FreeThinker
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I think sniffing glue was more common back in the fifties and sixties when other things weren't available or as available.Felice Picano writes an interesting account of a first sexual experience for a twelve year-old boy sniffing glue in his book Ambidextrous. It was more common because boys built plastic model airplanes and cars back then. I doubt seriously if a kid today could be dragged away from his PS3 or Xbox to even look at a model airplane.
I have read that prescription drugs are more commonly abused now. Kids have parties where they raid their parents' medicine cabinets and bring whatever they find and then dump the pills and capsules into bowls from which they reach in and eat like candy. How depressing.
I assume this is research for a story. I hope.
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Ooops--my comments about Jeremy's being assholes does not refer to anyone on AD!!!!!! God my mouth-or fingers-get me in a lot of trouble! There is someone here who goes by another name but was almost called Jeremy and who is anything BUT an asshole.
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In the US, the Social Security Administration lists the most popular names by year. If I am writing period piece (and when am I not) I try to find names that fit that period. I wouldn't name a boy born in 1957 Jayden or Taylor. Likewise, it's unlikely I would name a boy born in 2001 Tom or Frank or Harold. http://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/
My niece just named here son Tristyn, which I love and which I would love to use in a story, though I would probably not use the cutesy spelling. I would use it for the son of opera lovers.
I also associate names with specific traits. I would try to avoid Tim or Timmy because that just seems too... well, you know. Jeremy almost sound too sweet, although strangely every Jeremy I've ever met is an asshole. I like Jeff and that was the name I assigned my imaginary boyfriend when I was 13 in 1971. Jeff just seemed so All-American, confident, and happy. Strangely, there are a LOT of Jewish American boys from the 50's and 60's named Jeff. Researching things like that can help find the perfect name for a character.
People in America used to joke in the 80's about families who would name all their kids with "J" names. There were a plethora of Jeff Jeremy, Jordan, Jason,Jennifer, Julie, etc. Trends change from decade to decade. Biblical names, particular Old Testament names were big in the nineties. Michael is the most popular name over the last few decades, so if you want to avoid a common name, that might be one, or if you want someone from a conformist family- well, there you go.
Making up names seems the rage now. And, if your character is African-American, you have a lot of latitude in creating a name. Some types of names are more popular in different parts of the country. And what sounds euphonious in the South may be cause for laughter in New England, or vice-versa.
My favorites are the Farkle family on Laugh-In back in the sixties and their twin sons, Simon and Gar Farkle.
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Actually, I was complimenting Canada on their national health care and their guarantee that all citizens get health care, as do the UK, France Germany, and practically every other developed and advanced country in the world. Its a disgrace that 40 million Americans don't have access to health care and that the wealthiest, the most powerful country on earth is ranked 21st in child mortality, that we flushed a trillion dollars down the toilet conquering Iraq for no intelligent reason other than to avenge W's Daddy when we have so many other far more pressing needs here at home. . I had started the discussion in another thread and just moved what I thought was funny to this section because I remember in 2004, many people who had voted for Senator Kerry were musing about moving to Canada rather than living under an illiterate President like George W. Bush. I think I'll be much more careful in the future in making sarcastic comments. Sometimes my sense of humor is hard to understand. This has turned out to be far different than I thought it would.
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Just curious about why about half the members of AD have that gray anime face as their avatar?
Not complaining. Just curious. I just checked a member's profile and in his friends window, exactly half the friends had that avatar. -
You're not a fuck up at all! Considering all that you've been through, I think you're an amazing story of survival and courage. You should be proud of yourself.
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Paul, As they start Pas de Deux, it is a gradual transformation. In addition, the boys are 12, 13 14, and a little more mature. besides, they don't really need to be with the girls until later. They do switch to traditional ballet wear at this time. Perhaps your friend has insight on this?
Also, Paul, since you are home schooled and have been given such an excellent education, what do you think about the special attention you have received and how that might translate into the classroom? I think you might be a perfect example of this.
