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Hey, a new part! I think somebody has the writing bug. Cool. -- Uh, count me in, cheering on the sidelines. Now I'm really gonna suggest you submit this to AwesomeDude and Codey's World. Two sections in less than a month, writing talent, the forum is a good place to post, but so is having your stories on a couple of web sites. That's definitely quite a blended family, there.

Cole, I'd agree with your assessment. What I remember reading of it had several instances of what could be gay subtext in the book. Now, it could be argued too that nudity itself doesn't imply being gay or a sexual context. Our culture tends to equate nudity and sexuality. Many other cultures don't; being nude is just being nude. A science fiction writer might use that to point out the oddities in our own culture and show that other people may do things and think things very differently. But yes, in the book, Ender is a boy thrown in with a bunch of other boys in a dorm/barracks setting. One boy is very friendly and affectionate, hugging his buddies, and yes, there's a kiss. One of the scenes I noticed has Ender meeting another boy, and the boy has a transparent computer desk/screen in his lap. The screen magnifies the view...of the boy's lap. Ender notices. Heheh, subtext. But there's nothing overly too sexual or suggestive in the book. There's plenty of violence; the boys and girls in the book are being trained as soldiers in a desperate war against incomprehensible aliens. One of the themes is the senseless futility of violence and dictatorships. OSC wrote the Ender books when he was much younger, in the early 1970's, I think. Times were different and he was a young man. Attitudes towards sex and nudity, the establishment, the Vietnam War, were very different then, conservative or liberal either one. I suspect OSC is trying to engage in self-revisionist-history. ("What? Oh, no, I never would've written about boys having homosexual thoughts! Oh my stars, whyever would you think such a thing!") (Much sputtering by the now much more conservative and older fellow.) Uh-huh. Never mind that for some of us, the idea of growing up with other boys being naked together on a starship and friendly hugs, or maybe some kisses or fooling around, sounds like a great idea to some boys; perhaps especially if we didn't get much opportunity at that age in real life, or if (like me) we grow up body-shy with nudity and sex almost taboo subjects, and the idea of a boy being gay is even more so...which makes it tough if you are beginning to realize you might be that gay boy. Does that mean I'm for mass public nudity? Not particularly, no. But it's summer here, the days are getting above the mid-90's and the nights are getting above the mid-70's into the 80's, and that's normal for our summers. At some point, even the most conservative guy has to wonder if perhaps nudity is a viable option. And even conservative boys grow up wearing just shorts in summer, plus a tee or other shirt. But no, I don't necessarily want to see certain things or be seen, you know? But maybe I'm too uptight. Does that mean I'm for kids fooling around together a lot? Well, not really. But if a friend and his buddy like each other, it might be nice if they could express that, at least together in private, in what ways seem natural and comfortable for them. I'd prefer liking and loving to be open to expression, instead of subjects for fear and hate or ridicule or being left out. (And yes, I'm clear that not every boy has sexual feelings for every other boy, gay or otherwise. I didn't feel that way toward most of my friends.) The book seems, to me, to have some gay subtext and to be more open and understanding of the possibility of people having and expressing gay feelings, and to the idea that a boy growing up might become aware of that in himself or his friends and be OK with it. -- But it's plain that as time went on, OSC has had trouble with himself over ideas like that. and yes, I think it indicates an internal conflict, suppressed feelings he's not dealing with, and is instead demonizing. What a shame that is. Yes, I'd much rather have a book about a boy coming to understand himself and his friends, including any gay feelings, as simply natural and comfortable and just as ordinary as his friends who have straight feelings. Good for them. And if they run around nude in the book occasionally, well, fine, I hope they feel good.

