Chris James

Very Clever! Some people adapt nature to their needs quite well while others of us have forgotten how that is done.

I can empathize with Mississippi, Alabama and perhaps even Texas. But the problem with illegal entry into the US has been with us for a century or more. Our politicos have known about it just as long and done nothing because they were paid to ignore the issue. As we hear time and again, its all about the money, and boy is that right. It isn't just Mexicans, half of Central and South America looked north and said I want a piece of that pie. With corrupt governments, most of those countries allowed their economies to go down the drain and Mr. & Mrs. Hispanic had children to feed. (Too many children in fact, thanks to the Catholic Church and their stand on contraception) The US looked like the land of opportunity. Those big farm corporations welcomed the illegals and immediately began abusing them. But it was good for business (that would be 'bidness' to the folks in Texas). Greed created our illegal immigrant problem, just as greed has killed the manufacturing base that built this nation. I read a report not too long ago by the power authorities in New York State which said that if one of the major generators at a power plant couldn't be fixed with spare parts that it could not be replaced for two years. The reason: we don't make them here anymore, they would have to be imported from Eastern Europe or China. What a sad state of affairs our greed has wrought. As for this illegal immigrant problem in Alabama, I suppose we will find out by next spring when the crops come up what they have done to themselves...and by proxy, to the rest of us. Of course Colin has it right, we will just import more overpriced produce from other countries. You know, those guys who use pesticides we banned decades ago. Perhaps we will enjoy killing ourselves with the food we eat. Since the number of legal Spanish speaking individuals keeps on growing I would suggest we make teaching that language to our students manditory. They are not going away.

I suppose I might add that I lived in North Carolina for twenty years so I am familiar with the immigrant population. Those I met who work in the construction trades pay taxes just like everyone else. I know there is a lot of noise about immigrants taking the jobs away from citizens and working at lower wages. I found that to be untrue. Most of these guys were making scale from $12 to $15 and hour. They would arrive on the job at sunrise and work until dusk in 90 plus degree weather so I imagine most of us would feel uncomfortable doing that. But they were task oriented and I never had reason to complain when they got the job done. You have to see Hispanic farm workers out in the tobacco fields to appreciate a terrible job, but they do what is needed. A tobacco worker has to wear rain gear to keep the juice from the plants off their skin or they will get sick. Try wearing a yellow rain slicker in 90 degree temperatures under a hot sun. Cotton picking, planting crops, harvesting fruit, raising and butchering the meat and poultry, they do it all so we can go to the grocery store and buy our food. Wages are set by corporations. I doubt if many citizens would do those jobs. I doubt in about thirty years there will be many Hispanic people doing them either. Education is the way out of these menial jobs and the numbers of educated children of farm workers is rising. Fifty years ago the South was complaining about lazy black workers, a legacy of the racial inequity below the Mason-Dixon line. Many of those in the black population got out through education when the balance of civil rights changed. It's a cycle of change that is inevitable. I once had a black co-worker tell me that the American colonies made their biggest mistake by allowing slavery to flourish when all the best workers were right here across the border in Mexico. I doubt any of those Alabama politicos would spend even one day working the fields. They don't have to since the corporations who put them in office are the ones who encourage illegal immigration in the first place. The South needs to get over the hypocracy of blaming their ills on immigrants.

Thought I might like to mention I am following this serialized story by Michael and look forward to the new chapters as they post. I know he has written other stories in this vein with complicated characters and plots all entangled with one another. I am enjoying the archeological knowledge contained within the story, both fact and fiction. Having my fun trying to figure out where this is going. But although I often labor at my historical references I am delighted by how familiar Michael seems to be with his. He does have me at an advantage by placing the story so far in the past. The history may be fictional but the setting that surrounds his characters appears so real, it takes me there. Perhaps not your average romantic and adventurous fare, but that is all good, it's uplifting. And perhaps I should go back and plug the first two stories of this series available on Michael's home page, well worth reading. My thanks to Michael for offering these delights of another time and place to us all.

