9.11

[Carlos Hazday]

I love all this speculation about  who Brad will hook up with, HOWEVER, my feeling is that Marc will surprise the hell out of all of us by pulling another rabbit out of the hat........

[GLH]

From the "Better Late Than Never" department:

 

 

 

KevinD

Yesterday, 04:57 PM

(Chapter 44 Review)

 

Well worth the wait… Have been looking for this since Saturday!

 

 

 

 Reply from Mark Arbour (author)

I'm so glad you weren't disappointed! Thanks for the review. 

 

Damn, you guys are a demanding bunch. :-)

 

 

 

WE JUST LIKE TO BE "REGULAR" as time advances.  regularity is good!

 

Well ya kinda spoiled us there for a bit, Mark.   Until Chapter 27, average posting time had peaked at just over four days, thirteen hours.    From Chapters 27 through 42 the average interval was just a hair over two days, fifteen hours.    Given that one-third of the chapter releases were almost two days shorter on average, I'm surprised your ears aren't ringing from the incessant whine. 

[Mark Arbour]

From the "Better Late Than Never" department:

 

 

Well ya kinda spoiled us there for a bit, Mark. Until Chapter 27, average posting time had peaked at just over four days, thirteen hours. From Chapters 27 through 42 the average interval was just a hair over two days, fifteen hours. Given that one-third of the chapter releases were almost two days shorter on average, I'm surprised your ears aren't ringing from the incessant whine.

I love some good stats!

[rjo]

On another topic, after Will's problem at school in Math class the family came loaded for bear. It would had been easy for things to get out of control, but Will thought something different. Two things seem to have changed with Will. He has learned about compassion and forgiveness. Some people spend their whole life and don't learn that lessen, Will has learned them at 15. Time after Time Will has shown this. More and more from little things like buying hotel rooms, to helping Kai's father now to this. I only wonder what kind of person Will is going to became. When it seems there are few truly good people in this world, here is Will, not perfect by any means, but a person with a good heart. I hope that could be said about us. Thanks Mark, again for creating these wonderful characters who have so endeared themselves to us in so many ways.

[Carlos Hazday]

More and more from little things like buying hotel rooms, to helping Kai's father now to this. I only wonder what kind of person Will is going to became. When it seems there are few truly good people in this world, here is Will, not perfect by any means, but a person with a good heart.

 

Speaking of Kai, the house Will bought in Hawaii could be a great place for Brad and his boys to spend some time recovering and bonding. May be tricky to work JJ into the mix but maybe during the school's winter break the four of them could get away. It would be cool to have Kai come in and out of Will's life and for the two of them to end up together a few years down the road.

[methodwriter85]

       I don't think it'll work to take JJ off to Hawaii. November through January are going to be pretty busy months for him. We have a timeline that we've worked out for JJ's career, so that we know when JJ and therefore Tiffany can't be in a chapter, and the figure skating season is probably at its busiest from about October through January. I don't think we're planning on him to be at Worlds or Four Continents, though, so his spring is probably pretty open.

 

      Anyway, I really enjoyed reading JJ's voice. You're doing a hell of a job of differentiating him from Will. He comes off as pretty spoiled, immature, and rather childish for a guy who's almost 16 years old, but he also has these flashes of insight that make his general obtuse manner all the more frustrating. His bit about how both Matt and Will are complete suckers for any handsome guy who flirts with them was pretty funny, and very true. More true was JJ's earlier bit about the price you have to pay for Brad's love, which Robbie and Will knew all too well.

 

      I loved how you're writing Darius, basically bossing a dragging and kicking JJ into doing things his way, while it takes Will to get him to back off. That's very true to life about what happens when you have at least 3 siblings. And I loved how all the tension got resolved with JJ's Blair Warner snob act. My general belief with JJ is that he's fine with his Diva act, or faking emotions for the camera/judges. It's real emotion that he can't handle. It's why I can really see him becoming an actor once his skating days are done.

