The space journey continues—I’ve transferred from one ship to another. Or rather, greetings to everyone from a maximum-security penal colony. Yesterday I was transferred to IK-6 “Melekhovo” (Penal Colony No. 6). I’m in quarantine, so there isn’t much to tell yet. Just two fresh impressions: cultural life and lawless absurdity. On cultural life: I nearly lost my mind hauling the books I have stored in the prison property room into and out of the prison transport van. And the prison staff nearly lost theirs while inventorying them. This despite the fact that, anticipating exactly this situation, a month ago I had a hard time persuading the administration to take 50 of my books for the prison library. To be honest, yesterday, for the first time in my life, I was carrying those sacks and thinking that a bonfire of books isn’t necessarily always a bad thing. On the lawless absurdity: in quarantine there’s a notice listing the trades you can learn here and how long the training takes. So, to become, like me, a seamstress—that elite of the working class, instantly able to tell a plain seam from a flat-felled one—you need 3 months. And just imagine: those who choose the profession of “poultry carcass deboner” also study for 3 months! So in that sense they’re considered our equals, we seamstresses. What, exactly, is there to study for 3 months?! Are they deboning those carcasses studded with rhinestones or something? Deeply outraged. Otherwise, though, everything is okay so far. Hello to everyone, hugs to all, eat your poultry unbreaded 😉