I have to feel sorry for you if you live in America's most backward state. Yeah I know, West Virginia has always had that reputation but they aren't this dumb: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44999117/ns/us_news-life/ It is interesting to note that state and federal laws prohibit discrimination based upon ethnic and racial lines. Probably why all the LBGT kids get picked on and nothing happens to the bullies. But wait, maybe Mexican is the new scapegoat for the ignorant folks of Alabama. Would that be a reprieve for the gays? The new laws they passed have scared the hell out of the Hispanic community and thousands are fleeing the state. Wonder who is going to pick the crops next spring? Sure won't be some smart ass redneck with a Confederate flag on his bumper. I imagine there are a lot of folks in the state who think this Mexican bashing is just good clean fun. The laughing will stop when the shelves in the grocery stores are empty and the farms all fail. That will be when the God's Own Party has some 'splanin to do. Such good Christian charity. Ya'll have a nice day, ya hear? Idiots!

A further point, it seems I was wrong or did not find this information yesterday. Jamie was getting attention for his depression, it just wasn't enough: http://brodylevesque.blogspot.com/2011/10/brodys-notes-conservative-members-of.html

I was disturbed by the various articles I have found on this subject. It seems that Jamie Hubley had been posting about his depression for months. The subject of ending it all had come up several times and yet...no one seems to have reported this to anyone in authority. He speaks of having several close friends who must have known that his thoughts were close to the edge, why didn't they do anything? I think if someone I knew had said "I want to kill myself" I would take that at face value. Friends should have called his parents, a counselor at school, or at least 9-1-1. Better to do something proactive then nothing at all. I would not care if he got mad, at least he would be alive to be angry. I am sad and more than a little angry every time I read one of these suicide stories. Yes, being an outcast in high school can be hell. But Canada seems to have a better response system for things like this then we do here in the U.S. Does this mean their system is broken too? For too long we have allowed this issue of bullying to remain under wraps. Bullies need to be expelled or thrown in jail without exception. The disruption these episodes cause in the classroom is the worst crime. Bullying is a detriment to the educational goals of a school and there is no greater crime on campus. America is failing the best and brightest students, and many of them are quite often gay or lesbian.

Contrived humor doesn't always occur to me, but when it happens naturally I am usually shocked. I wrote a story with a young character named John Bateman and during a formal introduction to an elder adult character the man bowed to the boy and said, "Welcome, Master Bateman." I stared at that a while, laughed a lot and decided not to change the boy's name. He became "Master John" because I didn't want to derail the story...but I could have. Sometimes we have to kill the urges to be clever.

Good for him, at least his response to the tragedy of Jamey's death may have some positive effects on others.

Sweet, Camy, very sweet. Don't we all love a story with a twist, a surprise and a romantic ending. Abondanza, its all in there! Hugs, Chris

Oh yeah, the birthday inspired this....thanks, Lugnutz. I have been 29 for the past 33 years according to my father. His comment on my state of mind, but he says it with love. As for that p in the middle of the night, don't they have pills for that. I ought to find out, my time is fast approaching.

Ahh, vwl...Master and Commander is such a realistically beautiful film. Yes, I have read all 26...or is it 27, of Mr. O'Brian's books in that series. Now there is a man who knew how to do his research and had no qualms about pinching a bit of history for his fiction. Fact laid bare is the objective of any good researcher and nothing gives fiction more character. True moments in history are often colored by the words used to describe them and so the writer is often engaged in a moderate amout of fiction within the context of the events. At least this holds true for ancient history prior to the modern age of media and the YouTube video. My concerns with documenting events through social media is that the form is not lasting. When we have lost the means to express the important moments of time in a common language then how are we to capture that knowledge? I research my subjects through words on the page and images, often photographs, that inspire the thoughts. I would be lost without books to guide me. In that I probably understand the romantic quality of Mr. O'Brian's writing because his love of the subject is quite apparent. I think you have to be in love with what you write beyond the natural attraction for the characters. I feel comfortable characterizing what I write as adventure/romance. The two seem to be a part of the whole in my mind and so I am committed to casting my stories in that mold. Hmm, perhaps committed is a wee bit too close to the bone.

I know GW will have an answer to this. Certanly Lugnutz or Camy will have something to say. If wisdom is something you attain with age, why isn't the object of attaining that knowledge called wisedom? Perhaps it is just a myth. I get older but not wiser although I am a smart ass.

Thank you, Cole. I wanted to reply in some detail and thought, I cannot speak of certain things here since some of the readers will think I'm spoiling the read. So zip...I will take thie discussion off to The Green Room...

