Esaun | Escaping the Odds Podcast

In this episode of Esaun the Escaping the Odds Podcast, guest Pete Keller discusses his book and offers advice for self-publishing, including getting a book signing and utilizing resources like Fiverr. He also emphasizes the importance of taking pictures and leaving a legacy, and encourages support for fellow creators. Keller shares some of his favorite books, including Behold a Pale Horse, and promotes his upcoming book signing at Burning Bush in Chicago.

The objective of Esaun is to hear the stories of men and women switching hustles and escaping the odds through entrepreneurship after prison, and unlock business tips for financial freedom.

Hear the stories of men and women switching hustles and escaping the odds through entrepreneurship after prison. Not only will these stories inspire you, but also unlock business tips for financial freedom.

Hear the stories of men and women switching hustles and escaping the odds through entrepreneurship after prison. Not only will these stories inspire you, but also unlock business tips for financial freedom.

Let's get it. Thank you all for tuning in to another dope episode of Escaping the Odds podcast. Episode number 27. Got my main man, Pete Keller, here with me today. And this brother is doing extraordinary things in the city of Chicago.

The citywide activist on top of that, he's the author as well. Dropping his new book at the end of the month. Got a hell of a story, and I want to make sure that we capture that. As you guys know, Escaping the odds.

We interview formally incarcerated men and women who are now successful entrepreneurs. So that's what we're going to do today. Pete Keller? That's right. What's up, brother? How are you doing? It's a pleasure, as always.

So, real quick, so the name of the book, of course, is Cabrini Green the Pete Keller Chronicles. Okay. And the book is basically an autobiography. We talk about the life of Pete Keller. I went through 27 years of being inside what you could say is a wild bug, wild journey, and I don't hold back anything in the book.

I want to paint that picture very clear that a lot of people say, well, they stick up for Cabrino was so nice in this. And it was very I mean, just like any neighborhood, it had its really good points.

But I'm here to tell you, what you heard about Cabrini and what you thought about Cabrini, of course, is true. I mean, let's keep it real. We was a very aggressive community with a lot of love because we had a sense of community.

Okay. The book is really going to give you inside look at how we really got out. None. I mean, I keep it 100. And the whole point of the book is to shed light about the real diversity of Cabrini, that we had different sanctions of Cabrini, and that's what any community is really about.

A lot of people say, well, I live in a place where community no, you don't understand community until you're in a place where. Say, for instance, there was a shooting on Chicago Avenue in Hudson, and this was before cell phones.

Now it would travel a whole mile away by word of mouth because we were so close knit and stuck together without cell phones to maybe the other end of Cabrini in not even ten minutes because that's how close knit we were, definitely.

So let's go back into involved been in the streets, being incarcerated. I know your first time incarcerated was 22 years old. Young dude coming out of Cabrini greens. What was that whole experience like?

And then also coming out of Cabrini Greens? I know when you come out there, you go into the joint, it's a different especially if you got some kind of a status on the streets. You may be put in certain kind of positions or whatever.

Right? So let's walk through that whole experience of being incarcerated and what did you end up getting locked up for in the first place? Well, back then I was still in the lifestyle. When you in a lifestyle, you know, you live by a code, you know, saying of course.

And each each mob has their own codes and clicks and different rules and different parts of structure. What I was, we really was closing it. We stuck together and we definitely had organization. It was structure, you know what I'm saying?

So anytime that I got locked up, they put me in play. If I go into the county, I'm going to call it for whatever saying building. I went only because that's how we got out. We made sure that ours was taken care of, you know what I'm saying?

That's how I was back then. Nowadays, a lot of structures falling. That's too bad, man. Maybe they should free certain people, who knows? But I mean, we had our heyday, the book is really about triumph.

So say for instance, if I could make it somebody who didn't have anything came up. Man, when I went to the Greens, I was like maybe 1213. Not even a teenager yet. How did you end up twelve years old?

How did you end up in the Cabrini Greens? Because we live down the street. I'm from orchard. Much love on my Orchard Street. Click. Now, for those who don't know, Orchard Street is a street that's known.

