ChrisR

Question for Pedro: I know the standard Rubaiyat follows the AABA format. Your work seems to take it to a delightful new level in which one verse's 'B' becomes the following verse's 'A'. Is there a specific name for the format or is it simply Rubaiyat On Steroids?

Perhaps that ten year spell helped the tale build its character and style, because it's truly a charming story. The characters are quite three dimensional, believable, and enjoyable. And the pacing is right in parallel with a sailing adventure as well, so I'd call it a perfect brew. I much look forward to more!

Thirty years and three inquests later, they finally figured it was murder that left a naked gay man lying at the bottom of a cliff. http://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/courts-law/scott-johnson-inquest-coroner-finds-1988-death-was-gay-hate-attack/news-story/1e501d650a009d574fd121a8ca4e92ff

You could do well to broaden your scope to say that professions that work with children have a higher rate of child abusers than others. Sort of, 'no duh!' Yes, that includes religious 'leaders' but extends to others such as teachers and various youth group leaders. What I've found disturbing of late is the gender twisting that has become painfully apparent. Specifically, when an adult male has inappropriate relations with a girl, it is generally called sexual assault or rape. But when it's an adult female having inappropriate relations with a boy, well that's a "tryst" or a "romp" or a "fling". Apparently boys are not negatively affected by such...um...events. Right? My 'favorite' news story in the last week read: "Married substitute teacher, 26, accused of 'bathrobe man cave sex' with her teen boy student" In the story it included: "Afterward, the teacher led the teen upstairs to her room where he said she sexually assaulted him. That same week the teenager went back to Moran’s residence where they had sex a second time." ]] I'm familiar with the idea of romps and trysts, but don't really want to know about "bathrobe cave man sex". And he returned to be further assaulted? So without trying to defend the guilty, there are lots of decent priests, teachers and coaches out there. Perhaps I might want to ask, where are the parents?

Yeah. Piece of cake, right? :) Congrats!

Thank you for the recommendation, Cole, and for the beautiful craftsmanship, Alien. Both stories, Worst Day and Another Day, are glorious tales. They're a magnificent reminder that writing stories well is somehow a cross between prose and poetry. And can still awaken long-forgotten emotions. Brilliantly done!

It gets to a point that anything the man says is mocked, which isn't really fair. Without looking it up, how any people here could say how many countries there are in the world? (And if you look it up in a book more than 72 hours old, it's likely wrong.) Sure, comedians are having a field day. Rightfully so. But let's not get carried away with how literally and seriously we take each and every comment from the Twitterer-in-chief. Just maybe this was The Donald making a funny.

You may have been one of those rare kids who thought for himself and acted upon it, but God knew you would!!

I find it troubling in this era of "equal treatment" of males and females that, quite frankly, there isn't. Especially involving children. Not surprisingly this is most obvious on Fox, but it's not limited there. Just for some headline examples [emphasis mine]: SUMMARY: "More charges possible for woman accused of tryst with underage boy students after lewd video surfaces" [tryst] "Teacher’s aide at school for troubled accused of sex romp with 14-year-old boy she met on bus" [romp] "Married teacher, 26, accused of raunchy basement fling with teen student" [fling] "Married substitute teacher, 26, accused of 'bathrobe man cave sex' with her teen boy student" [say WHAT?] and as the story details it... "Afterward, the teacher led the teen upstairs to her room where he said she sexually assaulted him. That same week the teenager went back to Moran’s residence where they had sex a second time." How CBS19 Reports a story: http://www.cbs19.tv/news/etx-school-counselor-arrested-for-improper-student-relationship-sexual-assault-of-child/486243960 but How Drudge Report headlines it: Elementary school counselor accused of sex romp with students... So at least Fox and Drudge seem to feel if it's a boy with a female teacher, that's a Romp or a Tryst. But if it's anybody with a male teacher, that's like, ya know, a crime. I'm still wondering what it takes to qualify as a "dalliance."

President Clinton was actually charged with two criminal acts, Perjury and Obstruction of Justice. They were pretty flimsy charges at best and rightfully adjudicated as such. The whole "Perjury" charge was in fact based on his infamous quote "It depends on what the meaning of 'is' is", but when his denials came under oath that moved into criminal law territory. At least Andrew Johnson's charges had some substance to them, but in the aftermath of the US Civil War and assassination of Lincoln the country didn't need another crisis. (And Nixon bailed out before Congress got around to specific charges.) So in both previous impeachments people got the criminal charges sorted out before calling for heads. This time, that has yet to be the case, and as such makes it all look like a personality clash instead of a legal claim. And the Legislative Branch of the US Government is no place to resolve personality clashes!

Just out of curiosity, what are the "Treason, Bribery, or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors" with which Mr. Trump is being charged as per Article 2 of the US Constitution? Is he a bar-none jerk? Of course. An idiot? In terms of human relations and many other categories, most definitely. Not my choice? Absolutely. But the US Constitution doesn't offer a "do-over" clause. Trump was elected in accordance with that Constitution for a four-year term and I suspect the Founding Fathers are having themselves a good laugh (or cry) right about now. At the very least I'd suggest that the American Electorate is as self-conscious and disappointed in itself as ever since 1776. Maybe next time we'll do better - and I don't mean Oprah! And NO, for the record, Mr. Trump did not, would not, will not ever receive my vote.

Reading the original article I'm struck by yet another similarity. Those who remember the original Bad News Bears movie might recall that in the last inning Buttermaker tells Stein to lean into the ball and take one for the team. The only salient difference is that in BNB the final inning is the sixth rather than the ninth. And brace yourselves -- it was released 41 years ago. Completely "novel" novels are far scarcer than hens' teeth. Just like sayings.

