Cole Parker

Other titlles suggest themselves:Hitting on My DoctorGiving My Doctor the Needle as he Gives it to MeMy Turn with My Doctor, Balls and AllMy Prostrate Exam: "Hey Doc, is that your Finger?"

Great article, Fritz. C

Inspired writing, Des. Must have been a subject you're fond of. And think about a lot. It showed a comfort level that seemed due to familiarity with the subject.C

Hey, how did I get pulled into this rather unseemly and, if I can say it, sticky thread?Decorum, gentlemen. This stie oozes decorum.Or used to.C

I think a better title for you, Des, is not 'the first' but 'the only.' One must keep his hopes alive. C

I think a mitigating factor that should be considered, however, is that attendance at school is mandatory. This means, if people wear deliberately offensive message-bearing shirts, those offended, or targeted, are forced to view them, to be in their presence, perhaps many times during the day. This makes wearing the shirt at school different from, say, at a movie theather, where the person offended has the liberty to simply leave. I think the schools have a repsonsibility to see their attendees are not harmed, or attacked, physically or psychologically, or are not subject to this sort of mental abuse, while on campus. C

Des, stop hitting on the younger guys! It's unseemly.And makes us older guys jealous.C

I'll leave it to The Wibcat to worry about TTDs. He's an expert in that sort of thing, and discussing all the permutations thereof. I, on the other hand, have a legitimate question.You said a while ago that you were practice teaching, and loving it. When I took teacher training many years ago--training that came to nought--we had practice teaching in the last year. Yet you said you still have another year to go, so you did classroom training in either your sophomore or junior years? Is that right? That seems early to me.But could you fill me it a little? Are you still becoming a teacher? I think you'd be magnificent at that.C

I can answer that question for myself, and don't find it terribly difficult. Yes, any effort made to foment a better world is worthwhile. I think in many ways we define ourselves to ourselves and others in how we asnwer this question, and how we act upon it. It's much like asking, if you can do something wrong and profit from it directly, or do something good and have no one know about it, which would you choose? Your answer helps you to know who you are. Efforts made on behalf of making a better world don't have to be of planetary impact to count, do they? If you see an old lady drop a twenty dollar bill out of her change purse, pick it up and hand it back to her, you're introducing kindness, compassion and goodness into the world. Isn't that making the world better? Isn't most anything we do that's good making the world a better place? Isn't cheating someone doing the opposite? Isn't taking advantage of someone's lack of knowledge, maturity, wisdom or credulity making the world a worse place? What we do matters, maybe on a very small, very local level, but it matters, and to a very great degree, it matters to us. It defines us. So to me, the question is easy to answer. Any effort made to make the world a better place is worth the effort, for the world itself, and for us as individuals. C

Excellent, Jakob. Excellent. Thanks. C

I wish I understood the ground rules better. I'd love to enthusiastically endorse a petition to encourage another Anything We Want story, especially one whose title ends with '- Dana.' But, should I do this? I think I can because it isn't a story yet, and so doesn't mess with the prohibition of discussing a Driver story. Yet, I feel I'm skirting the issue in the way a shifty lawyer would. I don't want to annoy anyone, and certainly not an author whose writing I so deeply admire. I'm still confused. C

If we all chip in, do you think we could bribe him to write five more chapters? C

I for one can wait two days for excellence. But this was only my suggestion. I don't want to put words in anyone else's mouth. C

I'd shake on that. C

I had no idea Driver didn't want his work discussed. I knew he was private, that he didn't take mail, that he didn't reply to mail, but I had no idea he disliked people discussing his work on-line. That's entirely different from an author not wanting any personal interface with his readers, and not something I could or would have assumed; and in fact, I didn't. I may not have speculated on the point of his current story had I known that. However, I was writing in defense of it. I guess, if someone doesn't want his work mentioned, analyzed or discussed, he might also object to someone defending it? This is getting very confusing. C

Hey, the boils are all gone now. Mostly, at least. C

I really find it strange that someone would want no feedback at all. If that's totally true, then why is he posting his story? He evidently wants people to read it. But then he doesn't want to know what they thought of it? How very weird that seems. I certainly don't have an abundance of self-confidence, and I think a lot of authors share that trait, but when I put a lot of effort, and incidentally a lot of myself, into a story, I'd like to know if people enjoyed it, and if not, why not. Is there a reason other than that they're afraid of rejection why they wouldn't want feedback? I can't think of one. C

Man, I've just seen the ultimate definition of 'desperate'! So, Wib, you don't pay attention to slight cases of leprosy, pestulent boils or dripping catarrh? You don't care if they have halitosis so bad you have to wear a gas mask while doing the deed? It's perfectly fine with you if they're sporting a Hannibal Lecter full-body restraint system and snarling insane patter in tongues? That's desperate, man. Truly desperate. Wanna go out tonight? C

I think Trab's got an ending all figured out at this point and it would be a shame not to let him go forth. I vote Trab. C

Thanks for putting it in perspective, Trab!C

Great article. Thanks, Jack. I'm sending the link to friends in England. C

Thanks, Des, but remember, this was pure speculation on my part. I'm probably still in need of a towel. C

I'm going to say something here that kind of goes against the grain of my sentiments. I'm going to speculate about this story, and I don't normally do that. I don't much like people speculating about where my storeis are going while they're still going. I like people to figure out the story themselves. So for me to do this is atypical, but necessary to address the concern already mentioned in this thread. In my opinion, one of the purposes of this story is to show the effects of having and not having money. It's also to show the relative value and worth of money. Driver is a very careful craftsman; his writing has always been excellent, his plots well thought out, his logic unimpeachable. If he's throwing an absurd amount of money for a ransom demand into this story, I think it's because it's part of the story's purpose, to show that no matter how much money is involved, it's far less important than a human life. Also, that a huge amount of money for the rest of us is not the same if it's small change for it's owner. Both these ways of looking at that ransom demand and Paul's reactions to them make sense in that context. Yes, it shocks us, because that amount is just ridiculous in our world. It isn't in Paul's, and I think that's one of the points of the story. So by showing that, Driver is making a statement. I might be all wrong about this. I frequently misinterpret a story till I have enough to work on, and I don't know if I have than amount of information here or not. But if I take it for granted that Driver knows what he's doing, and I think it's safe to do that, then I think it's appropriate to figure out why that vast sum of money is being mentioned. I don't think the answer to that is that the author simply was careless or made a silly blunder. C

The only thing your b/f didn't say was, what were his intentions if he caught him.Enquiring minds want to .... Ah, the hell with it.C

Wibby, Trab --You're like me, ancient and unaware people. The meaning and significance of 4/20 was just explained to me today by someone. I think the fact we didn't know it was shorhand for a day of smoking weed for college students so inclined to do so says a lot about us.What it mostly says is that we're old fogies.Now I don't quite know why not one of the yongsters here saw fit to let us in on the secret, and allowed our ignorance to be so blantantly displayed to one and all. The shame of it. If any of you want to know, say, who won WW II, we'd be happy to fill you in.C