The Professors who teach for Hudson Link/Mercy College, at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, are HUMANITARIANLY BEAUTIFUL people. I never had the pleasure of being taught by Mrs. Skouzen, the English Professor, or Mr. Skouzen, the Economic’s Professor (I hope I’m not butchering the spelling of their name); Mrs. Skouzen is a TRIPLE THREAT: BODY, BEAUTY, & BRAINS! You hate to see her leaving, but you love watching her walk away. The song “Men All Pause (when I walk into the room), by Klymaxx comes to mind when you see her; but, in our case, we LOVE to see her write on the chalkboard 🙂 . Truthfully, I don’t know how they’re are able to concentrate in her class; it’s pure torcher. In the words of Brooklyn hip hop artist Fabolous: She gotta donkey wit her…Juan Valdez! Sorry about that, but I’m a man first and a student second. Her Husband puts you in the mind of Crocodile Dundee; he looks Australian. They’re MILLIONAIRES; and they come into the prison, twice every week, for no other reason than they care. They know we’re not all lost causes. Most of us just didn’t have the same opportunities as our counter parts, but we’ve proven on several occasions, that if given an opportunity, we would and could surpass our collegiate contemporaries.
A lot of the Professors tell us, “These are some of the most well written papers I’ve read; they’re WAAAAY better than my student’s on campus!” We use to think they were pissing on our heads and telling us it was raining; we thought they were just trying to encourage us, because some students will get discouraged. They would say, “I believe it’s because of your ages, experiences, and the shot at redemption. You guys know how important an education is. You guys know what’s likely to happen if you choose the wrong path first hand.” That’s when I started taking things serious, and I stepped up my studying and writing abilities.
We had a WONDERFUL, HEARTWARMING, KIND, AND GENTLE woman named Ms./Mrs. Gahboshy (I know I chopped up her name, it LOOKS like it’s spelled correctly, but I doubt it), that was our Math 105, 115, and 116 Professor and her daughter, same last name, was our Political Science 101 Professor. The Mother has been the Math Professor ever since they started the Hudson Link/Mercy College Program. She made an honest mistake, and left her phone in her bag and they made a big fuss about it. She went H.A.M. on their asses! They tried to treat her like a criminal, like she was trying to smuggle the phone in to give it to someone. She basically told the C.O.’s to kiss her ass! She quit right then and there on the spot; her daughter quit as well. You would’ve believed Mrs. Gahboshy was enlisted in one of the branches of our Armed Forces (she just might have been at one point). She embodies the aphorism “Leave No Man Behind!” I never had the pleasure of being in one of her classes, but I was taught by her daughter, in Political Science 101. Everyone knows of Mrs. Ghaboshy’s reputation; in her class, you were GOING TO LEARN MATH before the semester was over.
Ghaboshy would place the students who were proficient with the students who were struggling. It’s strickly “EACH ONE, TEACH ONE” in her classes! Along with the midterm and final tests, she expects a 5 page paper on math. Before the phone incident, she was suppose to be my Math Professor in 115 the next semester, so I had already started writing my term paper. I thought it was going to be hard writing a paper strictly about math, but it came quite easily for me; if I remember correctly, I went “Other Worldly, Extraterrestrial” with the paper. We were assigned another Math Teacher, from Wall Street, I can’t remember his name, sorry, but we had him for 115 & 116. He didn’t require a paper for his class, but I asked him if I could write a Math paper for extra credit, and he obliged. I didn’t have to turn the paper in for the 115 course, because it was relatively easy for me, once I remembered it, but I can’t say that for Math 116. I knew I was going to need it for my 116 class, so I turned the paper in a week before our final test. He loved the paper; I earned a “B” in both of my MATH classes. I accepted those two “B’s” with a smile on my face.
Mr. Pica, who taught us Criminal Justice. He’s a retired NYPD Police Officer, and uncle to Sean Pica, the main “Spokesman/Fundraiser” for Hudson Link/Mercy College. He’s seen a lot of things, in all of his years, as an NYPD Police Officer. He gave us total freedom to choose our own topic(s) for our Term Papers, as long as it dealt with the subject at hand. I’m a go against the “ESTABLISHMENT” type of student, so I mostly write what one would call C.O.N.spiracy (In Living Color) papers when we are allowed the freedom to pick our own topic. I wrote one for Political Science, which was about the Sandy Hook School Shooting, in Connecticut, and the Boston Marathon Bombing, and another one for Criminal Justice. The one for Criminal Justice was about the 9/11 attacks. Boy, did I go in! He had no choice but to give me an “A”. You know what…I have to get my papers from my brother, because I don’t want him to lose my collegiate MASTERPIECES. I swear, I surprised myself on several occations. I really wanted the world to read them and give me some type of feed back.
I want to apologize to the readers. I’ve been out of commission and bed ridden for the past week, due to a bad cold. But, as the saying goes…Shit Happens. I’m running out of space, so I’ll continue this in part IX. Until next time, I can be reached via JPay; go to your app store, on your mobile device, and search for JPay. Once located, type in Jeffrey Tobias A704109, Richland Correctional Institution, or just go old school and write me at P.O. Box 8107, Mansfield, Ohio 44901.

Sincerely yours,

Jeffrey Tobias
DOC #A704109