They have complex over there, the Orchard Street, you know what I'm saying? Complex. And it's only, like, a few blocks away from Cabrini, okay? So a lot of people that lived in Cabrini have family on Orchard and vice versa.

And so at that time, we were going back and forth to Cabrini, and that's where I felt more at home. I wanted to roll with the big boys. My celebrities weren't you know how you growing up and people have idols and they put them up on their walls in their room and stuff?

You might have lee Garrett, the Fonz, michael Jackson, prince whatever. Michael Jack, Michael Jordan, whoever your idols were. Well, see, that's where I differed from everybody. My idols were those who was on the street, those who were tangible, those who I could see, those who I actually saw get money.

And I was just different, you know what I'm saying? I don't get me wrong. I might have liked me a little Wayne or two, somebody that I felt was doing it back then, the KRS ones, you know what I'm saying?

So how did you get your introduction into the whole street life? Again, being on the streets? I come. Like I said, from Orchard. And back then, we had the OSGS, Orchard Street gangsters. These are troops.

See, now you can get online. You could look up all this. It could be white kids in Davenport somewhere look up and see all these laws and stuff, you know what I'm saying? So nothing is secret anymore.

Let's put that out there first. So nothing is new under the sun. And I'm glad to have been a part of an era that it was structure, that it was something, because I don't know how it would have been growing up in this era now, like, seriously.

But getting back to what I was saying about the book. So the book is definitely shedding light on what we went through in Cabrini. It's called cabrini green to Pete Keller Chronicles. It will be out August 23.

Okay? And the book signing is August 29. And the book signing is at a place that's called the. Bush Brewery, which is at 4014 North Rockwell. All right. And it's a beautiful spot. I encourage you guys to come on down, get you a signed copy.

Like I said, this book getting ready to go, man. Make movies like how they got Chicago PD and Chicago Fire and all this other stuff, they're going to be putting Cabrini Green out. There one thing I could say about Cabrini Green, I think most people outside of Chicago, when they hear Cabrini Green or when you say a Chicago housing project, they automatically think of the Cabrini Green, right?

And I think that definitely that comes from a lot of stuff that was in the media during that time. Don't forget candy, man. Candy High, definitely heaven's, a playground. Hoop, dreams, good times. What was it like your teenage years in the Cabrini Grand?

Well, I have to say this, and I'm keeping it 100. Aaron, I'm sure you notice we were misguided as children. We were taught to be tough. We were taught to not have emotions. We were taught that you don't take pictures, you don't do this, you don't do that.

It was all these rules of what you don't do, right? But not encouragement to be a part of what you can do. You know what I'm saying? Back then, and I'm keeping 100, you all might not believe this, but he can attest to this.

Anyone who's over 35 should know this. Back then, dumb was cool. The person who was act smart was like a book. It was like a nerd thing. This is stupid to say this. It sounds so dumb now, even for me to say this so rhetorical.

But being dumb was in back then. The more slow you were, and you act like you understand, you was down. And I'm sorry to have to say that, right? We were dumbed down. Our whole generation was bamboozled.

And I think the only structure that we did have was the mob. Let's keep it real. The only guidance we did have, and it was minimal, because you have to think, if we're already dumbed down. And these brothers are guiding us, who had to act dumb down too.

But, yeah, you had to know laws and this and that. It confused you for some people, though, and I never want to glorify that kind of lifestyle. However, for some people, it gave them a sense of accountability as well, you know what I mean?

Because as you mentioned earlier, the structure that was involved, different positions people played in. So it gave them a sense of ownership and association and like a family. And this is the only place you really saw men.

Let's keep it real. The father might not have been in the household in a lot of the project scenarios or the ghetto, let's just say, but on the streets, you had these brothers, you know what I'm saying?

You had someone that was older than you, someone that could probably guide you, though we might not guide you right all the time. It was still do you believe there was more misguiding than proper guidance?

I think what it was was young brothers was lost. The brothers that we looked up to, they were lost as well. They didn't know how to guide because they hadn't been guided. So they fell more on the mob than anything.