Practically anything from real life is story material. You can mix and match, take a bit here and a bit from there, and put 'em together how you see fit. My mom was an oil painter, pro artist. Every summer, any vacation, she had a camera and a sketchbook. My mom, dad, and I would head down back country roads throughout the Texas Hill Country or along the route to my dad's parents' farm, near a tiny town in Virginia. Her paintings might take clouds from one photo (or a few), rocks from another, flowers from a few, deer from another, a stream from yet another, and so on. Usually, those were close to each other geographically, but my mom would sometimes bend the rules if it made sense visually and didn't break real-life rules for what would grow/live where. No one but her (or my dad or me) would know it wasn't any different. So Beagle, borrow away! And if you see a rather plump middle aged lady with a wild hat and old paint-daubed clothes, leaning over with her camera close to the ground and her butt high in the air, taking photos of flowering weeds in a ditch.... Well, it isn't my mom, but it's likely some crazy artist lady like my mom, hahaha. (Yes, that happened. More than once. I have (or had) photographic proof!)

Heheheheh!

So...somehow I got a fun story idea, something different, and I was enthused. So cool, I sat down to write it out, the story, without jotting down notes. After all, it was supposed to be a short story. Somehow, the moment I started writing, an entirely different story was coming out, more serious, different characters, not really related to the idea I sat down to write. My muses need a compass. Or...something. Now, the story I was actually writing might be a good one. It seems like it has promise. But I am not sure what's in there, just that I have three or four characters so far, and there's a setup that needs further characters...and a story problem/conflict and resolution in order to have a story.... But yeah, it seems like there's something there. However, that still means the other story, the one I sat down to write, didn't get started yet. So before I go to sleep, and risk forgetting the story idea, I've gotta write down enough so I don't lose track. It's just that I don't feel like pulling an all-nighter, despite it being the weekend, so I can't write the whole thing right now. What really mystifies me is, here I had the one story, intending to write that, and I start writing and something entirely different pops out. About the only thing in common was the setting. Clearly, the muses are really having fun with me on this one. I've never had an experience so completely different in story writing before. I mean, there was always a lot of connection between what I started and how it ended up as I went along. Even if I've sat down with several different story ideas to write notes or scenes, I've always known pretty much what I wanted to write, even if it changes as I write, which does usually happen. But this, having an idea for one story, and having something else entirely come out...weird, I don't get it. -- I'm not necessarily complaining. I get the feeling the one I actually started writing has potential. What or where it's going, not sure, but it seems good. The other, the story I was sitting down to write, I think will be good too. I want to get it down good before bed. It is just very strange for the two to be so completely unrelated. Uh, and no, I don't mean either idea was heading for NC-17, freak yourself out territory. Both of these should be pretty solidly PG-13 or PG. The one is likely G-Rated, even. But yeah, given the idea for the one versus the other...way, way different. :: shrugs :: Um, by the way, I have to look up when you plant and when you harvest for carrots or potatoes. (Also for celery, just to have a shout out to Carrots and Celery, a story I only got to read a few chapters of, many years ago now.) -- And I might need a weed whacker.

Wow, that's amazing. Cool. Now kids can read about a superhero fighting for what's right, who happens to be a gay guy. I hope the straight kids reading it will like it and won't be too embarrassed or made fun of by other kids' gossip. It's sort of funny, really. All boys grow up admiring superheroes and reading comics with images of men and women in skintight costumes showing off their muscles, hyper-idealized handsome men and beautiful women. Yet those boys understand that's not sexual, it's about being heroic, doing what's right. It is also about showing them as physically fit, examples to live up to. Comic readers do understand that. Yet those images do show those skintight costumes and good looking bodies. A boy's dawning awareness might notice they're attractive. If he's gay, he might notice the guys look good to him. And you know what? That's OK. It's as OK for the straight boys to like the beautiful girls as it is for the gay boys to like the handsome boys. (Hmm, I had to stop and retype "boys" instead of "guys," funny how that is too.) Notice how it doesn't bother those Million Moms that their kids might see comic book superheroes in skintight costumes, but it bothers them that their kids might see gay superheroes being gay, and the Million Moms are worried that their kids will somehow, uh, suddenly be so inspired (perspired?) that they, uh, switch teams? No, Million Moms, your kids are not going to "turn gay" from seeing gay people, gay fictional characters, or superheroes in skintight costumes. Your kids will still like girls if that's how they are made, and they'll still like boys if that is how they're made. Also, you know, this particular boy wasn't looking at those comic books and going ooh and aah over the girls or the guys. I knew it was about more than that, even by the time I was old enough to start noticing how I felt. Those Million Moms really ought to give their sons credit for knowing their own minds and hearts. Kids will know what they think about seeing a gay couple in a comic book. If those kids see gay superheroes, or gay ordinary people, in their comics, and see gay couples, well, those kids can decide for themselves if that is OK with them. And you know, it just might make a gay boy feel a little better about himself, and it just might make a straight boy a little more supportive of his friends if one of them is gay, a little more understanding and friendly, and a little less prone to make fun of being gay or make the life of some kid miserable. Seems like a good thing, to be a friend who'll stand up for his friends. A fine, super-heroic thing to do.

