ChrisR

All books can be indecent books though recent books are bolder For filth, I'm glad to say, is in the mind of the beholder When correctly viewed Everything is lewd I can tell you things about Peter Pan And the Wizard of Oz is a Dirty Old Man! - - - SMUT by Tom Lehrer I am somewhat torn about the subject here. Yes, it would be nice to keep kids "protected" from bad things, but by the time they're in high school, usually age 14 and above, their innocence is likely already waning. On the other hand, why do so many of us obsess about the evils of sex while we glamorize violence? It is a conundrum. For starters though, every library in the world censors simply because no library in the world owns every book. They determine titles based on their local population. So parents should certainly expect school libraries to be mindful of the fact that students of various ages and maturity will be accessing the materials and should therefore stock their shelves wisely. The same with teachers' suggested/required reading lists; they should be compiled wisely. This carries even more weight when the family is expected to foot the bill for books at home. (Schools won't likely have 150 copies of each book on hand.) There are some books I've read, and more that I know of, that I might not care for my child to read. I'm damned sure not going to pay for them! Modern books, television, films, are indeed grittier than in the past. It's what sells. Should I then surrender to that inevitability and ignore the possibility that those media are contributory to the increased sexual activity and violence among kids? Should drug cartels, rapists, axe murderers, etc., be treated with the "It's only a book, sweetheart" response? I think not. In fairness, I remember being somewhat startled when our sophomore English teacher explained that Romeo and Juliet were likely about 14 years old. That made things much more interesting. And when he went on to explain that women weren't stage actors in the day, and Juliet was usually played by a young teen boy, it was great fun (and just as likely humiliating) figuring who'd make the best Juliet in our class. And a local PBS station put on a fascinating show about Shakespeare, extremely fast forwarding through his plays, counting how many people were dead, dying, raped, etc., as they went along. Shakey was definitely not Dr Seuss. Perhaps teachers could compromise somehow. At the beginning of the term, send home a list of proposed readings for the grading period and decide which books the student will/will not read. Along the lines of "Select 5 of the following 10 books for this year." One family's prejudice one way or the other would not then interfere with another's. But assigning "Fifty Shades of Grey" to a class of sophomores would likely not be a good idea. Well, not to most some at least a few of the parents.

A truly wonderful trilogy. Like life itself it has its wonderful moments as well as its dark periods. It is truly real. And being a Longhorn I can feel the whole thing happen, Thank you.

Even in the kids division you guys have some seriously beefy players! http://giphy.com/gifs/P5mjPVATKs0KY

Thanks for the suggestion, Lugnutz. Just finished the story and I'm looking on Amazon.com with no success. AARGHH!

And now, alas, the Final Chapter. Wonderfully done. Lucky for us Cole has titled it "First Year" so that must mean we'll be treated to Second, Third, Fourth, and The University Years! (or not)

And here's a great story about Troye helping a young fan make an announcement. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/troye-sivan-fan-coming-out_us_56e31198e4b0860f99d8efbf Of course today there are scores of Kelly's out there, boys and girls, vociferously claiming or denying!

So for you Anglophiles out there, a question. I've heard the song presented as "...England never never never shall be slaves" and "...Britain never never never shall be slaves." Is there a "proper" version?

Chris - I've just finished A Warrior's Promise and am in absolute awe at what you have created. I'm not surprised that you have chosen the story because it's one of the finest stories I've ever read. Now if only I could get to the Smithsonian and pick some locks...! Thank you for an incredible journey.

Sadly, a "murder" of journalists would likely be misconstrued.

And only today I've learned that you can't play "Tig" in Leeds! Fortunately they buried a secret decoder ring in the story. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leeds-35763938 Makes about as much sense as the youth soccer leagues that don't keep score so the kids won't feel bad. As though every mom, dad, and player isn't keeping score. (And wouldn't that be "football" in England and "footie" in Australia?)

Talk about a sad ending to the story. Jericho Scott was killed last April (2015) in a drive-by shooting at age 16. http://www.nhregister.com/article/NH/20150425/NEWS/150429644

More and more I'm picturing Frank as an old man sitting by the fire in his rocking chair, a couple of wide-eyed nephews or grandkids crowded around listening to one of those fabulous grandpa tales nobody else can tell. And loving every minute of it!

There is indeed often inconsistency in American terms. If it's too noisy I want the kids shut up, and I want the engine shut down. Our terms are often different from UK terms, while theirs are different to ours. It is possible for your American mom to get "onto" you about something, but more likely she'll get "on your case" or "all over you". But if she's "on to" you it means she's figured out your sneakiness. Gotta love language.