Frank died yesterday...it was like losing a member of the family. http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2011/10/promine...eny-dies-at-86/ Before you think we were close friends I will say we were not, everyone called him Frank. He was everywhere in Washington, D.C...everywhere gay. I first met him at an AIDS march in the early eighties, I think it was the very first one held. A year later we talked at a friend's house and again I saw him at talk he gave in a gay bookstore. Frank used to tell it like it is. He was one of the first outspoken members of the gay community, a role forced upon him by his firing as a government employee for being gay. He was a sage, a wonderful speaker and the force behind the Mattachine Society, Washington's first gay rights organization. No doubt he had quite an ego, but he needed one after what happened to him. You can see that in some of the videos posted online. But he was a kind man, a caring man, and everything a gay man ought to be. He used that power to grab headlines, to inspire the fight for gay rights. He rallied people to the cause, he cried at funerals and like the rest of us he lost many friends. He will be missed.

Thank you Lugnutz. My head felt like your arse by the time I was done researching for this story. This was the first in-depth look at Native America I wrote and I wanted all the facts to support the fiction. It did in fact take months of reading, wading through books, online sources and two films I found at the library. I even needed some maps and a copy of the Constitution. All of that was necessary because much of what I found was suspect and in the New Age category. It was like reading a hippie manifesto from the 60's about Indians. Someone's stoned out view of Native lore whould have made a shambles of this and the second story that came from the research. Okay, Warrior's Promise was written first but published second. Nathaniel Smiley (Iomfats) came second and has a lot more fantasy because the information on the Cherokee was far easier to find and manipulate for the fiction. (Sorry, hope you don't mind the plug for the other story) The Oneida remain pretty obscure, except for the Polly Cooper story and that rock... So here I am explaining something that many have yet to see so I will shut up for now. Let's just say those who do their homework write a better story.

Everybody needs a Bob

EWW, thanks for ruining my appetite. Arnold seems to have let himself go. The young man over his shoulder is his son Patrick so at least there is one handsome man left in that family

Ah-nold has finally done it. No, he didn't take acting lessons, it wouldn't do him any good. And no, the US Congress is not going to change the Constitution so he can run for president...especially not after this. http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/...-home-dedicated There are too many photos to post here, and most of them are embarassing, especially for those of you who once called him govenor. Grin and bear it. Mr. Terminator has finally gone over the top. Just be thankful, this museum is not in Sacramento. The only thing I can really say is what you can plainly see for yourself in the first photo of the statue, Arnold is circumcised. The looks on the faces in the crowd seem to run from generally numb to completely stunned. Guess you folks on the West Coast know how that feels.

College...I remember those days...dinosaurs roamed the earth and diplomas were etched in stone. I avoided the pretty boys and decided that the quiet ones were a better choice. They would be called geeks today, but they were the unculled crop and surprisingly willing partners. Rednecks may look cute but after rolling in the bed of that pickup truck what could we talk about? Post-coitus I would prefer to have a conversation of the intelligent kind. But to each his own.

And here we are after years of mainstream religious groups attacking gay marriage and pushing laws in various American states to deny gay couples the basic rights of other citizens. The people with NOM and other right wing organizations must be so proud of the money they make from scaring the public into thinking that gay marriage will bring about the End Times. A fools business. But here is the proper approach to ending the religious persecution of gay couples that want to be joined in marriage and receive the same consideration as every other citizen: http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2011/09/29/relig...-faith-freedom/ It was only a matter of time before the gay friendly churches like the Unitarians, the MCC and the liberal Jewish groups came up with something like this, and it makes sense. If the big bad Catholic church is going to play bully in the field of gay marriage, and it has spent millions in the process, let them take on the Unitarians in court. What works in Scotland will work here in the US, and why not? If thousands of members of the Unitarian faith, members of the MCC and Jewish faiths were to file suit against NOM and their ilk for denial of constitutional rights I could see that battle going to the Supreme Court...or at least they would refuse to hear it allowing a lower court ruling to stand. Let's see how well arguements by the Catholic, Baptist and other major religious powers stand up to a public airing of their fight to discriminate outside of their church community. Any faith has the right to ban gay marriage within the narrow minded confines of their church. But to deny other churches the right to embrace gay marriage is a foolish move that can only backfire. The sooner the better. Note: I am not interested in gay marriage, never have been, for myself. I don't eat at McDonalds either but I can see no valid reason to close the restaurant if others find it acceptable. Marriage is a personal choice, gay, straight or otherwise. The sooner this religious battle is fought the better, then we can move on to undermining those right wing fools who have passed state laws banning gay marriage.

