Cole Parker

There are several ways to interpret Rad's greeting, you know. "Oh god Des" was probably shorthand for, Oh god, there's that Des butting in again! or perhaps, Oh god, not Des again. Could have been, too, "Oh god, spare us from Des one more time!" Or even, "Oh god, take me now: it's DES! Interpreting it to mean, "Oh, it's that god, Des," could be seen as being just the slightest bit narcissistic. Or, an even worse pejorative: as falling below your accustomed heralded level of creativity. I can hardly wait for a response! C<G!>

One feels impelled to ask, what is it being cleaned of? Does your cleaner do bloodstains? C

I got up this morning to an inbox full of irate letters from hooked readers looking for their Saturday morning DDG fix. I got the bombast of their withdrawal symptoms. It was very strange, because last night I saw with my own eyes Chapter 31 posted for viewing. Today, that's been replaced with a second Chapter 30. I think there are gremlins gumming up the works. C PS - Thanks, Camy, for providing the link.

Des, I'm sorry to be the one to break the news to you, but if you give up bathing, it won't matter a whit whether you're gay or straight, what you will definitely be is lonely.Repeat after me: Cleanliness is next to godliness, cleanliness is next to godliness, cleanliness is next to godliness.Be the god you were meant to be. Bathe.C

After reading all that, I have one thing to say. Oliver is exactly right: the story is exactly where I want it to be. Heh heh heh. C

Here I was all set to argue with James, which would probaby have been a first for me. But when he said Nick wouldn't be able to get with Brandon until he graduated, presumably meaning when he left the influence of his father, left home, whatever, I was ready to disagree. But then James cleared it up and voiced the sentiment that I was about to state, that Nick has accepted his own boundaries and until he feels mature enough to escape them, he'll continue to exist within them. It's all within him, all his values and attitudes, and it must be him that seeks change. As the story ends, he's nowhere near a point of doing that. Brandon was attracted to him by his superfical aspects. When he learned who he was deep inside, he learned the attractions were just that, superfical, and not anything a long-term relationship could be built on. Had the two boys moved forward based on their attraction for each other and ignored their very basic differences, eventually they would have been doomed as a couple, and the parting would undoubtedly have been more painful than occurred here. What a wonderful story, one where things like this can be discussed, where we have differentiated characters who act according to their individual psychologies and run true to how they've been developed. Writing like this is rare on the Internet. C

Trab, I'd never do that. I'm glad you realize that. We all face that kind of thing in our lives. I hope I'm never the bearer of it, and will never be intentionally. C

Trab, you never fail to amaze me with your cornucopian knowledge of everything under the sun. You run the gamut from dead bodies to, probably, dietary supplements for endangered condors. Rarely does a thread start here where you cannot provide some sort of arcane enlightenment. I feel privileged to have you among us. C

We all do occasionally. Right now, need another drink.OOPS! Don't read this, Jason.C

The problem Des, is you set too high a standard. Whatever I write in return will sound insipid, and who wants to show themselves in that light?What you wrote was wonderful: witty and clever and funny and creative and engaging. I loved reading it. I look forward to more of the same, even if to get it I have to write stuff like this.I thought your b/f was the one to do the stroking around here.Oh, you wanted empathetic, supportive, intellectual stroking. Maybe you need a b/f upgrade. But then, giving up what you now have for that would probably mean you'd then be coming to us for the other kind, and Down Under is way too far for me. Not that it wouldn't be fun!C

"Too callused" Now that's clever! When all you kids hung your stockings up for Christmas, I doubt Santa had any problems at all know which one was yours. C

I heard from someone who saw it who had to leave in the middle and throw up. Nausea from all the jerkiness on the screen. I suppose it would be fair to recommend it, but also to caution people with any tendency towards motion sickness. C

Blue: If you don't wear socks, someone may feel the need to sock you, if changing the word from a direct object to an intransitive verb and introducing a sense of ambiguity doesn't raise your editorial hackles. C<g>

Those four books are perfect for young readers, and older kids who haven't learned the joy recreational reading. They are absorbing stories where a kid, especially a boy, will identify with the protagonist and will read all the way to the end of the book. I would heartily recommend them to anyone who knows kids who like to read, or should be reading. They can be read by a mature fourth grader, and certainly enjoyed by older kids. They're simply marvelous. As for knowing to recommend them, I've read three of them and the fourth was suggested to me when I told someone I needed another book for a story I was writing, a book that would entrance 9-11 year-old boys. C

Aha! You're at it again! As with your beloved Oxford squiggly mark, the mouse/mice rule is not universally accepted. I've seen it done both ways. In many places, many times. Stop trying to foist your own likes and dislikes on us as hard and fast rules, your rascally rodent! C

Not the good ones, son, not the good ones.C

Des, I understand why you didin't buy them. You were afraid you'd wear yesterday's socks, and people would see and think you weren't only old but a day late, too, and so out of touch. Good decision. Let them come to that decision without any help from you. C<g>

Oh to be clever enough to learn it at any age! C

I'm not really into poetry, but perhaps that's because most poetry isn't as good as this is. C

While sounding like an absurd claim, it is very true that many, many young Mormon boys were forced from their homes in Utah. In the arch-conservative branch of Mormon, the elders control the lives of the young, and they decide which girls go to which men, and young boys, gay or straight, are a threat to their having all the girls they want. So, they got expelled from the clan, kicked out, thrown out physically, left by the side of the road in many cases. This sounds like nonsense, like a story. It wasn't. Or at least wasn't so until a year or so ago when their leader finally, finally, got arrested. Since that time, this branch of the chruch as been taken over by leagl authorities. I haven't seen the outcome of the changes that have certainly occurred since. I hope no more youth are being disenfranchised, and ones that were have been taken back into their familes. Knowing the attitudes of the elders, I doubt that has happened. I never want to rebuke an entire group of people for the actions of some. I have known some very fine Mormons, some exceptionally fine individuals. I think it's always a mistake to look at a group and see it as a whole. It can be tempting to do that, but it is wrong. I have to keep telling myself that when it comes to some groups. C

Steven, I'm with you. I have no idea what any of this is all about. I do think Wibby may be a little bit too emotionally attached to his computer, if you catch my drift. C

I like the idea that we can change some minds. I think we have in the last few years. I hope and pray this trend continues. C

It is strange and rather wonderful how that works. There are so many idiomatic phrases in English that I have no idea how someone that didn't grow up with the language could possibly either learn or understand them all. I sure it works the same in other languages as well. I've seen several Nordic expressions written literally in English and they don't compute with me. When they're explained, they do. I think mulling over the translations, we start to get the barest feeling for the culture that created them. C

He's saying homosexuality is a choice young people make. He's saying homosexual relations, consensual ones, are sinful. I don't agree with him at all. Does anyone here? C