9.11

[PrivateTim]

What will the next CAP be? My Three Sons or The Schluter Bunch?

 

 

un hunh.....  "uncle" Charlie lives with them??

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwikvo6EZiQ

 

I think we all know what Mile was doing when Carol wasn't around.....  you all thought it was plans in those tubes he had...

[centexhairysub]

Who knew that Darius could take step up like this and pull it off?  I am glad to see that he is handling the situation with Jeanine and Hank's memorial service.  Really suprised but grateful that Jeanine had enough confidence in him to name him executor of her estate; although he did a great job being in charge when she was in the hospital.  Hate that her parents are being so difficult; but not sure what to expect from them since I don't think they have ever really been mentioned.  I have started going back and re-reading all the stories and putting reviews on the chapters and am up to Millennuim and her family is mentioned a few times but always in a generic sense. 

 

 

I really never even thought about Jeanine naming Isidore as Maddie's guardian but I guess it really makes sense.  They have been in each other's life for a decade and Isidore has raised several children and a couple have not been her biological kids quite well.  I expected Tiffany but I doubt Isidore will say no...  I still wonder about Cody but I just don't see him as the parental type.  He shows up to comfort Brad and really doesn't even ask about the kid.  I can see him wanting a say but not really wanting any of the responsibility. 

 

 

Brad is going to need all of his family.  Glad to see that Darius and Will have really stepped up to help him; the scene with Frank was just so powerfully done.  He is going to need some time to come to terms with all of this.

 

 

Will and John are just great together.  I am so glad that they are in such a good place with each other.  They have figured out how to handle the once in a while physical encounter and balance it with their deep feelings for each other. 

 

 

JJ still worries me.  I am still afraid that when he has to face up with the situation, he is going to be the one to crack.  He has already had to deal with just so much recently, even before the latest tragedy.

 

 

I really enjoy getting to see the auxillary characters from time to time.  Mark has created some great people that have come in and out of the lives of these people.  They are so interesting while in the storyline and are really missed when they are not around...

[Daddydavek]

Cody appears in the chapter released today, but it was for Brad, not for his daughter which he did not mention.  I think that says a lot about his priorities and concerns.  Cody is  not a bad guy.  I am sure he fully expects Maddie will continue to be well cared for and realizes that others will do it better than he.  Those feelings may change as she grows and turns into a real person with questions and opinions but for now, I think not.  

 

Isidore will not shirk in the care of her granddaughter in spirit.  

 

Now that the CAP side has figured out their itinerary for the memorials, I wonder if we will be privy to the machinations with which Wade must deal?  This reader is really looking for Wade and Nana to pull off a plan the puts Elizabeth in her rightful (secondary)  place with all the dignity and grace that Southern manners deserve.   At least that's my wish!

[B1ue]

Being a quarter school lots of students would have moved in weeks before, mostly because they are fall athletes, but for other reasons as well. The average freshman might have some "move-in weekend" experience, but that would not be the norm for transfer students and not a big deal like it might be as some ivy covered east coast school.

Really? That's not quite how it worked for UCSB. Moving in early was an option for the RAs, some athletes, a couple dozen freshmen that opted for a summer quarter start, people like me that worked directly or indirectly for the housing center (and so were working move-in weekend), and the volunteers that help move-in weekend. The RAs moved a couple weeks ahead of time, of course, for their training. The athletes right behind them. Summer kids, the volunteers, and us workers got a four day head start. Everyone else could move in either Saturday or Sunday (determined by floor of your building) of move-in weekend at the earliest, though many opted to move in at some point during the following week before classes started.

 

UCSB was pretty strident about not letting people move in earlier than their assigned dates. Even the kids that started during summer, who were assigned a different, summer only dorm room and roommate, couldn't move into their real dorm room earlier even if no one was occupying it. That was a big if, too, many of the buildings saw use throughout the summer, by various summer camps and conferences. The cheerleading camp was the most hilarious. We'd all get rounded up the day before they were due to arrive, and a manager would tell almost every male worker, "Don't look, don't touch, don't talk to them, do NOT smile at them. You will immediately throw away any numbers or email addresses given to you, by either the cheerleaders or their coaches. Do we make ourselves clear?"