Writer's Block? If he has all 26 plus 10 numbers, I mean numerals.... Yeah, that would be tough, composing it all out of alphabet blocks. What if he has writer's sphere? (I'd say balls, but that would be a whole 'nother issue.) Writer's pyramid? Cylinder? I'll just be out here in left field, watching the grass grow.

You don't want to barcode your underpants? Why I'm shocked, shocked, I tell you! Um, no, I don't wanna barcode my shorts either. If anybody's name and number's gonna be in them, I'd better be able to read them. Faffing about? I think I almost understood that. Though the explanation could be entertaining. Sorry you had a bad date with Win8, Camy. :hugs:

You know, in high school, I remember one of the guys wore a pink button down shirt with the tab/loophole at the back to hang the shirt, you know? Very conservative shirt, just pink. He was popular, good looking, smart, and the girls liked him and he liked them. Good reputation. He caught flak for wearing that pink shirt, for being preppie, as if there weren't plenty of other boys equally preppie, as if none of the other boys wore a pink shirt ever. I don't think he wore that shirt to school again. It was just silly. Oddly enough, pink was OK for guy's dress shirts, right around then. Not the most popular color, but common enough. -- Yeah, this was the mid-80's, Miami Vice and Madonna and Culture Club / Boy George, Pat Benatar, Michael Jackson, MTV was new and played actual rock music, the whole thing. Boy bands too. I remember someone making fun of Tears for Fears, calling them gay. Sheesh. And we all thought we were so grown up and smart! Hahaha. ...Oh, man, the photos with the hair in feathered wings... Um, yeah.... So, ol' Justin Bieber's not so new. The girls love him. A few of the guys love him (whether they admit it or not). A lot of the other guys like to say how much they don't like him. Yet oddly enough, they'd like to be able to sing and play music, and oddly, they dress a lot like him and wear their hair a lot like him (and like the other boys on TV, film, and music videos). Because that's what's in now. Ten and twenty years from now, they will wonder why they hated on the Biebs or why they ever wore their hair or dressed like that, and they'll probably wonder why their own teens are dressing so weird and listening to such weird music. I do hope that ten years from now, they won't still think saggy, baggy pants are a cool fashion thing. Dude, if your pants fall down, it is not cool, it's just funny, no matter how handsome you are. If your pants fall down, it's just wacky. Uh, thankfully, I haven't actually seen that happen in person, but yeah, I've seen it almost happen. Um, hey, listen, only your best buddies or your girlfriend or boyfriend need to see that, OK? Or your doctor. Trust me on that. LOL. OK, sooner than ten years, please. Way.

That is fantastic. I have to check out the accompanying article (and enlarge the ad). Hmm... I haven't seen the ad locally. Dunno if it's appeared in my mail yet. Can you tell I've been throwing away a lot of ads and junk mail without even looking?

^ Above: I actually wrote the comments about bullies before the first section. I got on a roll and...couldn't stop. Look, if it annoys people, I'm sorry, but it is how I feel. I don't think I'm the only one who feels that way, either. If it aggravates you, what I said or how I said it, I'm sorry, but shouldn't someone, somewhere, say something? There must be something better. There must be support for kids who get bullied. It doesn't matter if they are gay or not. I'm sorry for the rant, but...I hate that I was almost a statistic like that, and I hate seeing that some of the best kids out there are dying for lack of the simplest love and support from the people who ought to be there for them. I hate seeing that hatred and causing fear are tolerated. I do not blame only religion. I think the problem is wider even than that. It simply must change. We are losing too many, and it's totally needless and senseless and heartless. Things must change.