And just going by the lit and guess what, y'all, that wasn't enough. In order to be young, in order to be a brother in the struggle, we needed more. We need to guide us on how to get jobs. We need to guide us on how to love.

We need to guide us on how to play, be sportsmanship in a team that you just thought to be a part of, because remember, eventually you might be in a penitentiary, and you'll get all that, oh, sportsmanship and be a part of this team.

Well, in the world, we needed that. We needed to guide us before saying the aftermath, before we were caught up, and it was just harder back then. Okay, a lot harder. Got you. So what was that for you?

You have been incarcerated, I believe you told me five times, correct me if I'm wrong. Four times. Okay, so a total of how many years? Close to ten, probably. Close to ten years. Okay, so in and out the penitentiary.

What was it that kept you kind of going back? Because for some people, it's one and done. For a lot of people, they own a lifetime installment plan, right. They never get out. Right. It's constant in and out, revolving door.

So for you, what was it for one that kept you going back and forth and then also the second part of that, what was it that stopped you from going when you made that final decision? You said, I can't do this no more.

Right? That's a good question. I think I didn't even really fully, fully get it until the last time, obviously, because I haven't been back since. But I think it's a point when you have to look at as an activist, I'm a citywide activist now.

You all so I'm the guy to call two or three in the morning when they want these young guys to put the guns down. I'm going on the streets, I get out here, jump out the car, I make it happen. Right? But to get on that side of the fence, remember, there's a turning point in your mind where you have to say, okay, this, enough is enough, but let's reverse that, because now I speak to a lot of these young brothers, right?

So reversing that as far as what made me get out, what made them get in, right? That's really the biggest question that I ask a lot of these younger brothers, because for me, getting out was because I knew that I was faced with death.

It was no going back. Meaning it wasn't going to be going back to the joint the next time. It was going to be all out. You know what I'm saying? And either I was going to be killed by saying the police or the streets, or the judge is going to knock me off the top of my head with 100 years.

So that was my biggest incentive. Now, getting back to the shortage, we have to find out what makes them deter to the gangs, right? And a lot of times I sit down and talk to them, and one of the biggest things that I hear from these younger brothers is because they wanted to be loved, they wanted to be accepted, they wanted to feel like I am somebody.

They want attention. I don't know if you ever. Sit at a bus stop or go out. I drive. But I mean, I still travel around. I still might get on a bus to go downtown if I want to park, whatever, right? And one of the biggest things that I notice with the younger generation is loudness.

Just being loud. They want to be heard on top. Of all that, too, to add to that social media kind of heightens that because now you're not only showing out for the people around you, but pull a phone out.

The whole world. Yeah, exactly. So I totally agree with you. So attention is the biggest thing. I think it's just a deprive of attention. Younger people want to feel like someone's watching and someone's listening, someone's hearing, what a good ordinance?

You know what I'm saying? Right. And so they have a blurred line because as you said, if I pull the phone out and I'm getting all this attention, I got like, say, 10,000 views, because you know what I'm saying, I'm going to smack somebody.

I'm watching this girl bust down a guy or they're fighting or whatever, you know what I'm saying? And it's coming back to me. It doesn't matter if it's negative or positive in my eyesight if I'm a younger person, because I'm still getting attention.

And that's the problem. We need to start the men need to start standing back up and saying, no, you know what? That's the wrong type of attention. And you know what? Let me explain why. See, we need to start breaking stuff down so they can get it, because they don't get it.

So a part of your work going on the street, speaking to these youth is you line U-L-O-N. Let's talk about that. But that's how we actually met. We met right when I came home from prison. Exactly. And you talked to me about what you were doing for the city activism.

And so let's get into that, man. That's Superb. So when I met this cat right here, right? I want you to look around his back ground, right? So you all might notice we in a little smooth, suave background, right?

Rico suave. But the reason of that is because we decided to pick like, a reunion spot. This is our reunion spot. When me and his brother met, saying a few years back, it was just maybe not even in the same area.

But just right over this little hill right here. And so we decided to pick this again. Ulan is really an anti recidivism organization. It is a non for profit. Okay, I run it. Yulan is an acronym. Ulan stands for united Legion, One Nation.

