Lessons Learned: From Playground to Penitentiary

By Todd L. Cook

This book is about one man's journey of transformation that will inspire you to make changes in your own life and will show you how to improve yourself, even in harsh conditions. The author, Todd L. Cook, has served more than 30 years of incarceration, and whether you're in prison or not, his experiences will offer guidance in avoiding peer pressure, help you quit smoking cigarettes, show you how to overcome addiction to drugs and alcohol, and teach you how to use the stock market to beat a bank account. His life demonstrates the power of perseverance in the face of overwhelming odds, which makes this a must-read for anyone struggling to fit in or having trouble believing in themselves. His message will change the way you live your life and help you become a better person because of it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 22, 2023
• ISBN: 9798887932668

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Lessons Learned: From Playground To Penitentiary

Todd L. Cook

Copyright © 2023 Todd L. Cook

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2023

Cover design by Todd L. Cook

Pictures in book by unknown artists

ISBN 979-8-88793-264-4 (pbk)

ISBN 979-8-88793-266-8 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

The Beginning

Chapter 2

Juvenile Detention

Chapter 3

18 and Life to Go

Chapter 4

Segregation

Chapter 5

Transformation

Chapter 6

Paralegal

Chapter 7

Logistics

Chapter 8

Family Ties

Chapter 9

Brokerage Account

Chapter 10

Book Profits Quickly

Chapter 11

Defy the Odds

Todd L. Cook

Chapter 12

Hope and a Prayer

Appendix

Notes

Other Books by This Author

About the Author

Praise for Lessons Learned

Todd's life experiences, as detailed in Lessons Learned, have led to him creating the Agenda for Change that Nebraskans for Prison Reform has adopted. With his insight and intellect, we have the potential to change the landscape of corrections in Nebraska and beyond for the benefit of the incarcerated, staff, and communities. (Nebraskans for Prison Reform, Advocacy Group)

A heartfelt book about the author's inner growth and struggle to become respectable and genuine. The book is filled with life lessons that took some hard hits to learn. (Patricia Hendrie, reader)

You helped me in more ways than you know, and I hope one day that you get your commutation. I feel you deserve that and just because we make mistakes, we should be given a second chance, especially if we prove ourselves. You really got me wanting to be a better person and change the world, and I thank you for that a whole lot. Everything happens for a reason, and I came across your book for a reason. (Tobias Smith, reader)

Inspiring book about the author's search for social acceptance after being born with a cleft lip and palate, leading to involvement in criminal activities and eventually an accidental shooting. The lessons he's learned and ways he's developed during his years in incarceration since age 18, without the chance of parole, are both interesting for anyone intrigued by the US prison system and inspiring for those intent on self-development. (Ashleigh Jackson, reader)

Your book really put some things into perspective for me. Your story is really an inspiration. (Joey Barnes, reader)

This book is dedicated to my family

Chapter 1

The Beginning

Where to begin? How about we start at the beginning? That would put us in a hospital in Osmond, Nebraska, on December 6, 1976. There is always a degree of hope and excitement that comes with the birth of a child. Then the baby comes, and you are told by the doctors that your baby boy has a cleft lip and palate. That isn't what you expected, and now the journey begins differently than the birth of your other two boys. This new child, Todd, needs surgeries to repair his birth defect, and those began at six weeks old. Over the course of time and after many more trips to the doctors and hospitals, Todd's upper lip and palate are repaired. Only a small scar is left to tell the tale as to how much differently this kid's life started from those around him. Who could have guessed how dramatically that small scar would affect so many people.

Todd needed special attention from the very moment he was born. Because of the incomplete formation of his palate, he was unable to breastfeed and required a baby bottle with a nipple made for this type of problem. Someone should have informed the nurses of that fact, but no one did, so shortly after birth, still in the hospital, a nurse tried to feed him with a regular bottle. Todd almost died as a result of drowning because he was unable to swallow like normal children. Looking back, some might wish he had after finding out what he did later in life.

