and the MASSIVE influx of immigrants a hundred years ago (well over a million people in just a few years!).

Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed Tom Hardy’s last couple of movies, namely Locke and The Drop. That man is a phenomenal actor who chooses good scripts.