From December 3rd, 2019 until April 26, 2022, I was in Federal Prison in Canada. The story of how I ended up there is well documented, but what I saw during my time inside inspired me to write about it. What follows was written during my last 365 days in jail, typed out on an old computer in the shared neighbourhood space. I posted these as a newsletter service called Revue, which Elon shut down upon purchasing Twitter. Enjoy! 1: Toronto South Detention CenterI thought the worst of it was ove...

From December 3rd, 2019 until April 26, 2022, I was in Federal Prison in Canada. The story of how I ended up there is well documented, but what I saw during my time inside inspired me to write about it. What follows was written during my last 365 days in jail, typed out on an old computer in the shared neighbourhood space. I posted these as a newsletter service called Revue, which Elon shut down upon purchasing Twitter. Enjoy! 1: Toronto South Detention CenterI thought the worst of it was ove...

It’s odd to feel nostalgic for anything that happened after 9/11, but 2011 was a simpler time. For me, it marked the first year I’d moved into a Toronto condo after finishing University and getting a job in the sleepy suburb of North York. I lived in a one bedroom at Yonge and Finch for $1,000 a month, and spent any free time I had looking for an excuse to hop on the subway and go into the city. Toronto in 2011 was best known for exporting actors like Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling to Hollyw...

It’s odd to feel nostalgic for anything that happened after 9/11, but 2011 was a simpler time. For me, it marked the first year I’d moved into a Toronto condo after finishing University and getting a job in the sleepy suburb of North York. I lived in a one bedroom at Yonge and Finch for $1,000 a month, and spent any free time I had looking for an excuse to hop on the subway and go into the city. Toronto in 2011 was best known for exporting actors like Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling to Hollyw...

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Growing up as a kid in the 00’s, I had few positive male role models in my life. My mother and I had moved to Canada from Kiev, Ukraine and settled in the Toronto neighborhood of Victoria Park. We eventually ended up in the town of Barrie in Northern Ontario because the housing market in those times meant you could see significant returns just by waiting a few years and then moving to the next town up north. Barrie is where I went to high school, and it was during these years, fresh on the ot...

Growing up as a kid in the 00’s, I had few positive male role models in my life. My mother and I had moved to Canada from Kiev, Ukraine and settled in the Toronto neighborhood of Victoria Park. We eventually ended up in the town of Barrie in Northern Ontario because the housing market in those times meant you could see significant returns just by waiting a few years and then moving to the next town up north. Barrie is where I went to high school, and it was during these years, fresh on the ot...

Going to jail in Canada is not a dangerous activity. It’s easy for Canadians who consume American content to be ignorant of this, since there is no cultural output that properly describes the experience of being in a Canadian prison. On HBO’s hit show “Succession” the character Tom Wambsgans tries desperately to be sent to a federal facility whose luxuries (“sturdy bunks” and “kosher vending machines”) would be suited to a maximum security prison in Canada. Canadian federal inmates at Medium ...

Going to jail in Canada is not a dangerous activity. It’s easy for Canadians who consume American content to be ignorant of this, since there is no cultural output that properly describes the experience of being in a Canadian prison. On HBO’s hit show “Succession” the character Tom Wambsgans tries desperately to be sent to a federal facility whose luxuries (“sturdy bunks” and “kosher vending machines”) would be suited to a maximum security prison in Canada. Canadian federal inmates at Medium ...

The first rap album that I saw under the "New Releases" section of Spotify when I got home from jail was Future's 'I Never Liked You' which felt like a fitting and symbolic way to wrap up my life of crime. I had become enthralled with the rapper's music in my 20s, focusing on how he glamorized drug dealing and trafficking, taking his music a little too literally. The immediate standout from the album was "Chickens," the twinkling hightempo cut that described drug dealing o...

The first rap album that I saw under the "New Releases" section of Spotify when I got home from jail was Future's 'I Never Liked You' which felt like a fitting and symbolic way to wrap up my life of crime. I had become enthralled with the rapper's music in my 20s, focusing on how he glamorized drug dealing and trafficking, taking his music a little too literally. The immediate standout from the album was "Chickens," the twinkling hightempo cut that described drug dealing o...