[methodwriter85]

Really? That's not quite how it worked for UCSB. Moving in early was an option for the RAs, some athletes, a couple dozen freshmen that opted for a summer quarter start, people like me that worked directly or indirectly for the housing center (and so were working move-in weekend), and the volunteers that help move-in weekend. The RAs moved a couple weeks ahead of time, of course, for their training. The athletes right behind them. Summer kids, the volunteers, and us workers got a four day head start. Everyone else could move in either Saturday or Sunday (determined by floor of your building) of move-in weekend at the earliest, though many opted to move in at some point during the following week before classes started.

 

UCSB was pretty strident about not letting people move in earlier than their assigned dates. Even the kids that started during summer, who were assigned a different, summer only dorm room and roommate, couldn't move into their real dorm room earlier even if no one was occupying it.

 

 

     That was true for me as well, and I always had some experience with Residence Life. I had a friend who was an R.A. who stuck around for summer session '09, and I myself had to apply for permission to come early to my dorm for the spring 2012 semester.

 

     If Darius was an athlete, an R.A., or had taken summer session, I could've believed it, but otherwise it's just not believable. You can't have college kids roaming around dorms without a reason to be there early. It makes sense from a liability standpoint.

 

     Maybe this was something that changed about colleges from the early/mid-90's, when Private Tim's co-horts went, vs. the early/mid '00s, when our generation started going off to college. Kinda similiar to how back when Mark Arbour went to college, they actually used to have on-campus bars, whereas nowadays that seems so impossible.

Edited September 23, 2013 by methodwriter85

[Mark Arbour]

     That was true for me as well, and I always had some experience with Residence Life. I had a friend who was an R.A. who stuck around for summer session '09, and I myself had to apply for permission to come early to my dorm for the spring 2012 semester.

 

     If Darius was an athlete, an R.A., or had taken summer session, I could've believed it, but otherwise it's just not believable. You can't have college kids roaming around dorms without a reason to be there early. It makes sense from a liability standpoint.

 

     Maybe this was something that changed about colleges from the early/mid-90's, when Private Tim's co-horts went, vs. the early/mid '00s, when our generation started going off to college. Kinda similiar to how back when Mark Arbour went to college, they actually used to have on-campus bars, whereas nowadays that seems so impossible.

 

A week early is plausible.   More isn't.  

[B1ue]

So...I'm guessing he pulled strings to move in with the athletes, and thus get the hell away from Brad losing his mind over Will? I could see that. I assume that's why he opted to move into a dorm at all, rather than just living at home. The commute from Malibu is what, 30 miles? That's totally reasonable to do on a daily basis for someone from LA. I drive nearly that to work. Robbie traveled farther. He could also have opted to buy or rent an apartment closer to campus, but perhaps not without being obvious that getting away was his goal. Dorming would be enough of an excuse that Brad might have let it go without thinking too deeply about it.

[rjo]

When I found out that Robbie died, I believed Brad would have a hard time, however he seems to be much worse than I thought he would be. Maybe Robbie was right, Brad is not as strong as we think. I understand his is the greater loss, but still he seems to be getting worse not better.

 

When we look at the family, Will is doing pretty good. Maybe it is because Robbie and Jeanine both made him promise to take care of Maddy and Brad. However I believe Will is stronger than Brad. Brad's childhood scared him very deep, is he that bad kid who can't do anything right? As much as I was upset with Robbie at times, he was stubburn, he still was a loving forgiving person, who could give the best hugs ever. He also was able to read people and know when they needed him. He made people he loved feel safe. That is itself is a great talent.

 

The other person I worry about is Wade. Losing his father, Robbie and dealing with his evil mother all at the same time has got to be hard. Wade is strong but that is a lot to deal with. even though he is like JP I don't think he is as strong as JP. Maybe that is because JP has had much more loss in his life than Wade.