Okay. And that means we don't care if you Elk saying a Freemason, a vice, or the GD a plumber. When you become a part of ULN, your family, you know what I'm saying? What do we do is we feed the homeless.

We get out here, we might have a movie night. We go 20 cars deep off the land, go to the movies with our children, we clean up these neighborhoods, we remove graffiti. I mean, there's a lot of stuff that Yulan does, but I think the biggest thing that helps me, that makes me feel that Ulan is really worth it, is our Big Brother program.

So we have a program where we go out and we pick one of these younger brothers in the streets, and we go up to them, we give them a card, we hug them, and we say, FAM, you know what? We're here for you.

If you need us, we're here. If you need to talk, you can call us at 03:00 in the morning. That's the value you take, okay? That's the value you take. Once you become a part of Yulan, that you will help and reach out to any younger brother or sister.

Because we have Yulan queens now too, who do the same thing to these younger sisters. That might have been in and out the county jail or going in trouble with Audi home or whatever, saying the case may be having trouble in school and this is what we do.

So the Big Brother program is probably my biggest incentive, but we got people get jobs, you know what I'm saying? So I have contracts with different organizations that say, you know what? I'm going to take a chance.

I know you got an X on your back. I know you got an X because the reason I started, because I had trouble when I came home, I couldn't get a job because of what I've been through, definitely. You know what I'm saying?

So now it feels good to get it back. Okay, cool. And so the book, how did that come about? Everybody want to write a book now, right? Because self publishing the Internet has made it that much easier for most people to kind of pin their story.

Exactly. So pinning your story, how did that come about? As you said, you got a wild journey. You know, some of us do. So when did that start? Was that in the penitentiary, when you was like, hey, I really need to kind of get this story out here?

Or was it something that you thought about when you were free? Right? So I have another book out, right. Called Cross the Bridge. Cross the Bridge is dealing, and it's worldwide. You get on Amazon by Pete Eson.

Keller. It's called Cross the Bridge, and it's definitely about racial issues, about the system. About loving the ghetto, about the things we do in the ghetto. It's a multitude of different, I guess.

You could say, realities that we live, right? And so the book, we got really. Big on the college circuit, right? And everybody professor started calling me. They wanted me to come speak to the sociology classes or criminal justice classes.

Et cetera, et cetera, right? Okay. And so one thing that I noticed is every time I would go speak to these classes, all these kids will raise their hands, right? And I say, kids, but I mean, these young adults, they will raise their hands and they will say, hey, we were reading the book, and we love the book.

But I had sprinkled my life through it. But they was like, every time we read about you, we wanted more. Oh, my God. Cabrin. They wanted so much more. And so I had started talking along all through the years to my guys from the projects for the cabrini, to the women, because everyone has a story.

Like you said, everyone has a story. And I wanted that out. But people either start writing, put it off, start writing, maybe get locked up, start writing, lose the manuscript, whatever the case may be.

So I said, you know what? With that incentive where people really want to know, say, you know what? Let me finally do it, because let. Me tell you something, and this is for you guys. Saying at home, writing a book is not easy.

I'm going to keep it real with you. You think that? Well, it's about my life. It's an autobiography. Oh, I know what I could write. Let me tell you something. When you write a book, you have. To remember the dates, the times, what.

You had on, how was the mood. What was the lighting? You have to really put description behind your story. One of the reasons behind that is nowadays, man, people will fact check everything. You'Re saying big time, just to take credibility away from whatever project it is exactly that you're doing.

Especially if look at me, right? So here I am from Cabrini. I've had every rapper come to Cabrini, and people are going to look into that and they can validate it. So one thing I'll say about this, I've been in three different documentaries.

I have police reports. I've been on high speed chasing with the police. Big time drug deal. I got facts to back it up. I got statistics to back it up. I got police paperwork to back it up, saying how many times I've been in cars, how many times I got locked, how many times I bond out.

I got documentaries backing me up. I have pictures backing me up, like live pictures. I recognize with your social media, you post a lot of pictures from back in the day. Sabrina Green I'll be honest with you.