I agree with what Gee said. The kids being bullied need to know that someone will listen, will care, will not turn away from their deepest pain or shame at being bullied for whatever makes them different. The kids need to know that people love them, like them, value them as human beings, including those differences the kids may not feel they can open up about, because they've already been so attacked about it from bullies or even, perhaps, at home. It really does the kid no good if his parents say he should just ignore the bullies or if he should just fight back. The kid can't always ignore them and he can't always fight back or win. -- The kid needs to know how to deal effectively with being bullied. The kid needs support from his parents and siblings. He needs support, not lip service or ignoring the problem, from the school system. The kid needs friends his own age to stick up for him, and who he can talk to. Now, if it's about someone thinking he is too gay, does gay things, is too sissy or girly or whatever ... that is all b.s. from the bully. But to the kid being bullied, it may feel like everyone thinks that, if no one's standing with him or talking later, to be friendly and say, you know, those guys, those bullies, are full of crap. I like you. Keep being you. It also doesn't help if the kid is getting the message that he should stand up to the bullies, to act like a man. Uh-huh. If the issue is about being gay or about being called unmanly, then giving the kid the message that you too think he's not manly enough is not helping. Would it really kill anybody else to be there for the kid and say, you know, I don't know about all this stuff, but I like you, I like you how you are, and it's cool with me if someone's gay or not. Yes, I said would it kill anybody else to say that, to let the kid know that *if* he does happen to like boys, that he has a friend who likes him as is. Because too many kids are dying because they are hurting so much and don't feel like they have anyone to turn to. Would it be too much of a bother for anyone else to say, you know, if you're gay, that's cool? Would it be too much of a bother to admit maybe they have even the barest flicker of same-sex feelings, enough not to totally freak at the idea of expressing those feelings in any way? Or would it be too much bother to say, you know, if you're gay, I'd really like it if we could hug, kiss, make out, or do more, take the direct approach and try it out? Would it be too much trouble to be that much of a friend, or to let their own feelings out with a friend who needs very much to know his friend not only likes him, but maybe even loves him, or even simply would like to show each other physical love -- and the support that goes with it, the affirmation that the kid is not alone? You will probably say, but that assumes too much. What if the boy isn't gay? Well, yes, that's the crux of the problem, isn't it? On the one hand, you most often have a kid who's being bullied for things that have nothing to do with being gay. On the other, being gay or effeminate is often right at the top of the list of insults the bullies use, and if it so happens that the victim has any same-sex feelings, he feels like he's being attacked for them. And if it happens that he really is gay and is somewhere along the way of figuring that out, from just beginning to notice, to already fully aware -- well, he might need a little positive support instead of negatives. No, I'm not saying every time a kid gets called gay, some friend should offer to snog or to do something more, uh, explicit. For one, that is just as prone to backfire, even with the kid who does have gay feelings. After all, he's a nice enough kid, that might be a little forward ... and he might feel like he's being baited, set up. What I am saying is that, for some kids, it might help to know from their friends (at school, in the neighborhood, at church/synagogue, wherever) that if that kid happens to be gay, he just might have friends who won't squick out over it, and furthermore, they might not mind if he hugs them or they hug him, just being friends, or, for a few, just maybe being more than friends, expressing those other feelings, even physically, might be kinda nice, and he'd be welcome. -- Welcome, as is, acceptance. We can dance around it and be very proper about it. I often am. Maybe I have been too reserved about that. Being gay, someone knowing that you're gay, is, at its core, partly so risky because it tells people in a very direct way: This gay person likes people of the same sex, including as friends, also including for love, but the big one is, for physical love, for sex. Being gay means you would like to have sex with someone of the same sex. (Duh.) But that is a big part of what it's about, and many straight people, whose natural attraction/feelings are for the opposite sex, don't feel, deep down, those feelings for someone of the same sex. They don't have direct experience of what that's like. So they don't understand it. It's unknown to them, and maybe a litttle scary. But for the gay boy, it's, let's face it, what does it for him, the idea of not only emotional, but also physical, lovemaking. Sex. -- That is likely not too surprising, if you're gay or gay-friendly. People who are homophobic find such statements offensive. But if you're gay, you want that emotional