PrivateTim

I get why Gathan is mad, but why Brad? You'd think after 9-11 trivia wouldn't bother him. Will has the money and buying someone a car at his net worth is like someone else buying an expensive meal. I can see Brad being worried about Will being taken advantage of, but you'd think that would be a casual conversation to do a check on Will's well being not an occasion to get pissed off. If it makes things difficult with Wally & Clara for Brad, then he needs to sit Will down and talk to Will the emancipated minor and talk about seeing more than what is right in front of you.On one hand what Will did was generous, on another it was rather self centered and disrespectful. Zach is still in Wally & Clara's care and they should have been consulted before Will went behind their backs to buy him a car. They could have any number of reasons they didn't want Zach to have a car at that school and that is their call, not Will's. Will has flashes of maturity, but doing what he did to Wally & Clara is sign of immaturity. He owes them an apology.

I get what you are saying, but that is not where this conversation started. It was specifically about Jeremy's comment about JJ being rude to Kai's dad and specifically because the father was disabled and I will repeat that I don't see anything about JJ to indicate he would be rude to an adult and especially not one in a wheel chair. I can see JJ being rude to Zach because he is family of a sort and a peer. I can maybe see him being unthinking towards Kai, but not necessarily rude. I don't think we've seen enough of JJ and his interactions with people outside the family and skating world to make the kind of comment Jeremy did. Maybe it was just a throwaway comment, not meant to mean a lot, but I thought it an unnecessarily harsh judgment towards JJ based on nothing.

To me there has never been an indication that JJ would be rude to someone who was disabled. Rude to fellow skaters, sure, rude to family members, okay, rude to other people in the inner, maybe; but not to strangers, not to fans and not to someone who was less advantaged.

It sounds like you are implying that JJ would react rudely or badly and I don't get where that notion comes from. JJ may have been a bit self involved or self important the last couple of years, but nothing suggests he would be mean or rude to people or that he doesn't know how to behave towards strangers no matter the circumstances.

I am not saying Zach is kind or generous, I am saying Zach is like most people, much more complex than the one dimensional character we've seen up to now. We've seen that he has genuine feelings and that maybe part of the persona we've seen so far are his defense and coping mechanisms. His evaluations of his cousins and siblings seemed honest, which I'd rather hear than flowery BS, even if they are catty. His perceptions form how he acts and reacts. I forget how old Zach is now, say 16, by the time he is 25 and then 30, his $1,000,000 trust will be considerably more by the time he reaches 25 and then 30. With the time value of money, by the time he hits 30, even in a conservative portfolio his trust could be spitting out over $200,000 in income.

Here was my review of the last chapter..... so go read the chapter before you read this.... A most brilliant chapter. The characters are so real, vibrant and deep. Zach is no longer a one dimensional douche, he is a normal, confused, scared, belligerent, horny teen. He sees Gathan as the manipulator, so now we have doubts about Gathan's purity. Gathan's comebacks now we doubt if Zach was sincere, but not too much because Will picked up on the clues in Zach's body language and moist eyes as he was leaving. So it seems maybe Zach is just an ordinary guy who wants to be loved and accepted, but doesn't really know how to properly express himself given the time and culture he grew up in. I loved the cute little scene with John and JJ, but I wish JJ had explained to John what was going on. I assume John and Marie don't know JJ was molested, just Jack and Claire. It would be nice to see John and JJ get closer and John be someone who is there for JJ because he wants to be. Looks like Brad and Stef are moving to make a killing in the aftermath of 9-11. It isn't predatory, its business. I know of a couple of billion dollar companies that were bought essentially pennies on the dollar, but the thousands of the employees of those companies didn't care that the investors lost their shirts or that their stock options were now worth zilch when they had been millionaires on paper a year earlier, they were grateful to have jobs and that the companies lived on.

A most brilliant chapter. The characters are so real, vibrant and deep. Zach is no longer a one dimensional douche, he is a normal, confused, scared, belligerent, horny teen. He sees Gathan as the manipulator, so now we have doubts about Gathan's purity. Gathan's comebacks now we doubt if Zach was sincere, but not too much because Will picked up on the clues in Zach's body language and moist eyes as he was leaving. So it seems maybe Zach is just an ordinary guy who wants to be loved and accepted, but doesn't really know how to properly express himself given the time and culture he grew up in. I loved the cute little scene with John and JJ, but I wish JJ had explained to John what was going on. I assume John and Marie don't know JJ was molested, just Jack and Claire. It would be nice to see John and JJ get closer and John be someone who is there for JJ because he wants to be. Looks like Brad and Stef are moving to make a killing in the aftermath of 9-11. It isn't predatory, its business. I know of a couple of billion dollar companies that were bought essentially pennies on the dollar, but the thousands of the employees of those companies didn't care that the investors lost their shirts or that their stock options were now worth zilch when they had been millionaires on paper a year earlier, they were grateful to have jobs and that the companies lived on.

Should you be writing and posting stories to amuse me and not dilly dalling, shilly shalling around forums??

Yes, but they mentioned the Navy and Naval Aviators. No one mentioned the USMC or SEALs.

But what you are talking about is anecdotal, your personal experience, not some big, generalized effect that was happening in "Los Angeles". There was no great wave of anti-brown person discrimination in a city with a white (not Hispanic or Latino) population of less than 30% and certainly not in the circles that Darius travels in. Could a Darius get an odd comment from an individual, sure, but so could anyone for any reason. There were not reports of widespread (key word, 'widespread') anti-Islam incidents in So Cal. Even nationwide the anti-Islam "hate crimes" did spike, but even spiking post 9-11 they were still less than half of the anti-Semitic incidents. Uh.... uh..... where do you think Marine Corps officers come from? There are also SEAL teams in Afghanistan & Iraq constantly. And a large number of Navy helicopters that have gone down.