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In researching a story I am writing about ballet, I have found that a new trend in ballet training over the last ten to fifteen years has been separate training for boys in the early years, recognizing some inherent differences, culturally, physically, and emotionally between boys and girls. These special "boys-only" programs have been very successful in attracting boys to ballet and retaining them in the training in later years. I believe that incorporating some of these findings and practices into other areas of education could be helpful in educating well-adjusted boys.
The programs have found that by allowing young boys to wear shorts and t-shirts, rather than leotard and tights, and emphasizing the athleticism of dance makes ballet training much more attractive to boys who fear perceptions of femininity. One teacher has commented that they recognize boys are far more energetic than girls, have shorter attention spans, and are more competitive. By taking them out of an environment with girls and using these boyish qualities, the boys thrive. They seek to jump higher, leap farther, and they see their dancing as a means to become more athletic and competitive. They like to have a teacher get in their face and be active with them, to let them be boys.
I have read that often boys in early education have more attention problems than girls, as well as discipline. They are made to feel badly because they aren't necessarily behaving the way the girls are and are made to feel that there is something wrong with them when, in reality, they are simply being boys and following their natural, biological tendencies. It is now politically correct (and I am a liberal, not one of these Rush Limbaugh types who hates feminists) but it is now politically correct to suppress or attempt to alter some of the perceived aggressive behavior of boys instead of recognizing the behavior for what it is, a natural extension of just being a boy. One female educator researching this has now recognized this and recently wrote that when she first entered a special group of boys for research, one of them raised his hand like a gun and shot her. She thought at first the boy was unhappy with her and had too many aggressive tendencies. However, she later realized after studying and working with them, that he was simply recognizing her as an equal and including her in his group. Rather than a sign of rejection, it was a sign of acceptance.
I think if educators could see beyond their preconceptions about boys as troublemakers and seek to recognize and even use the emotional and physical differences of boys from girls to help educate in special and different ways, rather than medicate boys to force them to conform to feminine forms of behavior, boys would grow up with greater self-esteem and fewer fears that something is wrong with them. They would perform better in school if we considered, particularly in younger levels, that perhaps separate classes with different methods of teaching might be preferable.
Thoughts?
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Have a Molson on me!
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I'm too emotional after reading it. It was wonderful, very satisfying results at the end. It hits home too much. Cole is a gifted writer with an amazing understanding of young people- people in general. Excellent.
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Sorry, I was being silly. In another section of AD, we were discussing the Supreme Court Health Care decision and how some nations, Canada in particular, are more civilized about health care than the US and I had mentioned how in 2004, someone had created a map of Canada that included the states that had voted for John Kerry. So, I started quoting "Oh, Canada" and found it humorous when I read the French lyrics on Wikipedia and how they sounded rather like an English Madlib.
Ô Canada!
Terre de nos aïeux,
Ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux!
Car ton bras sait porter l'épée,
Il sait porter la croix!
Ton histoire est une épopée
Des plus brillants exploits.
Et ta valeur, de foi trempée,
Protégera nos foyers et nos droits.
Protégera nos foyers et nos droits.
which I perverted into the nonsense in my first post.
Sorry. It must have been a bit over the wall. If it has to be explained, I guess it isn't funny. I get weird sometimes.
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I just read the French version of Oh, Canada, and I think something's wrong.
A carton of bras, saltpeter, and lepers? A ton of history is one eye-popper, Plus Des's brilliant exploits? Sometimes I wonder about Wikipedia... And, how did Des get into the Canadian national anthem? I thought he was on the other side of the planet.
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Oh, Canada! Our home and native land...
Oh, my. I just read the French version. A carton of bras, saltpeter, and lepers? A ton of history is one eye-popper, Plus Des's brilliant exploits? Sometimes I wonder about Wikipedia... (perhaps I should repost this particlar posting to another, more appropriate section).
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I'm not responsible for the vomit, just the wicked quotes from the trenchant toddler!
And, speaking of which, for anyone who's ever flown Delta, (sympathy):
I don't understand why, if we're in a galaxy far far away, we still have to change in Atlanta.
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A collection of quotes from my hero, Stewie Griffin:
My my, what a thumping good read. Lions eating Christians, people nailing each other to two-by-fours. I'll say, you won't find that in Winnie the Pooh.
