For the 2011 holiday season, “Asked on the Line” conducted 50 random informal interviews with men in blue and teachers of the Prison University Project (PUP): If you could go back and repeat any winter holiday season, how old are you again? Who are you with? Where are you?
Many laughed and smiled as they reminisced—one was brought to tears.
For mainliners, 44 percent would relive a holiday season in childhood (12 or younger), 37 percent during adulthood (18+), and 19 percent in adolescence (13-17).
About 44 percent of the men said they are with “family” again. Their responses of who they would relive a holiday season with, in rank order are: 1. family, 2. parents, 3. children, 4. wife, and 5. siblings.
The number one place the men would be at is “home,” followed by a relative’s house or church. Home ranged from cities across the U.S. to that of countries like Haiti and Belize.
Lavelt would relive the holiday season when he was 12 with his family in Haiti. Ke Lam would be 6 again, and celebrate the holidays with his family in Novato. Eli would go back to when he was 20 to join his father and brother at Candlestick Park. “We went to see the Redemption Game between the 49ers and the Packers!”
Among PUP teachers, 70 percent would relive a holiday season during their childhood years, 17 percent as young adults, and 13 percent as adolescents. Also, 57 percent would relive the holiday with their parents, followed in order by siblings, family, friends, and grandparents.
From Kalamazoo, Mich. to Vieques, Puerto Rico, 61 percent would relive the holiday at “home,” followed by a relative’s house or friend’s house.
Vlad would be 6 again, with his father, picking out a Christmas tree. Frank and Albert would be 10 and 14 again with their respective families in Taiwan, and Diana would be 14 again and spend the holidays with her family in Jerusalem.
Joe would relive the holidays with his family in San Francisco when he was 8: “Grandma had given us a wagon to play with and we were drinking Coca-Colas. I was laughing so much that some of it came out of my nose! It was a really happy night.”