 

The people that have impressed me the most are Darius, JJ and JP. Darius has stepped up, that maybe to deal with the grief but still he has been impressive. JJ also is dealing with it, not the basket case I thought he would be. The one good thing that has come from this is the three brothers have become much closer and more open with each other. For the first time in a long time they seem to be on the same page. Finally, JP, who moved heaven and earth to protect his broken family. There are no words, none to describe him. He was able to bury the pain and do what was needed to be done. When I think about the person he was at the beginning of the CAP saga and the person he is now, all the people he lost all the sadness, all the pain, I wonder how he made it though everything. We think of Robbie as a hero, and he was, but in a quiet way JP is a hero too.

[B1ue]

    According to Darius, UCLA was requiring him to live on campus as part of his transfer deal. I'm not sure how true to actual UCLA would be, but I'm assuming that Darius probably figured that socially, it's better to live on campus when you're still an underclassmen. I mean, Wade and Matt moved into living at Escorial pretty quickly, but that's because they were close enough to Stanford campus that they could invite their Stanford friends to all these big parties that they'd throw on weekends, or they could get to the campus parties pretty easily...Darius doesn't really have that option unless he wants to buy a party bus every week. Given that Darius has been continually described as Mr. Social King, I can't see him as the "commute to school, miss the party scene" type.

 

     I would assume that Darius would probably get his own off-campus apartment by junior year. Or house. Dude could afford it.

Except that's emphatically not the culture of UCLA. From the people I've talked to that went there, UCLA is by no means a party school. Quite the opposite. One lecturer from there that I talked to said it was a commuter campus, that almost everyone spent the day there then went back to wherever they were from.

 

A school like Purdue or UCSB, there's nowhere else to live besides the immediately surrounding community, so you might as well hang out with your buddies from class. Columbia or NYU, rent is absolutely nuts, so restricting yourself to campus makes a lot of sense. USC, it's a bit dangerous to stray far from campus. UCLA, however, has a wide spread of options that are of comparative cost to on-campus housing, probably even cheaper, and don't require you to put up with an RA. Further, why would you go to some dumb frat party when Venice, Santa Monica, and West Hollywood are all right there, only a fake ID (which were still relatively easy to fake) away?

 

Even if he chose to subvert convention, which I'm sure many UCLA students do choose, an apartment still would have made more sense. Keep it close to campus, and it'd be a natural focal point for other students that had farther commutes. But, as you say, he had to pick a dorm. That seems weird too, but I'll let that go.

Edited September 23, 2013 by B1ue

[Mark Arbour]

A school like Purdue or UCSB, there's nowhere else to live besides the immediately surrounding community, so you might as well hang out with your buddies from class. Columbia or NYU, rent is absolutely nuts, so restricting yourself to campus makes a lot of sense. USC, it's a bit dangerous to stray far from campus. UCLA, however, has a wide spread of options that are of comparative cost to on-campus housing, probably even cheaper, and don't require you to put up with an RA. Further, why would you go to some dumb frat party when Venice, Santa Monica, and West Hollywood are all right there, only a fake ID (which were still relatively easy to fake) away?

 

I suspect that Darius' decision to live in the dorms had much to do about escaping from Malibu in an easy way, and probably because it was the easiest thing to do in general.  I thought your rationale of it flying underneath Brad's radar was excellent.  It's not a bad option if you're new to a school.  The flipside of that is that Darius is from the area, and already has a lot of friends, so he wouldn't necessarily need the social environment of the dorms.  I didn't really address it in the story (yet), so we have to assume for some reason he opted to live in the dorms. 

Edited September 23, 2013 by Mark Arbour

[methodwriter85]

   Did my post get deleted? That's kind of weird, but I'll just assume that it got eaten or something after Blue replied to it.

 

 

Even if he chose to subvert convention, which I'm sure many UCLA students do choose, an apartment still would have made more sense. Keep it close to campus, and it'd be a natural focal point for other students that had farther commutes. But, as you say, he had to pick a dorm. That seems weird too, but I'll let that go.

 

   I think it's just one of those things where we just have to shrug and figure that's what Darius decided on. I mean, Rivers Cuomo, when he was in his 30's and going back to Harvard, decided to live in the dorms. I don't doubt that Darius will probably get a nearby apartment junior year.