As good a summary of Election 2016 as I've read, James. Scary Horrifying thing is that one of them is likely to be our next president.

Chris James - In the immortal words of Charles Dudley Warner, "Politics makes strange bedfellows." And in this case, moreso than anything ever seen before. As unbelievable as this may sound, it seems that you have something in common with the Westboro Baptist Church! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-westboro-baptist-church_us_56ddae67e4b0000de405349e :shock: :shock: :shock:

A question for the Aussies here. Mardi Gras is traditionally celebrated on the days leading up to the beginning of Lent. So in most places, that's long past. What is the start point of Mardi Gras Australia style unless it's to take over when the first bunch of party-goers sobers up?

I stand corrected, Colin. Reviewing the assortment of counters out there it seems the US population growth estimate has quite a range and the one I grabbed during his speech is near the top. Your figure is even generous compared to the US Census showing only 14.5 million growth during Obama's years! And if Obamacare has served to get 8-14 million people into the healthcare arena, more power to it.

Hadn't heard of this one before. CBS reports three upperclassmen boys (17 years old) raped a freshman boy (14 years old) with a broomstick but it was okay (to them) because it was Thursday. From the article: "No Gay Thursday," according to Hogan, meant things that would normally be considered gay were not gay when done by upperclassmen to underclassmen in the locker room, CBS Philadelphia reports. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/pennsylvania-high-school-football-players-sexual-assault-freshman-locker-room/

And if you've not seen John Oliver's Last Week Tonight story on Donald Trump, you're missing a news/comedy masterpiece, so here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnpO_RTSNmQ If you then listen to Mitt Romney's assault on the Donald earlier in the day, you'll find he damn near plagiarized Oliver!

Damn you! My whole life has been spent ignoring, avoiding, despising poetry as mere trash. As some guy put it, "A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." Then you come along and write stuff that has meaning. Damn you. Damn you're good!

Thanks for your followup, Joe. What startles me is that Boy First Class Cornwall is only the third youngest recipient of the Victoria Cross. Two other soldiers aged 15yr3mo were also awarded it but one of their birthdays isn't clear so there's no "first" or "second". Oddly, the youngest American to receive the Medal of Honor was 11-year-old Willie Johnston during the Civil War. His was also the second such medal ever awarded. Willie was a drummer boy and when his division was overrun and ordered to retreat he actually held on to his drum while most soldiers tossed everything and ran. He ended up the only drummer in the entire division to keep his drum. Reportedly, President Lincoln heard the story and authorized the medal. I wonder how much the tale had to do with Disney's film "Johnny Shiloh" a century later. Like you I get a lump in my throat when I recall the youth, the bravery, and the wasted lost lives of this child soldiers and sailors.

Brilliantly played. But I'm left wondering how long Cole has been the spokesman for the legal profession?!

Extremely powerful. Thank you for writing and posting it.

Ages 16 and 17 were comparatively old in comparison to ships' boys of the sailing era. Most men of war had a fairly large complement of boys aged 8-12 who, among other tasks, served as "powder monkeys". They would run below to the powder magazine and grab bags of powder and bring them to the deck to service the guns. Their small size and speed made them invaluable, but also made them prime targets for enemy Marine sharpshooters: take out a boy, you take out an entire gun. And of course officers in training, midshipmen, often started their service aboard ship by age 12. btw - If you ever visit USS Constitution in Boston, don't call the boys 'powder monkeys' in front of the folks in the [civilian] museum. They've declared the term "insensitive" i.e. politically incorrect, and use the official title 'Pass Powder' instead. They claim the term was never used aboard any ship and was invented by writers a century later. This despite an existing letter from Lady Emma Hamilton to her boyfriend - Adm. Horatio Nelson - after the Battle of the Nile in which she said she'd rather have been a powder monkey on one of Nelson's ships than the richest woman in England. (In those days, if the term was in the British navy, it was in the American navy.)

England wasn't the only ones to use dummy airfields. The Luftwaffe got quite good about doing the same thing and they suckered in a number of missions until Allied photo interpretation improved considerably. In one instance a German airfield was created complete with bunkers and wooden mockups of several dozen German "aircraft" almost camouflaged in an effort to give it realism. The Allies sent over a fighter escort with a single bomber that dropped a stick of wooden bombs right down the middle of the field.