Intro: Baca has spent another month in solitary, having meditated frequently on his past. What follows is his first genuine act of resistance.

1. The Narrative Set Up

1. Reclassification

1. Hope: Baca’s was led to believe he could attend school and attain his GED if he didn’t "cause" trouble.
2. Betrayal: the committee (esp. counselor) denied his request.

1. Baca’s Response: he sat there when dismissed

1. Expectation: he was supposed to go along with protocol
2. Deeply Stunned: something inside refused to accept their judgment

1. Initial Resistance:

1. Consciousness: no clear awareness or understanding of what compelled him to refuse to go along with the rules.
2. Forms of Resistance: the Chair, Work Absence, Write Ups, Turned Back on Roll Call
3. Meanings

1. Failed Expectations: the rules of the various systems Baca inhabited (State prison, convict codes) were not satisfied ("It wasn’t courage or defiance." p.163), i.e. simply put, the systems were not functioning as they should –to control behavior. (c.f. the chair, refusal to work, refusal to socialize)
2. Representations: Certain symbols represent power and authority over a prisoner –they were ignored, c.f. leaving the write up slips on the bars.
3. Acknowledgment: turning his back on the guards who called out roll = refusing to acknowledge them as an authority. "Fuck you liar." & turning back on counselor = loss of legitimacy. (c.f. "solid cons" = retain some of his respect).

1. Autonomous Resistance: struggle for self-determination

1. Power: autonomy is about having control over one’s life –"But the simple truth was, from the warden on down to the guards, they had the power of life and death over me. And I truly thought they were going to keep me in prison forever." p. 163
2. Self-determination: Power doesn’t just destroy –it creates, it molds, shapes and determines the aspects of our lives that reside in the spaces between life and death. "Regardless of what little my life meant in the larger scheme of things, at least for the moment it was mine and not the warden’s…It didn’t belong to the state, the judge, the guards, or the cons either. They’d told me all my life what to do, and I had obeyed. But I couldn’t take it anymore." p.166

1. Emerging Authenticity

1. Loss of a familiar Life/Way: friends and greater community that give meaning to one’s Way abandon or are abandoned, a necessary step for building an authentic Way –"Stripped of everything I believed in –pride, friends, my reputation for being a solid con were all gone now –I felt as if I was on the verge of discovering something beyond what I know about myself in the world." p.168
2. The Mind Fights Back

1. The Way of the Heart: survival of the human animal, regard for greater context that defines one’s life is minimal.
2. The Way of the Mind: survival of one’s humanity –self-respect is key, "I might have lost the respect of my peers, but I was feeling a sense of my own worth that I had never felt before…I was [not] going to submit to degradation. Something had altered in me. I felt tremendous pride in having taken this one little step." p. 168

1. Options: altered expectations of what to do

1. Strike back: react –lash out (without clearly asserting one’s right), assert one’s might
2. Protest: act –denounce, call out, assert one’s presence and rights