There's always been a lot of tension between Lois and me. And it's not so much that I want to kill her, it's just, I want her not to be alive anymore.
Oh I feel so delightfully white trash. Mommy, I want a mullet.
Lois Griffin: What's going on down here?
Stewie Griffin: Oh, we're playing house.
Lois Griffin: That boy's all tied up.
Stewie Griffin: Roman Polanski's house.
No, you idiot. That's not baby powder, that's paprika.
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Gee- I remember back 2004 when Bush barely defeated John Kerry, someone created a map of Canada that included all the states that voted for Kerry! If only...
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Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this thread. This has been amazingly insightful and instructive (and encouraging). I am grateful for all the input and your kind words about my writing. I have included some sex scenes in the story I am writing, but in this case they are there only for plot and are not "pant and grunt" scenes. I just didn't want to feel they were unwelcome. I make references to, but do not describe, some incidents in the protagonist's past which were abusive, but the reason for those is to show how such incidents influenced the evolution of the protagonist into the character he is at the beginning of the story. It's not necessary to the plot to describe them. I feel much more comfortable now with the subject and I am grateful for your input. Thank you, everyone! And, more comments and input are not unwelcome!
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Sorry. The pages I originally visited didn't have anything questionable, but I just went back and there are nudes, though they don't show anything which I think might be illegal. But, I suppose it is probably something to be avoided. Sorry.
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Being the flaming narcissist that I am, I Binged my screen name to see what would happen, hoping that with the way I capitalize the "T" in the middle, it might filter out the other "freethinker" stuff. It did and I found that some of my stories had been reviewed on a site called "queerschool.com," a blog that reviews stories on various sites about gay teens. The proprietor does a great job of filtering through the stuff on Nifty and finding good stories and I am impressed with his reviews. I think that if you would like some recommendations of things to read and don't want to wade through everything on Nifty or other sites, you might also check out the reviews on QueerSchool. The stories he chooses are only about gay teens.
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Okay, now that I have your attention, I am curious about something and I am sure this has probably been addressed on the board at some point over the last few years, but I would like to know people's thoughts on this.
I've dreamed of writing as long ago as the age of eight. For a variety of reasons, I never had the confidence to pursue my dream. Parallel to that, I knew I was gay from an early age, as well. Through my thirties and forties, I read a lot of gay writers, such as Edmund White, Andrew Holleran, Felice Picano, etc. and I knew it was possible to write about gay people without sex being the primary focus, even though our sexual orientation is what defines us as gay. I discovered Nifty back in the mid-nineties, even before it was a web site and I freely admit that I liked reading the porn on there. I decided, after spending thirty years writing and throwing away my efforts because I didn't think they were worthwhile, to try my hand at writing naughty stories for Nifty, which I first began posting in January 2002. My first efforts were absolutely dreadful, but I received a lot of compliments about the sex scenes. As I progressed, however, I began corresponding with people who were commenting on aspects of my stories other than the sex and my work became progressively less sexual. Cole Parker was one of those who early on encouraged me to evolve a little and move away from strictly sexual stories. I had started wanting to write porn that wasn't as crappy as most of what was on Nifty. I wanted to add a plot to it and make is something more than just a j/o story, yet still porn. That was my original thinking. But, with encouragement from Cole and others, I moved in another direction evolved, I suppose. ( I wonder how many writers here started off writing porn on Nifty or ASSGM or the other sites?)