Thank you, Nicholas, for this magnificent gem.

Nigel - Never let reality get in the way of a good story! :)

Ooooh! Shaken, not heard! All tweens should be so resourceful and self reliant. Another great chapter in the not-so-quiet life of the deep South.

Wouldn't that make him a Rooster Wing?

Chris - Thank you for the posting. Sadly it's not that rare to find patients woefully mistreated in schools, hospitals, or anywhere else a bad happenstance takes place. I spent my first three years after college working as an EMT-A in a small town rural setting, and have been a part of the good, bad, and ugly brew which is "emergency medicine". Stories? Oh yeah. Many. But it's infinitely better now than, say, 50 or 60 years ago when funeral homes provided the service and their hearses were the ambulances. That doesn't mean it doesn't have a long way to go. Colin is right that there's plenty of blame to go around: coach, doctor, school district, hospital. Perhaps people have learned something. I even wonder if anybody thought to do a culture at the site where the boy was hurt in the first place to see what could be lurking there still. But I hate to put too much "blame" on folks who may have been doing their best. A two-bandaid cut doesn't seem like much in an active boy's life. The issue with "referred pain" can fool even the most learned doctor. Failure to follow up on a stat blood culture? That's more serious and seems a violation of normal protocol. Want to bet there was a shift change in there? The story is an ugly one with no real solution. But we can hope that there have been lessons learned. And we can pray for Rory's family.

Mathematicians are overrated. They can't even spell "googleplex" correctly! :-)

I was actually wondering about the animals. When I was a lil'un we visited Miami and what was then Parrot Jungle. For years we had the obligatory photo of boy (moi) being weighted down by seven parrots. Those suckers were heavy! Hope they (or their descendents) made it through.

ChrisR here - all is well. I'm out in the boonies of west-central Texas and no storm would have the audacity to come pester us here. Fortunately, a few friends in the Houston/Galveston area have checked in doing fine as well. Thanks forchecking!

Thanks for the humor section, Chris. There's a sweet irony that most churches I've seen carry insurance. Seems like the old saying, "In God we trust. All others pay cash" should cover things - especially those listed as Acts of God ! Don't those of a religious persuasion look to nature as the manifestation of God? Job 1:21 reminds us that "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away." But now those same churches expect FEMA to replaceth the Lord. In a rather classic legal case, however, that theory was found wanting: " A woman in Cherokee County, North Carolina left her entire estate to God. The court instructed the county sheriff to find the beneficiary. A few days later, the sheriff returned and submitted his report: 'After due and diligent search, God cannot be found in this county.' " [ https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth45880/m1/10/ 27 May 1954]

The death of a child, particularly at the child's own hands, is always horrific. The cause for that child's actions, and ways to avoid its repetition in future. must be identified and responses put in place as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, unless that child has left a detailed explanation behind, we are grasping at straws. In this case, as in most, that child's explanation seems to be absent. Age 16 is not an uncommon age for big events in a teen's life. Depending on where one is, there's the Sweet Sixteen birthday party, Driver's license, Curfew relaxation, etc. A suicide in the preceding year, then, indicates serious problems about the child's own self-assessment of the future. Looking in from the outside, then, is the only pathway to understanding the child's actions. There are many questions to be answered, all requiring speculation backed only by wide and wild interpretation. Some of the questions might include: 1. How did she make the decision that she wanted to be a he? 2. Once making the decision and receiving parental approval, why did he continue attending an all-girls school? 3. Did he maintain the same friendships as she had previously or were there significant changes? 4. What is the possibility that the desire for the change was transient but became evidently irreversible and the child felt trapped? 5. Where were his/her friends during this period of time? 6. What was the school administration's response to the initial change announcement? (See also #2) 7. Were any outside professionals involved in the discussion or was the girl's declaration accepted as adequate? These are just a few that come to mind at the outset of evaluating things. Likely not more than a thousand additional inquiries out there somewhere. But it's sad to think that in a world where a teen cannot legally drive, vote, smoke or drink, that same teen can make a relatively irreversible, life-changing decision about gender. This is one I think would be best put off until the boy or girl is a full adult and has a few more years of life experience to back that decision.

A fascinating jaunt through reality, fantasy, and multiple universes. Well done. This is truly an ongoing wild ride. In the matter of one of the photos, all I could think of was the immortal line, "The minute your son leaves the house, does he rebuckle his knickerbockers belooooow the knee?"

And with that last line, I think I'm already in love with Colin!

Two things in the news this week have grabbed my attention for less-than-stellar reasons and I just wonder why some things change and others stay the same. The two issues are fairly unrelated except in their time frame. For starters, there were [at least] two national news articles about teen boys being molested by their female middle/high school teachers. But as has been the story for years, the incidents are not known as "rape" or "molestation". Oh no. These cases are defined as a "romp" and a "tryst" for the boys. Considering that, had genders been reversed, there's no doubt it would have been universally decried as "RAPE!" - is it me or is there a pretty serious dichotomy here? The second item is a rather sharp upturn in well-known performers coming out of their respective closets and announcing their... flexibility?... in gender identification. What has me mildly curious is the fact that several of these "newly out" folks are people who seem more interested in restarting their stalled careers, such as Aaron Carter and Thomas Dekker. Now that "Gay, Etc." is seen as positive, how much is real and how much is simply casting a wider net for fans?