Okay, one final comment about the language. I learned English from French-Canadien Christian brothers of the Catholic faith in a private school during the primary school years. Just saying it like that ought to give you a clue, Canadien is the French way of saying Canadian and either is correct. I had six years of English and French with some basic Latin thrown in for good measure. It has had an effect on the way I write ever since. There is a great difference between public and private school education, a lot of that is from the focus on language (or is it alot of that?) But although English grammar has a very large set of rules to follow, spelling seems to be without rules, at least in our times. I learned to spell it 'theatre' instead of 'theater.' Now I can accept that theatre is a place where they stage plays and a theater is where they show movies, but that is not what I originally learned. The change was forced by American schools and the teachers who kept telling me I was wrong. I bent to the rules to achieve a better grade, but it felt wrong. I used odd words found in English speech for years, that would be British English, and I had an accent until my first years of high school. So I am not one to accept changes gracefully, but I often have to choose my words carefully. Language is our best means of communication and I dread the suggestion that it will degenerate into a free-for-all mash up of words that follow trends rather than rules. GW, I am afraid you are right, but then a hundred years from now it won't be my issue anymore.

We all make mistakes, after all we are human...except for those of you here with fur or feathers...or six editors to comb through the work. Woe the writer who depends upon spell checker. I want to meet the fool who compiled that word list, I have a few choice words for him and I know how to spell them. We just don't educate the masses well enough anymore and language is degenerating into Net-Speak. There is no LOL about that. Formatting is another issue. I used the word 'protege' in a story this past summer and when posted (to another site) it gave me: protégé. What's up with that? I now know that a writer must be careful and not use words with extreme accents or even foreign language knockoffs. But have you picked up a newspaper lately? My father worked as a journalist for damn near thirty years and resigned only when the news company wanted to make him Editor in Chief of that particular bureau. Editors only get to plow through the work of others, he didn't want that job. It seems that these days there is little human editing going on before printing the news. Now the reporters self edit, spell check and then shift the story to an editor/proofreader who seems to miss a great deal of the errors. When the language degenerates to the point of nonsense I suppose we could always go back to picture books, they fit well on an iPad screen. Our eyes are scanning more and more junk these days, but I appreciate an author who checks his work carefully. Don't we all?

This is a really great story...I wish I had written it. I did send Cole a private message about the story but then I saw this thread and knew I had to say something public. If he wanted Cole could be a master chef, he certainly knows how to assemble a winning recipe of words. Tryouts contains all the ingredients a reader wants to see in a story about gay youth. The angst of a boy struggling with his identity, the bullies who make his decisions so much harder, and the loving family and friends who embrace his decisions and allow the boy to become the hero in his life. What a positive message for the young readers who find their way to awesomedude. The story delivers a strong message of support: stand up for yourself and everything will turn out for the best. That is something we all need to stress in our work. Thanks for the baseball lesson

It was only a matter of time before the whackos at the American Family Association would go after the freedom of choice given to Americans by that bastion of flavorful fashion...Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream. What? http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/entertainment/...parent-boycott/ We are a nation at war and this Million Moms organization is worried about ice cream flavors not the American sons and daughters in uniform facing the real enemy of democracy. No, these dememted ladies are attacking an ice cream company with the same zeal that their parent organization the AFA goes after gay rights advocates. I find this laughable since all it will do is boost sales for Ben & Jerry's. If these Moms want to attack something as obscene they should take Michelle Bachmann to task for posing with a corn dog in her mouth much like a scene I once saw in a John Holmes porno film. (Uh, not that I watched those things, I was just passing through the room, he he). Corn dogs are obscene, especially with Bachmann in the picture. Next it will be cucumbers or eggplant. Dr. Freud would have a field day with that. The AFA has finally come up with something more usless than their rants about gay lifestyle. They have given us a Million Moms without an intelligent thought in their heads. Hands off my ice cream, ladies!