love. And you want that physical love too. And having everyone around you know you're gay means ... they know that central, and very personal and private fact about you, that you'd like to make love, have sex, with someone of the same sex. (It is expected and not considered anything but perfectly normal to be straight and want to be with someone of the opposite sex. Yet to be homosexual or bisexual is somehow shockingly unexpected to a large section of (heterosexual) people.) Now then, I've gone this far, I should say, if someone I knew had marched up to me out of the blue and said, hey, are you gay, let's do it! Uh, I would've immediately stared at him, looked everywhere at once, and wondered when the other shoe was gonna drop, probably on my head. (In fact, when one boy asked me in P.E. if I was gay, he bet I was, I did feel I was being baited. Um, that he also asked if I plucked my eyebrows probably had something to do with that. No, he did not offer to go do anything, and if he had, I wouldn't have said yes.) -- The direct approach wouldn't necessarily work any better than the more subtle approach. I was all clammed up by then, anyway, from prior crushed crushes or other teasing, baiting, etc. But if someone I knew had taken the time to talk to me and had asked me if maybe I had feelings for guys, or if he'd asked if maybe I'd like to do something? Hmm.... Good question. Be it noted, as a teen, I didn't have much luck trying to talk with guy friends to see if they'd be open to talk about anything having to do with gay feelings or fooling around. I probably was not helping myself in that, because I hadn't come to accept myself yet either. But being a teen with active hormones, well, you know, the urge to merge was definitely there, and definitely frustrated. -- And finding anyone who'd listen or who I might like who might like me back or might want to ... well, that worked out way, way more rarely than I would've liked, as reserved (and mixed up and clueless) as I was. -- I probably would've been stunned if a friend had reacted positively or had asked me; certainly by high school. -- Yes, very personal, maybe too personal, but what the heck, I wish people would be, could be, more truthful and open about things. But I'm trying to say, what's needed is the willingness, the openness and acceptance, for a kid to have his friends talk to him, hug him, accept him as is. I'm also saying, if they don't mind, maybe letting him know they don't mind is a good thing. Or maybe, letting him know that if he is gay, he has friends who might like to try things out might be helpful. At least he'd know there's someone available if he wants to. -- No, I'm not saying to go up to all your friends and presume that they are gay and offer to do it with 'em. Uh, riiiight, sure, buddy, that's a side of you I really didn't expect! Haha. :) But what I am trying to say is, if a friend is struggling, he needs to know that *if* he *is* gay, you're his friend. If he is gay, he needs to know you accept him. Heck, if he's not gay, he needs to know you're his friend and you accept him. And well, if he's gay, it might not hurt for him to know that at least one of his friends wouldn't freak the heck out at the idea of trying things out, of fooling around. No, I wouldn't suggest saying that right off. But maybe it might help a friend to know he has a friend or two who would be open to it, if he wants. Is that too radical, too explicit? Or is it maybe being honest about one part of the problem? Look, I think the main thing is to let a victim of bullying, a friend, know that he has friends who like him just the way he is, and will stand with him...or sit with him, even if it's not the cool or popular or approved thing. That's the main point I have. The other...is wishing that any of those kids out there being bullied, who do have same-sex feelings, could have friends who accept them, will listen, will be with them as friends, and if there's maybe a basis for taking that friendshipr further, then fine. If, on the other hand, that friend (or the kid being bullied) is not interested beyond friendship, that it's OK that he or the friend is OK with being gay. Or that, if either friend expresses those feelings with someone, it will not get in the way of being friends. Acceptance, support, being there for someone, instead of turning your back and ignoring someone who needs to know he has friends. Yes, this subject frustrates me, because yes, I know what it felt like to be the kid being made fun of, teased, bullied. I had friends at school and a few other friends, sure. It wasn't all bad. I made it, I grew up. But yes, I would've liked to be able to really talk with my friends and for sure with my best friends, about those feelings I was having. Um, and yeah, I would've liked it if the crushes I had could've gone somewhere besides getting crushed, including about a couple of those best friends. It's ironic to me that I was able to stand up, very vocally and without really thinking about it, to speak up for at least three friends who were catching flak because people said they were gay. But I didn't speak up when I was called gay, and more than once, I had to avoid a fight, and more than once, I did get beaten up. Yet for all that, I had friends and I did get through school and into college. -- But I sincerely wish I could've talked openly with