Now, this might seem a little disjointed and not well thought out, and I apologize, but I am putting several thoughts together here.Part of the reason, and here I go getting personal, but I tend to feel rather self-conscious about sex. I admit that for many years, I, like many gay men, was rather promiscuous. Survivors of child abuse tend to do that. We seek validation through physical contact. But, strangely, I had a number of gay friends, but could never have sex with them. I could go out, have anonymous sex and THEN become friends with them, but not the other way around. One of the things I liked about Nifty when I first started writing there, was that I was anonymous. I could write pretty much what I wanted and it was fun and exciting to know people were getting off on what I was writing and I have didn't have to look them in the face and feel that shame I was taught to feel when I was nine. Then something horrible happened. I started becoming friends with some of my readers and I started feeling self-conscious and ashamed of my more sexual writing and started cutting down on it to the point that I actually quit writing altogether for awhile. Now, I am writing again and running into the same fears, shame, and insecurity, which seemed to be highlighted by the recent controversy, which I was dreadfully embarrassed about. I'm not bringing that back up, I am referring to sex in general. This point is, I love Awesome Dude, I love reading the stories here, and I think it's cool that so many talented and gifted writers are here. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the writers here are people who have made names for themselves in the real world. I like it here, but now I have the old dilemma. I feel self-conscious putting sex in a story intended for here.
I just received an email from a very talented young writer here who is reading Foxwood, one of my last stories, and mentioned that it had more sex than he expected, which surprised me because I thought it was one of my least sexual stories. However, I'm not sure now how to handle the issue of sex in the story I'm writing now. When I began writing on Nifty in 2002, I wanted to combine sex with so-called legitimate writing. Now, I feel self-conscious about it because you people sort of know me and I feel embarrassed about it, yet, I want you to think well of me and my writing, yet... I'm torn in both directions. I know that the guidelines state that story is more important and that sex should only be presented if it directly applies to the plot and helps move the story forward. And, I like that. That's good.
Do other writers here struggle with these issues? I want to write sex scenes, but I feel self-conscious about it now. How much sex is too much sex? Are sex scenes off-putting? I know there is probably a wide spectrum of belief on this subject and I have to admit-- though it might not seem so-- that I find this rather difficult to discuss and I am forcing myself to post this, but I would like to read your thoughts and comments on this. Thank you very much! (And, don't worry about hurting my feelings.
Say what you want! Please). -
Oh, my! Um, well. Yes. Ahem! Very nice.
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America remains in the 21st Century (almost)! The US Supreme Court has upheld President Obama's Affordable Health Care Act, including the Individual Mandate, coverage of pre-existing conditions, and no life-time limits on benefits! Only the requirement for states to participate in expanding Medicaid for the poor was struck down. That is unfortunate because the poor in America need that the most, but at least the Court has upheld the law! What is most shocking is that Bush appointee Chief Justice Roberts sided with the liberals and the moderate, Anthony Kennedy, sided with the conservatives. Good news. Think of the millions of lives that may be saved by this decision.
Of course, if America were truly civilized, we would follow Europe and every other industrialized nation on earth and recognize that health care is a right and not a luxury, as the Republicans seem to think, but this is still a good day for America!
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Sumner Redstone could probably do more good in the fight against bullying if he'd quit donating money to Republicans who claim that curbs on bullying are infringements of their religious freedom. One hundred thousand dollars for an anti-bullying hotline is good, but its value to Redstone in positive PR is greater.
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If your "fixed beliefs" and "parental authority" can be undermined through logic and reason, your beliefs are weak and your authority is questionable.
Eloquent, profound, and so very true.
Not complaining. Just curious. I just checked a member's profile and in his friends window, exactly half the friends had that avatar.
Say what you want! Please).Scan to donate
Anderson Cooper out at last
in News & Views
Posted
Anderson Cooper is one of my favorites and I have great respect for him. I understand why he hasn't made an issue of it in the past. Won't it be great in the future when it won't be a big deal or it won't even be necessary for a gay man to come out? I was very pleased to read about Don Lemon not only coming out but discussing the abuse he survived as a child. Lemon is someone else at CNN I particularly like.
As an aside, I found it interesting when Anderson Cooper admitted that he and Michael Jackson had been friends and that Michael had taken him to Studio 54 when he was only 10. I know, as F. Scott Fitzgerald said, the rich are different (and Dorothy Parker added, Yeah, they have more money), but it seemed strange that Studio would let a boy that young in, even if he was Gloria Vanderbilt's son and in the company of Michael Jackson.I don't know if I should read anything into this or not. He did add, "I suppose the child welfare authorities probably want to talk to my mom, now." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/25/anderson-cooper-remembers_n_221256.html