 

      Maybe Darius just really liked the dorm life from his year of doing it at Santa Clara? I think despite the negatives, dorms are really the best way of building friendships in college, especially during the first year or two. I gotta admit, when I lived on campus again for grad school after living at home for junior and senior year, there were some pretty fun things about it.

 

 

JJ pretty much outed himself as a bisexual. I'll bet his public admissions were but the tip of the iceberg of his internal struggles.

 

       What struck me about the peek inside JJ's psyche was that the guy was so incredibly bitter and angry. Understandable, of course, but wow. There was like nothing left of that sweet, happy 9-year old we met in If It Fits.

 

        Hopefully by his mid-20's JJ will be okay, and he'll spend the rest of his teen years just quietly keeping his nose to the grindstone and secure his spot at Torino while occasionally popping up to make bitchy comments about his brothers' behavior and avoiding any more trauma. I'm not sure that's what Mark has in mind, though. LOL.

Edited September 23, 2013 by methodwriter85

[Mark Arbour]

 Moved here from a different thread:
 

Marc, sorry I'm posting this comment as part of this thread but I'm still not familiar enough with GA to know how to do so another way. You mentioned in a reply to a review that it was surprising no one thought Alex was an issue. I did think so but did not voice my opinion out of respect to your creative process. But since you opened up the box....:-)

 

seems to to me a bit far fetched that a couple that has been together for 20 years would resort to sex with someone else every time they encounter a problem. Yes, Robbie and Alex were having an affair with Brad's knowledge but for Robbie to spend 4 of 6 nights giving it up to Alex just because there was another fight with Brad seems inconceivable. It really, really bothered me but I deferred to your creative rights. I do not have o agree or like everything you write in the story in order for my to enjoy the overall.

 

having said that, I would love to see one or two of the main gay characters get involved in a real monogamous relationship. I survived AIDS while many friends did not; I survived being a circuit boy while some friends just got lost in that world and I survived crystal meth while some friends lost their life to it. Even living in a place where I can walk half a block to Starbucks and pick up a trick , there are more and more monogamous couples roaming the gayborhood. Yen, the story is 12 years in the past but even then attitudes where changing. Obviously I have no idea where you are taking the story but I hope you give some thoughts to this now that you have almost a blank slate to reshape the guys.

 

hope all of the above came out in a positive manner and did not offend you.

 

Catlos

 

 

 

I hear what you are saying about the risks of non-monogamy and about relationships, but there are two things at work here.  As Tim points out, I sometimes have a point to make with these storylines. 

 

1.  The attitudes toward HIV changed markedly during this time frame, from the nightmare that we saw and you witnessed more personally, to a much more lackadaisical approach.  I'm mindful of Queer as Folk, and how one kid actually wanted Ben to give him HIV and just get it out of the way.  Brad and Robbie lived through that, though, and they do have those fears, so one assumes that they are very safe with their extracurricular activities.

 

2.  We would like to think that people grow from their experiences, and that couples change and become better together.  I think that it is much more likely that patterns in a relationship are likely to re-emerge, especially when there is stress in that relationship.  I think it is entirely within character for Brad and Robbie to resort to their standard responses when they're pissed off at each other.  Think of someone you love that you fight with.  I'll bet you'll find the basic framework of those fights is remarkably similar.

[Kitt]

Ok - the easier question first. B1ue, were the summer kids technically homeless between some move out date and move in weekend? I can just picture the chaos if they moved from one dorm room to another the same weekend the others were moving in. Someone moving out of a room you are trying to move into at the same time offers all sorts of opportunity for lost boxes.

 

I know everyone deserves the benifit of the doubt, but in my mind she is not Elizabeth Dansfield, grieving ex wife and mother, she has become Elizabitch, conniving, scheming woman out to regain something she feels should be hers but she lost in the divorce. I have to give Wade tons of credit. For her to have shown up after being specifically told she was not welcome and there was no room was not only presumptuous, it was a calculatedly rude statement that she felt she belonged while the others did not. I am not sure i could have handled the situation as graciously as Wade did. I think i would have had security, which i am sure the senator had on the property given his position, escort her out unceremoniously. 