some friends, or that a friend or two had been open to more or had asked. (I would've liked it, if those friends had asked or had let me ask, as quiet and reserved about it as I was.) I can't help but think that for most bullied kids, they need friends who accept them and can listen, talk, just be there for them. For some of them, it would help to know their friends like them, including if they have some same-sex feelings. For a few, it might help to know they have friends who might like being more than friends. I think two of the biggest issues for bullied kids with same-sex feelings, are that they don't think their families or friends will accept them as gay kids, and that they don't feel like there's anyone they know who, if they like them, would like them back, to have a chance to figure it all out. The straight kids get to have crushes and flirt with each other, tell each other they like them, and even make out, date, or uh, perhaps more (use protection! be safe!) ... but if you're the only kid you know in school who *might* be gay (...and you haven't quite figured out for sure, but you're pretty sure...) and you'd like the chance to find out like it seems all your other friends are... bummer, huh? If it feels like you're all alone with no chance for happiness ever, to be accepted, have friends, find love... that is not exactly a recipe for a kid to grow and be happy. It's more a recipe to feel lonely, friendless, hopeless, and loveless, and to wonder if it will ever get better... and then on top of that, throw in family pressures, school pressures, and peers who don't accept you, and then on top of that, throw in the bullies who actively make life hell, at school or at home. Toxic. Perhaps we should be more surprised that more kids *do* make it. Geez. Yeah, I went on a rant. I care deeply about this topic. I hate seeing yet more cases where some kid is smiling in a photo, has so much to offer this needy world, and yet the kid is beaten up or driven to self-harm or death, just because he is "too different" for some stupid bullies and gossips. I hate it when one of the reasons given is, people said he was gay, or he was gay, and now that boy will never get to find that love with someone who'd love him. I care deeply because I easily could've been one of those statistics, and I still fight depression. There MUST be something better, some better way of treating people, that doesn't kill off the best and brightest, gay or not. There must be some ways of being that produce loving, accepting, supportive families, friends, schools, churches, neighborhoods... all of it. Our culture MUST change. We are losing good kids whose only fault was they were a little different than the other kids. For some of them, their only fault was that they were gay, they would've liked to be with a boy or girl like them and have the chance to express that love, emotionally, physically, without other people saying they couldn't. The worst part? Until our culture does change, we are doomed to see more cases where some nice boy or girl, smiling in some yearbook photo, with so much to offer the world, will not get the chance to share all that wonderfulness, that love, or those world-changing ideas. I wish all the people so eager to hate what is different, or to hate homosexuality, would wake up and see the terrible harm they are doing, and stop hating and learn to love. They are killing people, indirectly or directly, and it is dead wrong. What would happen if all those kids who died for that, could somehow shout and bring change to the world? I don't know. All I know is, I want a better world where kids don't die for being different. ----- Also -- It is not just religion. In fact, many of the bullies don't come from religious backgrounds. They come from backgrounds that say you should be tough and not take crap off anyone, homes that make being a bully into a virtue, or else homes that let the kids get away with whatever they do. You ask about bullies, why they would beat up a kid just because he is small or Hispanic or smart. You'd probably wonder why they'd beat up a kid who's handicapped, right? Or if he "acts gay" (such as any of the things these bullies think are gay)? Or how about if he simply "looks weird" or "acts weird," again, completely wide open to interpretation of what's "weird." Bullies do that because they perceive their victims as weak and the bully wants to be stronger, dominant, more virile, more powerful, get more credit/respect (or at least fear) from others...so the bully isn't at risk of being beaten down, so he remains in what he thinks of as power and manliness. I'd compare it to apes or dogs, but that would be a great disservice to all apes and dogs. Yes, to a bully, it doesn't matter about church. It doesn't matter if the kid is short, skinny, fat, tall, what color his skin is, what color or shape his hair is, how smart or dumb he is, how "weird" he is, or how "gay" (or queer or fag) or if he just seems to them like he might be. Does he wear old clothes? Does he sound different? Does he look different? It can be anything under the sun. All the bully wants is perceived weakness, and he will attack, with words and with physical harassment and with hitting, kicking, and other fighting. The bully's mindset is not humane or caring or intelligent. The bully's mindset is savage, animalistic, and predatory.