*****

That is where I began. A small kid with a scar on my lip and more experience in an operating room than I care to admit. It wasn't long before I found out that other people treated me differently. I didn't want to go to preschool, partly because I was a momma's boy and thought my mom would be lonely (little did I know, she probably wanted a break from me) and partly because I didn't like being around other kids. My solution was to sit with my Mickey Mouse schoolbag over my head until my mom was called to pick me up. It worked! I was taken out of preschool and got to spend more time with my momma! This was one of my first experiences with finding creative solutions to my birth-defect problem.

Growing up, kids are mean, especially if you are different or have something noticeably unique about you. Going into elementary school, Mickey Mouse could no longer protect me. I was on my own and had to find a way to make it work. It took a while, but soon I found out that if I beat the kids up that made fun of me, they didn't pick on me anymore. Neither did their friends for that matter. That is where the lessons learned started to take me down a bad path. Criminal activity became a way for me to gain acceptance, and that has shaped most of my life.

I was a general troublemaker in school. There wasn't much I wouldn't do to get attention, good or bad. One time, in the sixth grade, I convinced everyone in class to make paper footballs (folding paper into a triangle) rather than listen to Ms. Eucks run on about something or another. I had my entire desk filled up with nothing but paper footballs by the time Ms. Eucks had had enough. She came over to my desk and started stuffing these paper triangles into her pockets thinking she could take them all away from me. She had no idea what she had gotten herself into! By the time she was done, her pockets were overflowing with these stupid things, and she was pissed! What made matters worse, she was a nice teacher and had both of my older brothers as students, and neither one of them caused any problems. She just couldn't figure out what had gone so wrong with me. Little did she know then, these paper footballs were a prelude to things to come.

Stealing stuff from stores began around age eight for me. I remember going to the mall in my hometown of Norfolk, Nebraska, with a friend of mine whose parents gave him more money than my parents gave me. We went to play video games, and I spent all my money. He still had some by the time we went walking through Hallmark, and he bought a pencil with a cool eraser on it. I really wanted one, but I didn't have the money to pay for it, so I took the soccer ball eraser off the pencil and stole it. This is my first memory of committing theft, but it certainly wouldn't be the last. Somehow my parents found out that I stole the eraser and cut it up in front of me to teach me a lesson. It didn't work.

My first experience as an entrepreneur came in the sixth grade. A friend of mine showed me how to steal a bunch of candy from a store close to school by setting down a duffel bag on the floor by the candy and casually throwing stuff into it. We would go to the playground and sell candy to all the kids. It didn't take long before we made friends with everyone, and that led in to my first taste of philanthropy. I found out really quickly that most kids don't have any money, so we ended up giving most of the candy away. These lessons showed me that you can be cool and buy friends if you are willing to do crazy stuff and have things that others want but can't get on their own. Stealing became a way of life for me into junior high school and drastically affected my relationships with family and friends.

In the seventh grade, I started stealing cigarettes and selling them at school. I didn't even smoke! It wasn't long before I found a group of kids that wanted what I had and were willing to accept me even though I wasn't very popular. We started to hang out, and then I started smoking cigarettes, which led to smoking marijuana, which led to binge drinking and sneaking out to party all night. I was the life of the party because I was willing to do almost anything. When acceptance is your only motivation, you will take outrageous risks to get it and keep it.

Now this isn't to say that I wasn't good at school. At about the same time as I started stealing cigarettes, I was on the honor roll. My memory was excellent, and schoolwork came easy to me. That's probably why it bored me so much. No excitement or challenge. It was certainly more fun to get high and drunk or steal things. I hated working in class on stuff I already knew or understood while I waited for other kids to catch up. This is why I truly believe that public schools should allow a work-at-your-own-pace curriculum. Some students need more help while others need to keep working on more advanced subject matter.

Throughout my early years, sports were fun, and I was good at most of them. Pitching Little League baseball is one of my favorite memories. Parents of other kids would come to watch me pitch rather than sit through their own child's game. Not sure what that says about their parenting skills, but I look back at it now as a huge compliment.

I remember a game where my team was getting bored because I was pitching a no-hitter, and they didn't have anything to do in the outfield. To fix this, I slowed down my pitches and let some kids hit the ball. My coach asked me what I was doing, and I told him the team was bored, so I was letting them hit. He freaked out and told me to knock it off. I struck out the