I was so lucky. I think I'm one of the few people, because I have guys, especially a lot of older guys that are mob now, come to me and be like, man, if it wants. Because, see, back in the day, we just didn't take pictures.

But now, because you just never know nowadays. You never know who's going to live one week and who might not be here next week. Let's just keep it real. And so I'm always encouraging my younger brothers, and especially the older guys, start taking pictures now.

Have guys calling me to narrative FAM, even for one for you. I want to have pictures of my grandkids with my daughter, with my son, man, thanks, man, because you broke me out that mode. And now a lot of people that have passed been able to give pictures to the family, pictures to their children, pictures to their wife, to their husband, to their loved ones.

You know what I'm saying? So I pride myself with that, because guess what? We don't have none to hide. So all those pictures, of course, to be able to be seen inside the book, no. No, that's one thing.

Now everybody wants me to pack the book with a bunch of pictures. But I'll be honest with you, if I did that, this book would be like the Bible, the original Bible. This book will probably you wouldn't be to carry it home from the bookstore.

No. So what I've done is I'm making a website and it will correlate with the book. Okay? Yeah, he's very unique. And so what you'll be able to do through this website and the book, sign them or release the website, what it's on, how you go to it and go log in and you can see all the pieces.

I've had through the years with these different people, with these different artists, with different political people, with people I brought to the group famous rappers, you know what I'm saying? Let me ask you this, everybody, do they have to purchase the book in order to have access?

Like a code to have access? So you're monetizing that product and I'm. Sure it's going to leak. Obviously it's to leak, you know what I'm saying? Eventually it's probably going to leak, but I mean, do the patriot thing, you know what I'm saying?

I mean, patronize your brother, you know what I'm saying? I put a lot of work into this book and I'm a real deal, you know what I'm saying? Like everybody in Chicago knows they're waiting for the book, okay?

You know what I'm saying? Like I said, you can find anything online now about all these different I mean, everything's pretty much gone, you know what I'm saying? So now we just want the memory out there.

I just need to tell because no one has come forth talking about what it is about cabrini that made it made it unique, you know what I'm saying? Oh, this is a nice place, but what made it a raw place, what was so unique about and then I'm not going to sugarcoat giving the good the is and the bads and the ugly, you know what I'm saying?

But it's love, though. Let me ask you this part, right? Getting more into the business side of that book, the ISBN, how did you go about getting that and actually getting distribution and editors, illustrators, things of that nature?

What was that process like for the men and women out there? Because again, we all got a story. A lot of us just don't know where to start. Self publishing. Find your niche and just pretty much really unpacking your story, right?

Exactly. So let's walk through that, talk to the audience about how you did that. So let me tell my people. For those who are at home who may be interested in writing a book, you can definitely get up with me.

Go to www dot uline, which is the name of my organization, which is U-L-O-N Life. All right, pay a lot for that, you know, use on Life. And you could leave me a message. But I'm going to give you a little fit for this real quick because it's not a secret, you know what I'm saying?

The biggest part about writing a book is actually just writing a book. The rest of the part is easy. So once you get your manuscript done and you want to start shopping it. You have two things you can do, okay?

One, you can start going for somebody who you feel has a lot of money behind them who might want to invest in you and put you out there and be a publishing company to say, you know what? This is an automatic top best seller.

I got faith in this. We want to do it. But let me warn you, let me tell you right now, and you heard it from me, Pete Esan Keller, check what your royalties are going to be. Because I have people right now, to this day that are signed, I know personally with some of the biggest publishing companies, and they might get maybe $0.12 off a book, no BS.

And the book might be selling for 1699, right? Okay. Now, all we want to do so the incentives are going to tell you, we're going to get you up front, maybe 20 stacks or some 15 stacks. That ain't no money.

Stop thinking that's money. You all just seen the Ten K just come out and it's gone. Don't fall for that. So what's a good royalty? A person should be looking at where they say, okay, say I can go for that.

And, okay, what's the difference between should I make it paperback? Should I make a hard copy? Should I make it an ebook? How do you come up with which way this should be? So let me tell you something that's going over $6 or just say $5 is a good royalty.