[rjo]

Sometimes tragity can destroy families and relationships and sometimes it can make them stronger. I think it has brought these brothers together like never before. I am wondering if it will do the same for Matt and Wade. as for the many point of view some people would find it difficult I think it works really well. As it was good to hear JP after so long, at was good to see JJ and begin to understand how he is dealing with this. He seems the forgotten middle kid who uses his skating to get attention. I believe you caught the conflict between his resentment of being overlooked and the knowledge that his family really loves him. In some ways he is like Billy (Clarie's twin) but JJ has skating and he has two brothers that will not let things get out of control any more. Which is to say that Will is a better brother to JJ than Brad was to Billy and that is saying something from a former Bradofile.

Edited October 5, 2013 by rjo

[centexhairysub]

Still in Alabama so forgive any errors, still working on this on my phone...

 

 

I really enjoyed getting to see JJ's point of view.  I find him to be one of the more interesting characters and personally one that I like much more than some of the others that are featured much more proximately.  I can't see him as a sole or major narrator but I would really like to get an occasional glimpse of what is going on from his point of view.  JJ seems to be really torn about how he is feeling about Jeanine but then that is completely understandable.  I hope that he continues to get some help and makes his way out of this into a truly bright future.

 

 

Darius is handling himself great but I think he is using part of his current responsibilities to not have to deal with everything that is going on around him.  He will be hard hit when this switches to the service for Robbie.  I have just been so impressed by how he has handled himself and the other members of his family.

 

 

Will handled the situation with Mr. Colson really well after he found out why he reacted the way he did in the class.  I was so impressed by how Will managed to pull himself together and keep the feeding frenzy from occurring.  I like how he is relating to Brad but wonder if Brad isn't being a little to honest about certain things...

 

 

Brad has never been one of my favorite characters and he is fast becoming among my least.  I fully understand the process of grief and often you do find faults with those you have lost to help you deal with the grief but Brad's constant whining is just getting beyond anything therapeutic and into just a region of self-indulgence that is annoying.  One of Brad's biggest complaints about Robbie was when he whined but I swear Brad has done that more the last few views at him more than Robbie had in years....  I also don't thing it is completely healthy to have Brad using Will as his sounding board on some of this.  I don't think he is doing it on purpose but Will is trying to process his own grief and Brad's constant Robbie did this to me and Robbie was responsible for making me so unbalance and unhappy; can't be good for Will to have to deal with while processing his own feelings of loss...

 

 

I do hope that we find out the back story with Jeanine's parents.  It appears that she never really left her kids with them but I am guessing more the father and have to wonder why?  I get the feeling that Darius and Will at least know or suspect but hope the rest of us get better picture soon.

 

 

From reading some of the chapter reviews, I think a lot of people viewed Cody's statements as a declaration that he was going to take responsibility for Madison's care and upbringing but I don't think that was what it was about.  My guess is that they were the opening salvo in a child custody battle that is going to be brewing.  The way Brad reacted and handled Will tells me that they were choreographed or at least planned out to some extent...

 

 

Great work....

[mmike1969]

Leaving young kids to grandparents is sometimes tricky. Some are just too old to handle loud and energetic kids or just don't have the skills required while other grandparents has an off view of the world that is really not acceptable in the modern world.

 

Such as my grandmother on my dad's side was never allowed to take care of us kids alone since she was old school. Her thought was "Are you sick? Can't sleep? Here, have some tea." I believe it was called opium.

 

My grandfather was a bit better. Always safe around him. Of course, when you suspect he was Yakuza, of course you can feel safe.

[rjo]

Again as so may times in the past David has brought up some very important points.

 

I agree Brad is going overboard in blaming Robbie for all his woes. I wonder how that will fit with Robbie's service coming up. Brad is still that little kid who his mother hated. He can't seem to get over that. Until he sees that and moves on I am not sure about him.

 

I agree something is fishy with Jeanine's parents. Maybe the father molested her when she was a child.