 

Give Cody a little credit here guys. The first we see of him at Escorial is when he wakes Brad and climbs into bed with him, and everyone seems ready to condemn him for not asking about Maddy. We don't know that he didn't, we just know he did not ask Brad.  He is a youngish guy, with no experience with children, little contact with his daughter, and most people in that position would assume a one year old too young to understand any of what is happening. He wouldn't know how to deal with her in any case, where as he DOES know how to deal with Brad. Remember, Cody always seemed to have some sixth sense when it came to people he cares about, and Brad falls into that category.

 

I wasn't surprised at all at Isadore as choice to raise Maddy. What i was surprised at was that Janine felt she could make that choice without feeling Cody should be involved at all.  Legally he is the only one with a right to decide where Maddy will be for the foreseeable future. While the courts will take Janine's wishes into consideration should it get that far, unless i am mistaken Cody's wishes will be paramount. Tim? that's your department isn't it? 

 

At any rate, I cant see Cody becoming "Mr Mom" and having Maddy in a carrier as he is doing his thing on the LA/Hollywood scene, but I do see him stepping up and having not only an opinion, but a wish to be involved. Remember, when Janine became pregnant it was intentional, and while Cody was sort of an add in after the threesome with Brad and Robbie, the deal always was that the father would step back and Janine was going to raise the baby with her partner. I had always thought it good that Brad was NOT the father as I can NOT see him sitting back and not getting involved, no matter what he had said that night.  Cody honored that original agreement to step back, but Janine's death, along with her partners, changes the entire dynamic.

 

I think the saying "It takes a village to raise a child" is going to end up being more than a metaphor here. I think the village will be called Escorial and just about everyone who has been considered as a guardian for Maddy is going to be included. The poor child is going to be so over parented she will be lucky to have her first date by her 30th birthday!

[PrivateTim]

 so we have to assume for some reason he opted to live in the dorms. 

 

He wants to pork freshman chicks before the "freshman 15", duh......

 

I think it's just one of those things where we just have to shrug and figure that's what Darius decided on. I mean, Rivers Cuomo, when he was in his 30's and going back to Harvard, decided to live in the dorms. I don't doubt that Darius will probably get a nearby apartment junior year.

 

      Maybe Darius just really liked the dorm life from his year of doing it at Santa Clara? I think despite the negatives, dorms are really the best way of building friendships in college, especially during the first year or two. I gotta admit, when I lived on campus again for grad school after living at home for junior and senior year, there were some pretty fun things about it.

 

No, fraternity life is the best place for building college friendships. I can see Darius pledging because it was a great way to meet the chickadees.

 

As Mark points out, Darius is going home. He'd have lots of friends in Malibu and the surrounding areas for friendships. I am going to assume he chose to return back to So Cal because UCLA is a better school than Santa Clara  and because he only went there because of Ella to begin with.

 

And graduate dorms are very different from undergraduate dorms.

 

 

 

seems to to me a bit far fetched that a couple that has been together for 20 years would resort to sex with someone else every time they encounter a problem. Yes, Robbie and Alex were having an affair with Brad's knowledge but for Robbie to spend 4 of 6 nights giving it up to Alex just because there was another fight with Brad seems inconceivable. It really, really bothered me but I deferred to your creative rights. I do not have o agree or like everything you write in the story in order for my to enjoy the overall.

 

having said that, I would love to see one or two of the main gay characters get involved in a real monogamous relationship. I survived AIDS while many friends did not; I survived being a circuit boy while some friends just got lost in that world and I survived crystal meth while some friends lost their life to it. Even living in a place where I can walk half a block to Starbucks and pick up a trick , there are more and more monogamous couples roaming the gayborhood. Yen, the story is 12 years in the past but even then attitudes where changing. Obviously I have no idea where you are taking the story but I hope you give some thoughts to this now that you have almost a blank slate to reshape the guys.

 

I don't get that it is far fetched that men cheat on their partners regardless of the partners gender. Men are dogs, plain and simple.