If they're willing to pay you anything over $5, which is not going to happen, but if they're willing to pay you anything over $5, if you can get your lawyers, anybody, to go over $5, if the book sell for 69, even 1499, $5 is beautiful.

Let's think, you sell a million copies, right? You got 5 million right on top. Yeah. You see what I'm saying? So you want anything over $5? Number two, I wouldn't do that right now. Self published self publishing is still the best way.

It basically won't really cost you anything, you know what I'm saying? It's some publishing company. You could pay like, a stack to publish it. Some publishing companies might even do it basically for free.

But you're going to have to do auto promotion. That's hard as well. Let me add some to that, right? With self publishing nowadays, you got sites like Fiverr. That's fiverr.com right. I utilize it sometimes to do some editing work, logos, things of that nature.

Anything you can think of from a creative standpoint, whether it's like creating your cover art, illustrator, even an editor for your manuscript, a person can go on there and literally spend a few dollars, maybe a couple of actually get your whole pretty much your package together, you know what I mean?

So that's definitely a great resource that you all can check out with that. Was that something that you utilize or. Did you yeah, I looked through all of them, you know what I'm saying? And I think that the biggest thing is promotion again, because you have to decide which way you're going to go.

Because remember, if you get a publisher that's going to pay you off, they're going to do all the promotion and you still don't know how that promotion is going to go, what market they're going to hit, what audience they're going to hit, what radio stations are going to hit, what TV, whatever.

You know what I'm saying? So I'm telling you right as of now, the best thing to do is self publish. Even if it costs you a couple of dollars, like you said, it's not going to be much nowadays. Some places, like I said, are even free, but you won't have any promotions or editing.

So you're going to have to pay for your editing. Please do that. It's not much. You can go somewhere, probably pay someone like 100. Exactly. Nothing major, you know what I'm saying? Go somewhere, get editing for your illustration, for your front cover.

You might pay for that. Your front back cover, they will actually, there's cheap people out here probably give you a front back cover for like, $75. I know people that would do it for dirt cheap, you know what I'm saying?

Your whole book packaging, everything could cost you under $150. If you're going to do it all on your own, and if you want to put it out there on your own, you know what I'm saying, just do the homework again.

Get up with me. I can give you some good sites, got KDP, and create space and book search. There's a lot of places to do it. Now, speaking of promotion and marketing, right, I've noticed you've as of the last couple of weeks, you're promoting your book, of course, by coming on escaping the Oz podcast, but it's well on major media outlets.

How does a person go about doing that? Now, I know you have connections because you've been in the streets kind of doing this work, whatever, right? But someone who wants to, who has a story, got to create a book, got the whole package.

How do I reach out to those media outlets, those radio stations in my city and those television stations in my city to get an interview? Okay, good. Promote my book. So for those at home who say, for instance, you have a niche, you write in a book, you know your book is going to sell, you just feel like you're just different.

You put the money up and you get your book out. What you do is and this is a secret because a lot of people don't know this, you have to get a book signing. A lot of places are not going to touch your stuff unless you have a book sign to come up.

So get a book sign, even if it's a little small miles and pops place, okay? The fact that you got it on paper is what makes you fax the news and media, okay? I'll put you all up on this game. Now, once you get a place, it'll take your book, sign it.

I don't care if you call your Uncle Joe, he got a little storefront, you know what I'm saying, just so that you have a place, a date and a time. Get that. You put it on the paper, you put out there that your book sign is coming up.

Get ten copies of your book, okay? Get ten copies. Pass it out to the news of me. You're free. Give it to channel seven. Give it to channel five. Find somebody, say, hey, I want you to read this book.

If you can, I would appreciate if we can get a story on it, you know what I'm saying? They would do it. As long as you have a book signing coming up, even if your book sucks. Now, I'm going to be here, I'm going to be honest with you.

It's just like American Idol. You ever see? No. People get on American idol, think they can sing and they be on there and they get like straight clown. There's going to be some writers like that. You might be the writer.

Don't know. You might be an excellent writer. You might be the next person. The American Idol. Who wins? It don't matter. You need a date for a book signing. Get that child. That's my free game to you all.

