Posted on: December 10, 2007 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

American Dream: Free Enterprise / :10 / 28M / http://www.prisonerlife.com / Seth M. Ferranti, 18205-083 Box 420 B-left, FCI Fairton NJ 08640 /

This is an very interesting way of telling a story. Where one starts off the piece as Seth sets up eir own story, the action jumps back and forth between what had happened in the events leading up to eir arrest and the real life of Seth’s life behind bars. In this, the style is reminiscent of Assata Shakur’s own biography, and the style works just as well as it did in this zine as it does in eir biography. The distancing of the two lives that Seth has (the one riding high before eir arrest, and the cold, drab life in prison) from each other really shows how far an individual can fall. American Dream is NOT a “scared straight” documentary, it is NOT a repentance for what Seth has done. The title alone shows that Seth, while ey did admittedly make some stupid mistakes ey was just a businessperson in the capitalist sense. In fact, this zine seems to be about the unfairness of the prison system, especially shown during the opening page of the zine. Seth says that “The overwhelming attitude is lock them up and throw away the key. If this trend continues, one day you might either work in a prison or reside in one.” Perhaps I am misconstruing it, but the hell that Seth has been put through should be a fire under each and every person that has worked in positions that would be “grey” or even outright illegal. It is simply unfair to allow certain people to enjoy tremendous profits while locking up individuals who are eking out a living selling smoke or bootleg CDs. Seth’s in prison until 2018, so get out your pens and right eir a letter of support.

Rating: 6.9/10

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