 

Last I also agree that Darius has stepped up creating a beautiful service for his mother and Hank. Will has also handled this much better than he would have a year ago. Even JJ who seems to be having a difficult time has been dealing with things better. I believe the real test with come on the 28th during Robbie's service. It maybe best that they are having this last.

 

I understand the loss for Brad is the greatest then maybe Frank. However the brothers and I mean all four of them we forget about Matt. Darius was Robbie's kid for all those years growing up. After Jeanine was gone, JJ grabbed on to Robbie. I think Will got a lot closer to Robbie during his fights with his father. And then there is Matt 18 years passed without him knowing Matt and even though Matt and Robbie don't live together they bonded too. Robbie is a big hole in this family. For all his stubbornness he still loved these kids and forgave them as they forgave him.

Edited October 5, 2013 by rjo

[methodwriter85]

I really enjoyed getting to see JJ's point of view.  I find him to be one of the more interesting characters and personally one that I like much more than some of the others that are featured much more proximately.  I can't see him as a sole or major narrator but I would really like to get an occasional glimpse of what is going on from his point of view.  JJ seems to be really torn about how he is feeling about Jeanine but then that is completely understandable.  I hope that he continues to get some help and makes his way out of this into a truly bright future.

 

   I can't see him as a co-narrator until he's at least 17 or 18, but I do like these glimpses we're getting into him. I'm kind of scared shitless about what Mark might put JJ through if he was a narrator. Dear god, just look at what he's done with Will! LOL.

[Carlos Hazday]

"I agree Brad is going overboard in blaming Robbie for all his woes. I wonder how that will fit with Robbie's service coming up. Brad is still that little kid who his mother hated. He can't seem to get over that. Until he sees that and moves on I am not sure about "

 

 

I think you hit the nail on the head with Brad. The scars left by his mother's hate will be with him forever. He keeps trying to find complete love and can't. Robbie needed to play the field and Will needs his independence. I've said it before and I'll repeat it now, Brad is one of those men that plays the field and acts tough just to hide his insecurities. Until he finds a loyal lover  (monogamy) that makes him feel safe, his demons will continue to haunt him.

Edited October 5, 2013 by Carlos H

[methodwriter85]

    Brad could've had that with Max, quite easily, but I think on some level he didn't want that. He wanted the challenge.

 

    Of course, now that Brad is nearly 39 instead of 23, he might think differently.

[Daddydavek]

I see Jeremy previously picked up on JJ's comparing Will to Matt.  

 

In the stages of grief, Brad is vacillating because he is having a hard time processing it all and I would expect that to continue for some time well beyond Robbie's memorial.  His relationship with Robbie was complicated on several levels and they both fed each other's insecurities and also some of their strengths.  I think you can safely agree, they each motivated the other, and not always in good ways.  

 

Cody and Maddie are an ongoing intrigue which perhaps will get sorted sooner rather than later?

 

Does Brad really see himself as nearly 40?   Is the loss of Robbie going to produce another mid-life crises?  Does Will find a bay based boyfriend?  Enquiring minds want to know..  

[GLH]

Still in Alabama so forgive any errors, still working on this on my phone...

 

 

What crime against humanity did you commit to warrant such a fate? 

[methodwriter85]

 

Does Brad really see himself as nearly 40?   Is the loss of Robbie going to produce another mid-life crises?  Does Will find a bay based boyfriend?  Enquiring minds want to know..

 

     I don't think Brad is as youth-obsessed as Robbie is. Brad doesn't mind dating or fooling around with 20-year olds like Robbie, but the difference is that he doesn't actually WANT to be 20 again. (Although Brad's mindset at times can be pretty close to being like a 23-year old, especially when it came to Robbie.) I don't see Brad as the 39-year old guy who hits on college boys while wearing head-to-toe Abercrombie and Fitch and trying to speak like a 20-year old. That's more Lark's scene. Can't you just picture Lark wearing the Abercrombie polos and the distressed jeans and the puka shells and flips-flops while hitting on college boys and girls at college bars?

