Hello, Birdfeed. This is Dan Thorne, podcast editor for the Current Affairs podcast, and I just wanted to let

you know that the conversation you're about to hear between Pete Davis and John J. Lennon was recorded in

early February of 2020, before recent developments with either the coronavirus crisis or the 2020

presidential election. So while some of the references

may not be quite as topical, it's still a fascinating conversation, and I hope you enjoy

listening. Thank you. Hello, current affairs listeners. It's your host, Pete Davis here. Every

podcast we do usually starts with. We have a very special episode with a very

special guest, so I bet you don't believe me anymore when I say this. But this time,

I actually meet on this show. We talk a lot about political issues and institutions and policies

and ideas. But a lot of it is just that. It's talk from folks that

live a bit at a distance from the realities about what we're speaking of. But our guest today,

John Jay Lennon, who I have here on the phone, is right there in the center of one of these

institutions we often talk about. He's in prison.

He is specifically in Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Austin, New York, and he's been there

over a decade and has about a decade of more time in there. And I wanted to have him on the show,

not just because he's my friend, but also because he's a tremendously eloquent writer on what it's like to be in prison. He's written for Esquire,

The New York Times, Men's Health, The Washington Post, the Marshall Project. And he's coming

on now specifically because he's promoting his newest podcast. This is a collect call from Sing

Sing. And you can read more about

him at John J.Lennon.org or on Twitter at John J. Lennon 1. And we're so glad to have him on.

John, hello. Hi, Pete. Thanks for having me. Glad to have you here. Why don't we get started right

from the beginning? Tell us a bit about your story. You're probably the nation's most

...