Albuquerque Journal North
Friday, October 19, 2001

Former Santa Fean Sheds Light on Prison Life in Novel
“Leaving Disneyland” reveals the struggles of a black prisoner, and the author hopes the story makes readers think

By Michelle Pentz

Santa Fe-raised Alexander Parsons works best in “antagonistic environments.” So it was probably a blessing in disguise when a professor at Wesleyan politely informed him that his aspirations for becoming a writer just weren’t going anywhere. That only fueled this ambitious young writer. Recently, debut novelist Parsons reaped the satisfaction of mailing his award-winning work of fiction to that pessimistic professor. “Leaving Disneyland” won the AWP/Thomas Dunne Books Award and will be released this month by Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press. “As a writing teacher myself, I’ve decided the best thing to do is to give students the confidence that they can pursue writing fiction, then let them reach their own determination as to whether they can or can’t,” said Parsons, 32, talking from his home in Austin. Critical success The literary world has certainly determined Parsons has the stuff of a great novelist. Kirkus Review called Parsons’ first novel, which offers a gritty look into the struggles of a 55-year-old black convict as he faces parole after thirty years in correctional institutions, “an excellent attempt to portray criminality with the kind of sympathy and understanding that Steinbeck brought to indigence.” Other critics have drawn comparisons to Tom Wolfe, praising Parsons for his vivid portrayal of life behind bars, insightful conclusions and dialogue that hits prison vernacular head-on. Delighted to be returning to his home turf (“I always hold onto my New Mexico driver’s license as long as possible”), Parsons reads from and signs his book tonight at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, then Sunday evening in Albuquerque at Bound To Be Read and in Santa Fe on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Borders Books & Music. “I always feel uncomfortable when I’m out of the Southwest, as if I am out of place,” said Parsons, who plans to set his next books in New Mexico. “There’s something about the landscape here that imparts a perspective on our endeavors. There are these truths out there that you’re wandering around trying to find.” Parsons said that the Disneyland topic actually found him when he was working as an editor for a business publisher on “mantras for middle management” in Washington, D.C. “It originally started eight years ago as a grand social criticism of the prison system with all of its flaws, influenced by great books such as ‘1984’ and ‘A Brave New World,’” he recalls. Parsons began poring over books and videos on incarceration, though he was left feeling the stories they recounted seemed divorced from reality. He realized a fictional tale was emerging in which he could critically portray a character who had committed atrocious crimes but was, at the same time, sympathetic. “I felt suddenly these prison issues had a human face, and I knew I had a book to write,” Parsons said. “The more you write, the more you see truth resonates outward from individuals.” Life behind bars Indeed, “Leaving Disneyland” transported Parsons to another world—“dark, heavy, depressing”—especially considering that the writer is, as a friend says, “a young, white yuppie” who graduated from Santa Fe Prep and Wesleyan.

The author modeled his prison after Pete Early’s “The Hot House,” a nonfictional account of Leavenworth. Taped conversations with an ex-con helped Parsons grasp the rhythms of prison speech. And because 49 percent of American inmates are black in a population that is aging rapidly, Parsons said he wanted his protagonist to reflect that. “I wrote the book with the idea that maybe things would work out for Doc-and they didn’t,” said Parsons, who after finishing the novel returned to D.C. to find the real-life ex-con who’d piqued his interest in the topic of prisons. The depressing, albeit not surprising news: the man was back in the penitentiary. “It’s hard to have a happy end when you’ve got a situation where, say in Texas, 50 percent of prisoners there have already been there before,” Parsons said. “And there are a lot of vested interests. The prison market is worth $37 billion a year.” Finding his calling In his next book, just completed this week, Parsons takes a history-based fictional look at Central New Mexico’s ranchers in the 1940s, evicted to make room for the White Sands Missile Range and the detonation of the first atomic bomb—and he follows his calling to adhere to Southwestern subject matter. Although he was born in London, where his father was attending film school, Parsons’ family moved to Taos in 1970 when he was a year old. While he initially wanted to be a documentary filmmaker in the enchanting mountain town, Parsons’ father, Jack, became a prominent Southwestern photographer and settled with his family in Santa Fe. Parsons’ mother, Becky, worked as a ceramicist, and neither parent wanted their sons Chris and Alex to live the financially insecure life of an artist. Chris became a Santa Fe stockbroker, while Alex, a compulsive reader, studied literature at Wesleyan and then embarked on a book publishing career at Random House in New York. “It was not a good fit,” he recalled. “And that’s when I knew I’d be a writer.” After beginning “Leaving Disneyland,” Parsons headed to Santiago, Chile, to write and apply to grad schools: “I thought, if I don’t get in I’ll stay in South America.” But he did get into school. Parsons attended the prestigious Iowa Writer’s Workshop from 1995 to 1998, where he taught and wrote the bulk of his first novel. Soon after, Parsons returned to New Mexico, where he taught and earned a master’s at New Mexico State—whose writing program Parsons praises highly. He also found his mentor, professor Robert Boswell, who, Parsons said, helped him grow and approach a narrative through its individuals. The author still sends all his writing to Boswell for input. “I don’t think I’m a naturally talented writer,” Parsons said. “Success at writing depends on how much mental punishment you can take, and I’m very stubborn.” Isolation and agonizing self-scrutiny join forces as the foes of Parsons’ solitary vocation, but he enjoys the immense rewards that come from tackling a task so difficult.