 

I see Jeremy previously picked up on JJ's comparing Will to Matt.

 

 

      What I think is interesting about JJ is that he's so self-absorbed, yet he's also pretty insightful at times. I think it's because, in contrast to the craziness of his family, his job is to kind of just sit back and observe, since he can't really partake in anything. I figure that when JJ's 25, his main function at family events will be to sit back, get blasted, and make bitchy yet very true comments about his family members. LOL.

Edited October 8, 2013 by methodwriter85

[rjo]

I think JJ's shell is to protect him. Hopefully there will come a time he will not need that shell because inside we might be surprised what a terrific person is there.

[centexhairysub]

What crime against humanity did you commit to warrant such a fate? 

 

Family Drama, and am I ever ready for it to be over with and escape....      

[methodwriter85]

 

Unlike Will and Darius, who both try to live relatively normal lives despite their wealth, JJ isn't doing that at all. He's a bit of an elitist, and a bit of a snob. I think that makes him fun. JJ and John...interesting.

 

     I think Darius and Will generally want to fit in...not in a high school clique way, but in that they recognize that not every single person they meet is going to be from the same ultra-rich bubble they come from, and since both of them are social animals, they get that flaunting your wealth at every turn makes it harder for them to fit in with "normal" people. I think when it comes to JJ, he's very much okay with staying in his bubble, and since skating is a relatively affluent sport (the sport is NOT cheap, from what I understand), it's probably not hard for him to avoid mingling with poor people. Doesn't he also get away with not going to Claremont, too? That's why I'm kind of sad that JJ dropped out of HW, because I think the school's volunteer policy would've opened his eyes, at least a little bit. I would've loved a storyline where Will and JJ wind up volunteering for Habitat for Humanity or something involving the homeless as part of their volunteer requirements. (We got a bit of that with Will and the teen homeless center, but I'm not sure Will really "got" it, as Tim pointed out.He mainly seemed to see them as hot guys that could provide fake ID's and roofies.) That could still happen with Will, Marie, and John, as Menlo also has volunteer hour requirements.

 

      Of course, JJ's snobbery is setting himself for a fall at some point. The story behind his paternity is pretty much a ticking time bomb waiting to go off at some point(Can't you just hear Johnny Weir calling JJ the Incest Crackwhore Baby?), and unless Mark re-writes history 2006 and 2010 are going to hand JJ some pretty huge disapointments. JJ genuinely believes that he's going to be on the cover of a Wheaties box when he's 20...what happens to the guy when that doesn't pan out?

 

 

I think that JJ keeps a lot of himself hidden, primarily because he just doesn't want to deal with people commenting on what he's doing or thinking.

 

       I think it's a by-product of growing up in a family where people don't really hold back much. (Understatement or what?) Will puts himself out there so much, and is so transparent about the things that he does, and as a result, he's opened himself up to commentators all the time about what he's doing and thinking. I think JJ sees that, and decides to go the opposite way, to try and maintain privacy in a family for whom very, very few things are kept private.

[Daddydavek]

I think JJ being involved in skating keeps him busy and focused on that.  It is an elitist sport, not a team sport and accusing him of being an elitist would be a compliment in his outlook.  Performing in front of crowds who are just waiting for you to make a mistake or take a fall also may have something to do with his ability to tune out others and keep to himself.  All in all, I think the picture that Mark has drawn of JJ is fairly consistent for the life he is leading.  He doesn't want to get involved in all of Will's drama as he figures he has plenty in his own life.  

[Mark Arbour]

I think JJ being involved in skating keeps him busy and focused on that.  It is an elitist sport, not a team sport and accusing him of being an elitist would be a compliment in his outlook.  Performing in front of crowds who are just waiting for you to make a mistake or take a fall also may have something to do with his ability to tune out others and keep to himself.  All in all, I think the picture that Mark has drawn of JJ is fairly consistent for the life he is leading.  He doesn't want to get involved in all of Will's drama as he figures he has plenty in his own life.  