It is tough enough growing up and figuring out your feelings, without having someone telling you you're wrong and trying to change you to make you the way they want, into someone straight. If your feelings are for the same sex, that's who those feelings are always going to be for. If you also have some amount of opposite-sex feelings, that's fine, there's probably a degree of both in most people. But trying to forcibly eliminate a teen's natural feelings of love and friendship (and attraction and sex too) is harmful, damaging, wrong, and even goes against that teen's nature, all because someone else thinks that teen's feelings are bad. I would love to see ex-gay and "conversion" "therapy" banned. They won't work, they'll just damage the poor guys and girls forced through them, and somewhere inside, those teens or young adults will still have those feelings and have to overcome the damage done to their psyches. Good for California. I'd like to see it here in Texas.

It's open to interpretation. You'll see what you see. For many months, I'd stopped buying from J.C. Penney's, after their credit card arm kept bugging me for charge of less than $30 dollars that turned out to be a late back order shipment, and I hadn't realized was there or due. I paid the bill and said never again, because their calls had been every day, multiple times a day, left on my answering machine while I was away at my grandmother's. They kept calling after I'd paid the bill for several days, until it finally trickled through their system. I went to the store itself to try to cancel the card, and was told I'd have to do that over the phone. -- This is all typical now for credit cards. (And I am rarely late paying on my cards or paying off the balance.) So I won't use their credit card. (Still gotta cancel the fool card, I forgot.) The last couple of times I'd been in the store to look, I found the selection was poor or non-existent in my size, and I'm not some weird, abnormal size. The stock was pawed through, not well kept, half the clerks were nowhere to be seen, I left with a couple of essentials, but not what I'd wanted to buy in clothes. -- However, the same can be said of most stores now, from Wal-Mart to Sears to any other department store. The economy has meant drastic cutbacks, and nobody trains people for customer service anymore. However, all that being said -- I will likely shop at J.C. Penney's again, without the store card, because their choices are nice -- and because they've been positive towards gay folks. Also because the last time I'd ordered from another store (Kohl's) the order took over five weeks to get there, despite it was supposedly in stock. So...these days, J.C. Penney's is really no worse than any other major retailer. Sigh. Also, J.C. Penney's supposedly started in Texas and I've shopped there since before I was the one doing the shopping. When they are one of the only good choices, you go with them even if you have had a couple of bad experiences. But -- That ad is wonderful. You may see it as two dads and their children. You may see it as brothers or friends. Still pretty great. I really love that ad. It's both subtle and strong, without having to be obnoxious. It gets across its point in a way where people might listen, whether they pay attention to the message or just see the ad. Good for them, I think that's terrific. Ellen's cool too. She doesn't cuss every few seconds for no reason. Her jokes are funny. She stands up, quietly, for who and what she thinks, and she's been known to send not so quiet support too. Yes, I'll be shopping at J.C. Penney's again. I hadn't seen that ad, glad I did.

