Guest Storyteller Charlie Bell Shares His Literature of Incarceration
It is one thing to read about incarceration experiences written by authors who are distant and detached from students at boarding school, but there is a different level of understanding of the experience when it is recounted by the author first hand, especially when that author is the parent of your classmate. Such was the case this week when Charlie Bell, parent of Eliza Lindsay '20, visited as a special guest speaker in Mrs. Goodwin's Literature and Incarceration class. To set the record straight, Bell spent the night in a jail cell voluntarily, but his account and details of the experience painted a picture of the reality of incarceration.
As a salesman for IBM in the 70's, Charlie Bell had a life-altering epiphany one day. While he waited for the train, he pondered what might happen if he didn’t go to work that day, and he decided to find out. The result was a journey that changed the trajectory of Bell's life. As an avid reader, writer, and marathon runner, Bell decided to plot a course to traverse the outer rim of the United States on foot. Starting in Pennsylvania he would head south to Florida, then west to California, north to Washington, back east to Maine, and ultimately back home. Although the distance he would cover was tremendous, his plan was to travel the country with only a backpack. His crusade ultimately took him on an intimate exploration of the country, relationships, and his psyche.
So how did he end up in an English classroom at Millbrook School? As part of his travels, he allowed himself only one hotel stay per month. On other days, he would find a place to pitch a tent, sleep out, or develop a solid enough relationship with a stranger to take advantage of an offered guest bed or sofa. On a few particular occasions his best option became a voluntary night in a jail cell. When asked to share that experience with Millbrook's Literature and Incarceration class, Charlie was happy to oblige. He has a great story to tell, full of tips to approach life based on anecdotes from the road.
With only a brief introduction to his backstory, Charlie takes his seat at the front of the class. In front of him is a bulging 3-ring binder. Its contents include Bell's complete unpublished 800-page account of his 580-day trek around the country beginning in 1979. He flips to the chapter entitled Urine and Worse and begins to read. What follows is an extremely well written, vivid telling of one specific evening in Georgia when a local resident suggested he head to the police station because they could help him find a place to rest his head for the evening. Weighing his options, he decided to seize the opportunity for a shower and a bed, even if it meant being behind bars. The details Bell used to describe the state of the cell, his emotional response to the situation, and his encounter with a fellow block mate transported Millbrook's students to a different time and place. The smell of the toilet was ever-present, the stains on the sheets were visible, and then there was empathy for Bell's block mate.
After finishing his story, Charlie allowed time for questions and probed the class for specific details they remembered from his story. A major takeaway Bell hoped to convey to the class is that details are what make a story. He recounted one day in his travels, and while this event held a great deal of weight and significance for him, it was just one night out of 580 life-altering nights. He urged the students to recognize and record the small details in the course of their journeys when they might otherwise be tempted to remember each day being just like the last. He also shared one of his shorter published pieces about this trek - Footloose, published in 1984 in Sports Illustrated - that recounted another police encounter, this time in Mobile, Alabama.
We are thankful Charlie was willing to take the time to share a little piece of his story with our community. There are countless experiences and valuable nuggets of wisdom tucked away in his manuscript, and students came away with a definite appreciation for fine details and excellent storytelling.
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