 

I know a lot of relationships and even marriages where the ditzy wife (regardless of gender) assumes they are in a monogamous relationship where the SOB husband is screwing anything they can on the QT. Even in some of the gay couples I know who are essentially monogamous have rules about how they can sleep with someone else who catches their eye. There are certain rules and guidelines they have agreed to, but they are really not monogamous. I can count the truly monogamous couples on one hand and even then, it is an assumption that they are monogamous because I've never seen or heard anything to the contrary.

 

While I have said it would be nice to see gay couples portrayed in a less slutty way, that actually would be the fiction not the norm.

Edited September 23, 2013 by PrivateTim

[B1ue]

Ok - the easier question first. B1ue, were the summer kids technically homeless between some move out date and move in weekend? I can just picture the chaos if they moved from one dorm room to another the same weekend the others were moving in. Someone moving out of a room you are trying to move into at the same time offers all sorts of opportunity for lost boxes.

To answer this specific question, the second summer session usually ended about three weeks ahead of the fall quarter. During that time, the summer kids would keep their dorm. About four days ahead of the regular move in, the same day us workers and the volunteers were allowed to move in, so did they. By that point, the RAs were wrapping up their training and all the dorms had been converted back from whatever purpose they had served during the summer. That also gave the cleaning staff time to prep their dorm rooms for the new occupants, who moved in on the regular move in day.

[Mark Arbour]

Here's an interesting question: If Darius pledged a frat at UCLA, which one would he pledge?

[Daddydavek]

I'm not familiar with UCLA, but I did find the following in a Forbes article from January 2013:

 

 

Best Fraternities For Future CEOs

Fraternity Members Who Are Forbes 500s CEOs

Beta Theta Pi                            11

Sigma Alpha Epsilon                   9

Sigma Chi                                   9

Lambda Chi Alpha                      8

Alpha Tau Omega                      7

Edited September 23, 2013 by Daddydavek

[PrivateTim]

Here's an interesting question: If Darius pledged a frat at UCLA, which one would he pledge?

 

I can totally see Darius as a Beta; amiable guy, money, classy. SAE's at UCLA do well in sports and throw good parties, but kind of arrogant. Sigma Chi, on and off probation so they've had a tough time staying consistent.

 

Here is the Beta House:

 

 

Here is the SAE House:

[rjo]

Back to Kitt's comments about Cody. I wonder if Jeanine set up a written formal agreement with him, or if It was something just agreed on at the moment. I think when Brad bought the condo and set up Jeanine's income all the issues would have settled. I think Cody will enter the situation when he needs too, However, the one person who is pleaged to look after Maddy is Will. Will bonded with her and Riley early and I hope he will be able to keep that promise. Will is one of those people to whom a promise is a promise and their word is their bond. That is one thing I like about him the most. I don't know if Robbie and Jeanine knew they weren't going to make it, but I feel they could not have picked a better person.  I reminds me of the time Steven was going off to war and asked Tonto to look after JP.( other examples are JP looking after Brad and Brad looking after Darius and JJ)  Except for one time, she did a understanding job of that. I can see Will doing just as well.

Edited September 24, 2013 by rjo

[methodwriter85]

    That's funny you mentioned SAE. The University of Delaware SAE chapter got kicked off in 2008 for a pledge over-dosing on cocaine and alcohol.  It was, needless to say, quite the scandal. Sig Ep was the hottest frat at our school, but of course, chapters vary.

 

    I think the only frat I can think of that have uniformly bad reputations would be TKE. They've been kicked off UD since the early 00's and legend has it they murdered a coed and dropped her body off at the train tracks.

 

     Darius always did strike me as someone who'd join a frat...it's kinda surprising he didn't do it while at Santa Clara. But maybe the frat life wasn't big there? When I went to UD, the school was 15 percent frat- frat life was there if you wanted it, but you could be GID and still have a social life. That was kind of the shocking thing about IUP- it was like more than half-frat there, and frats weren't regulated to death there like they were at UD. It was kind of shame that at 24 I was pretty much over the frat party thing.