The only thing unequivocal and ambivalent in that first (box turtle) article's quote is the judge's concluding paragraph. Otherwise, to me, it sounds like he's arguing both ways at once. The end result, though, is that they are passing it on up in hopes the Supreme Court will decide the issue finally, and meanwhile, the First Circuit Court decision finds DOMA illegal, meaning (one hopes) that same-sex married couples would be eligible for the same benefits as (traditional opposite-sex) married couples, at least in states where same-sex marriage is legal. It leaves the door open for those states where same-sex marriages are not legally recognized. I'll take it as a win. Could be worse. Could be better. Let's hope it lasts, or is improved upon. Don't anybody hold your breath.

Ouch. Glad it wasn't me. Not the most well coordinated person sometimes, and between bad eyesight and short attention span theater, well.... Yeah, just glad it wasn't me. He'll be fine. He's got a few bazillion teen girls and boys who'd be more than happy to make him feel all better. Perhaps the ego got taken down a peg. Could be beneficial. I like some of his music. I like that he's determined and working it. He's even teased the public with a few androgynous marketing decisions, but it looks like he's going less for that androgynous appeal now, to stress he's all grown up. *Thud* *Ouch* Who put *that* there? Good thing it didn't break. Or he didn't. But yeah, I'd hate to think I was supposed to pay attention to all those fans, media, and cameras, and act cool and sound good. Might make a guy forget there's a glass wall there. Um, yeah, but it isn't everybody who bangs into a wall under their own power. D'oh! Kinda funny, in a funny way. Hey! Maybe he can do a commercial with that "Open, Open, Open!" lady! Heheheh.

I just want an operating system that does things the way I want, instead of forcing me to do things the way it wants. None of my recent experiences with Microsoft or Adobe have improved that opinion; they've just made it more so. We'll see if my latest backups go OK. I'm not eager to move to Win8 yet. I will when I have to. -- This is a major change from someone who used to upgrade programs when he could. I don't think I'm just getting cranky, either. So there! In another year or so, when I next have to get another computer, I will probably get a Macintosh and migrate, for the first time since the late-late 1990's. That's how aggravating I've found Windows and big-name programs lately. It has been that long since I've used a Mac regularly, and that was before the MacOS became based on Unix underneath. I'll have an adjustment period, but I still remember how to do most things. (I had an Apple IIe in late high school and started using a Mac way back with the Mac Plus, so it's no stranger. Mac computers were the basis of my professional working life through the end of the 1990's.) Oh, I still use Win7 and some Microsoft products, but I use competitors' products now whenever possible. I'm still trying to find ones I like that do what I need, but I've found good (and cheaper) alternatives for a few. I'm anticipating using my current computers until they wear out, too. Rich, I ain't.

Thanks for the news, Camy, I'll look for her book.

Thanks for the news, Eggman, and it's good to see you're around. People still remember.

Psst, I'd commented on this story back when it was only on the Codey's World forum.

Strangely...mesmerizing... Flaco wondered why people kept calling him "Stretch" and making Dachshund jokes....

Thanks, E.J. -- If anything, that article makes things more muddled. The first half of the article offers more static from the judiciary, but the comments should be noted. I get the feeling there's more here than is being said. Check the bit about the fund at the end. There's noble and then there's refusing help when it's offered. This might be the last we'll hear about the situation, unless something else develops. Strange, isn't it?

Should've gone for the manicure and painted toenails.

You guys are going to corrupt my poor, innocent mind, I just know it. I would try to say that I've never seen a Five Guys (and I haven't) but somehow it sounds as scandalous as Fudruckers, even though it's not. I'll just be over here, bleaching my dirty mind and eager for a hamburger. Now if that isn't two oddly juxtaposed images, I don't know what is. ... Yes, the fact I'd even say, "juxtaposed" probably says a lot.

Well, at least she'll skew the grading curve in the jailhouse. OK, yeah, it sounded funnier in my head. I still can't believe this one. If ever there was a way to turn a model citizen and student and future leader against the establishment, I think that judge found the way. Court was likely in session yesterday, but I didn't check the news for any follow up. I'll check tonight.