Get your date. You include that in your package and you send it off and you're going to get a call. Remember that. Wow. Okay. You all heard of him live and direct. Definitely, man. Matter of fact, speaking of books, right, I asked a lot of my guests this.

What were some of those books that you read while you were incarcerated to kind of change the mindset of the way you were going? Okay, give me your top two. Yeah, I would say some of my top, of course, number one in the bible, you know what I'm saying?

That was definitely number one of all time because that got the most game in it ever. I mean, anything you go on there, you can pick up in the bible and get through it. Of course, all praise duty. You know what I'm saying?

Yes, you would, man. That's number one. If you're not connected, get connected. That's number one. But then there's a lot of good books. Behold a pale horse. That was one of my favorite books, you know what I'm saying?

By William Cooper. He actually gave his life for that book. That book is kind of busting out a lot of the government about what they're doing behind our backs. A lot of people who sold the government would never do this to us.

But it's in black and white. He used to be working inside the government. He was some type of CIA working with them and broke loose when he found out a lot of what was going on. Behold a pale horse. A lot of stuff we talk about then is coming out right now, like 30 years later.

He got killed in the 90s, right? He got shot like twelve times. Okay, but that's one thing, you know what I'm saying? I would just say things like. One Flew Over to Cuckoo's Desk, which was actually a good movie that came out with Jack Nicholson, you know what I'm saying?

Grapes the wrath, you know what I'm saying? There's a lot of different Steinbeck books that I found very interesting, you know what I'm saying? Okay, perfect. It's good to read. I want you guys to know the reading is definitely still in.

Get you a nice paperback and check it out. One of the books that I read while I was incarcerated was a book called Made the Thick. I can't think of the author's name right now, but pretty much he talks about how ideas catch on and how they pretty much become they spread like viruses and so that's definitely a book.

You guys want to check out on that. Anything else, brother? Yeah, I just want to say, man, it's actually a pleasure to be able to sit here with another brother who has been in the same position I've been.

And I want to encourage those at home or anybody that's watching that you could set your mind anything. I mean we talk this all the time. We say, oh, you could do anything you want, but you literally can.

If you actually set up and get up and do it, write it down and get that blueprint, get a format of what you want to do and then stick to it. Remember, nothing come to a sleeper but a dream that first day.

You might be tired, you might not want to get out the bed, but get out the bed. Make it happen. Stay prayed up and I guarantee you you can't help but win. So Pete, what can we catch you at? All of the Facebook Instagram you talked about ulon life, where your book will be your book signing.

I know that's towards the end of the month, give out all the information. What can we contact you? Well, real quick, let me just say this, man. I want you guys to come on out to the book sign. It's going to be August 29 at a place called Burning Bush, which is 40 14th North Rockwell.

If you got to repeat saying rewind this podcast, look it up. It's right kind of northwest. Free parking. It's free parking. You all can definitely come. Free parking. Get a fit for this real game. I'm going to help you all if you all come out saying we got a little prize.

Free giveaway, there's going to be a nice time to kind of sit back, network. It's a networking event for all the authors of Chicago, for anybody who's doing some poets, going spoken word, all that. And then on top of that, you could reach me at www dot ulan life.

You could leave a message and get a personal phone number to Ulan's office. 312-83-4802. All right, you could leave a message. You could reach me right there directly. 312-834-8020. Again, my name is Pete Keller, known as Eson or Queso on the street.

And man, I just love you all. Stay encouraged. I'll remember if I can make it, this book is all about perseverance. If I can make it with nothing coming through the projects, doing what I do, I know you guys can make it.

I know it. Well, then you all got it, man. You got a brother here escaping the odds for many years. Going through the battle, man. Actually pinning that story now, so definitely check that out and then continue to support escaping Odds.com.

Just dropped the website. Also Facebook escaping instagram escaping odds podcast. You can hear this podcast on Anchor FM. Apple spotify. iHeartRadio continue to support subscribe like comment and we're signing off opportunities over penitentiary unlock a free them.

Thank you all for tuning in peace.