 

Well said.

[Carlos Hazday]

Point of personal preference :

 

I find Carullo's question about wether Will is clean offensive. Using clean to mean HIV negative implies that those infected with the virus are dirty.  Really Marc? Isn't there enough discrimination coming from so many groups for us to discriminated against members of our own community? Even if this was a dozen years ago and you were trying to represent common talk it's a shame that by putting it in writing you help perpetuate  that attitude.

 

i will now step down from my soapbox.

[rjo]

I wonder if you thought about all the different ramifactions when you began to write about 9 11. I can't tell you how real these chapters have been. Your work has brought those days back to life. What is even more interesting is how this family deals with it. Ever since the very first chapters in CAP Mark you were able to reflect real life, real feelings of real people. Here again you have shown us characters like Will who are dealing with this loss in a unbelieveblily real way. This last chapter could have been sad, but in some way it wasn't. Maybe because it showed what I always believed, that even out of tragedy good can come. The human spirit is stronger than we think. There are good people in this world. ( too bad none of them are in congress) Sorry it is after 5 am.

[PrivateTim]

I think JJ being involved in skating keeps him busy and focused on that.  It is an elitist sport, not a team sport and accusing him of being an elitist would be a compliment in his outlook.  Performing in front of crowds who are just waiting for you to make a mistake or take a fall also may have something to do with his ability to tune out others and keep to himself.  All in all, I think the picture that Mark has drawn of JJ is fairly consistent for the life he is leading.  He doesn't want to get involved in all of Will's drama as he figures he has plenty in his own life.  

 

I said it a bit ago and I'll say it again. What makes JJ different in this story is that he is actually the most normal main character there is. It is the others who are the anomalies, not him.

 

 

I wonder if you thought about all the different ramifactions when you began to write about 9 11. I can't tell you how real these chapters have been. Your work has brought those days back to life. What is even more interesting is how this family deals with it. Ever since the very first chapters in CAP Mark you were able to reflect real life, real feelings of real people. Here again you have shown us characters like Will who are dealing with this loss in a unbelieveblily real way. This last chapter could have been sad, but in some way it wasn't. Maybe because it showed what I always believed, that even out of tragedy good can come. The human spirit is stronger than we think. There are good people in this world. ( too bad none of them are in congress) Sorry it is after 5 am.

 

Very well said and kind of what I said in my review.

[Mark Arbour]

Point of personal preference :

 

I find Carullo's question about wether Will is clean offensive. Using clean to mean HIV negative implies that those infected with the virus are dirty.  Really Marc? Isn't there enough discrimination coming from so many groups for us to discriminated against members of our own community? Even if this was a dozen years ago and you were trying to represent common talk it's a shame that by putting it in writing you help perpetuate  that attitude.

 

i will now step down from my soapbox.

 

I couldn't disagree with you more.  I'm not going to let political correctness influence a story to the point that it becomes anachronistic, and that's why I've used non-PC terms throughout the saga.  Whether it's "negros" and "coloreds" in Chronicles, "Japs" in The Box, or other sundry insulting terms, they belong in the era in which they were used.  I don't think their use perpetuates attitudes, I think they form a valuable contrast for where we've been, and how much progress has been made.  Looking at something in isolation is a lot less valuable than looking at a trend, IMHO.

 

"Clean" was commonly used in the early 2000's, and quite frankly, it's still commonly used today.  But back in 2001, that was a relatively low priority battle for the gay rights community.  So when you (and other readers) are offended by it, I smile and ruminate on how cool it is that we are now addressing issues like that, instead of having to worry that gay people can't get married, or are getting the shit kicked out of them for holding hands in public. 

 

In fact, that scene was more about trust than anything.  Will was really taking on a lot more risk (during that scene) as the bottom, and his acceptance of Carullo's assurances without question had to have an impact on the guy, at least at some level.