[Mark Arbour]

I can see Darius as a Beta or a Sigma Chi.  Those were my initial choices without knowing about the UCLA Frats in particular.  Or I could just make up my own.

[centexhairysub]

This is in response to a couple of comments about Cody.  For some reason, I can't get the quote button to work right now... 

 

 

I don't think anyone is condemning Cody for going to Brad instead of trying to find out about Maddie.  I think that I and several people commented on this to bolster our contention that he has never shown much interest in her or her welfare.  Cody was around Darius, Will, and JJ when they were younger and never really related to them much either, or at least not that we saw...  Cody did take an interest in both Alejandro and Casey in the story If It Fits but they were in their mid to late teens and I think he understood how to relate to them.  Plus, he was asked by Stef to help with them both...  Cody has always been one of my favorite characters but I just dont think the fact that he fathered a child suddenly changed his outlook on life or his behaviour. 

 

 

Unfortunately, I see all to often that being the biological father or mother of a child does not indicate that the person will be a good parent.  I think that men espeically often don't have that connection because frankly after the conception part is done, they can really take the next nine months off unless they are with the mother; often they do that even if they are with the mother...

 

 

There simply has not been enough background information given to indicate if there were any formal agreements between Jeanine and Cody regarding Madison.  The fact that the child's name was Madison Graves would at least indicate that Cody was not involved enough or did not care enough that the child did not carry his name, I am reading my own issues into that but...  I am pretty sure that Cody did not even come to the hospital when she was born.  Jeanine may have gotten Cody to sign away full custody to the baby; I could really see her doing this especially after she became involved so deeply with Hank.  I don't know how enforceable those agreements would be in light of Jeanine's death in either California or New York; Tim, what do you think???

 

 

I am not saying that Cody could not or will not develop some paternal feeling for Madison but I also don't think it would be unusual for him to take no interest in her or her future either...  We will all just have to wait and see where Mark takes us on this journey.

[rjo]

I think David said it perfectly. Many of  these details we don't know. Cody could have looked in on Maddy before seeing Brad. Jeanine thought of both Cody and Wade as sperm donors. Wade however wanted to be a lot more and that worked out. I have a feeling that Cody will work things out with the rest of the family. She will be well taken care of.

 

Back to one thing that I find very interesting  both Robbie and Jeanine had Will promise to look after both Maddy and Brad. We have already seen times which Will has been living up to his promises.  Handing over Maddy to the nurse, and looking after Brad, comforting him, by a word or hand on the shoulder or a hug. Why did they pick him? What was it that Will had the others didn't? It makes the story more interesting, deeper, richer. It also follows te pattern which was started all those years ago. I find it very comforting. Mark's stories have those patterns, that repeat though the generations. Traditions what bind the family together  and make thise characters seem real.

Edited September 24, 2013 by rjo

[methodwriter85]

I can see Darius as a Beta or a Sigma Chi.  Those were my initial choices without knowing about the UCLA Frats in particular.  Or I could just make up my own.

 

    As long as Darius isn't a Phi Kapp or Kappa Dela Rho, I'm fine with it.

[B1ue]

Unfortunately, I see all to often that being the biological father or mother of a child does not indicate that the person will be a good parent.  I think that men espeically often don't have that connection because frankly after the conception part is done, they can really take the next nine months off unless they are with the mother; often they do that even if they are with the mother

There's a persistent myth that having a child will inalterable change a person, over and above the perfectly normal change anyone goes through when they have to rearrange their life for new circumstances. The myth is told that it isn't having to reprioritize around something that is totally dependent on you and any fellow caregivers, or acknowledging you helped create something you cannot control, but that the act of becoming a parent itself confers some mystical change within you. This change is thought to be universal, both because people are frankly mentally lazy and most assume anything that happens to them will affect someone else the same way it did them, and because most that have this belief cannot imagine anyone who hasn't knelt at that altar could understand them.

 

I feel certain my word choice conveys adequately my feelings for such beliefs, but it is sincerely held by many, with a quite a lot of evidence and justification. Cody is just one that proves the universality of it is sometimes oversold.