Things would be very different for Darius for a variety of reasons. 1) He is rich. 2) He is only half Persian and is native born so he doesn't talk funny or dress funny and his looks are exotic, not easily pinned as "A-Rab" (and yes, Persians ain't A-Rabs) 3) He is rich. 4) Los Angeles, especially West LA and UCLA/USC has a huge Persian population that moved here when the Shah fell in '78-'79 so the area is full of guys who looked like him, in his age range, all native born Angelenos and I never heard of a single violent act in Los Angeles in the immediate post 9-11 period. In fact I think there were surprisingly few given the magnitude of the act. 5) He is rich and good looking. I am curious where you think Darius would get comments or have doors closed to him especially in L.A.?

Your numbers are very misleading, of the 24, 219 dead on the "allied side", only 4,805 were the foreign coalition, and most of those were U.S. troops. The huge majority, 16,000 plus are the Iraqi Security Force that came into being after the actual combat war (overthrow of Saddam) ended and the battle for post war power began. JP is not a professor emeritus is he? Isn't he still actively teaching even if he is no longer department chair? In any case, Iraq did not come up until 2003, it was Afghanistan that was the immediate focus in 2001 with the invasion starting three weeks after 9-11 and it was then that passions were running high. Maybe if the kid that Darius gave up his appointment for died in combat, Darius would feel guilty that it should have been him and then he goes to OCS.

I think, "It Started With Brian" is one of the finest stories ever written. https://www.gayauthors.org/story/dank/itstartedwithbrian Love the stories of Dom Luka and Mark Arbour, they are definitely a cut above. And the stories of Cole Parker. http://awesomedude.com/coleparker/index.htm I also loved Lem. It was one of the first gay stories I ever read that wasn't stupid. It opened my eyes to the idea that there could be great literature in gay stories. https://www.gayauthors.org/forums/user/14603-milos/

It isn't the point of the book. It is the point of the movie. It made millions.

What a narcissistic, self involved, self important twit. You can see this performance art nightly on Cam4, Chaturbate, Omegle and probably a dozen other sites or more. And he is butt ugly to boot.

I don't think most families have that dynastic outlook. If there was in the Hayes Family, it seems to me Frank is the obvious titular head. Its not just the "Danfield way" it is not the way I'd ever let one of my athletes to act for a variety of reasons. 1. It is bad sportsmanship. Athletics is supposed to teach you about winning and losing with grace so you can learn those lessons in life. Showing sportsmanship doesn't mean you like losing or playing badly, it should be a motivator, but internally. 2. I would NEVER let an opponent see how much I hated losing, it is like letting them see a weakness. 3. It displays a lack of discipline and self-control and a big part of the educational value of sports is to learn those two things.

My previous "Why I Love GA" has been archived. https://www.gayauthors.org/forums/topic/34340-why-i-love-ga/ So here is part 2 of why I really appreciate Mark so much. I've been reading another story in the 9-11 slowdown and I've genuinely enjoyed it. I have noticed a couple of things though, one is that the writer only seems to care about accuracy in the story as it relates to topics that interest them and another thing is they don't respond to each and every review as Mark does. I think it is amazing that Mark cares enough to respond to each review and even when he is criticized, thanks people for the feedback. I also think it is amazing that Mark cares enough to care about accuracy and that details matter. Way to go Mark!

Ethan

Great chapter and lots of new potential storylines, I love that! Nice to see Brad healing a little..... and still hope to see Will spend time with Cam before we move on to the next book

The question is not is it consensual, the first question is is a 13 year old mature enough to consent, the second question is is promiscuous sex for a 13 year old healthy, not merely sex, but promiscuity. In the Supreme Court ruling that banned execution of juveniles (Roper v Simmons) the court relied on and cited the immaturity of those under 18. Here is a short quote from that decision: The law recognizes that juveniles have a diminished capacity to make good decisions, often make bad ones and are susceptible to outside influences. That is why there are age of consent laws and other laws that deal with the age of majority. Can you point me to the studies that German legislators relied on in deciding that 14 was the appropriate age at which to consent to sex? If you read the footnotes and the amici briefs in Roper, you can read the studies that helped inform the Court on the recklessness of youth. Do you seriously not see a difference in sex with someone else and whacking off? Has anyone ever gotten an STD from their right hand? Been wounded emotionally by their right hand when the right hands ignore them at school the next day? Been outed by their right hand? Gotten their right hand preggers? The "deal" with consensual sex is as it relates to a 15 vs 20 year old is obviously does the 15 year old have the necessary maturity to consent and does a 15 year old have the resources and maturity to deal with the consequences of sex (disease, pregnancy, psychological effects, etc).

I think my point is I've known very few boys who didn't think of sex every 3.6 seconds from the 7th grade on.

There is a very wide gulf between being an ice queen and a slut. A good number of guys lose their virginity between 13 - 17, but the vast majority are in the upper ages and they have very partners. In most cases it is not because they don't want it or don't have sexual urges, it is that they can't get it for a variety of reasons. It would be perfectly reasonable for JJ to have sex with one of his friends and then one or two others, that would be normal, but to assume that JJ doesn't have raging hormones and doesn't slap his pud like every other boy his age isn't realistic. You don't have to be acting out with others on your sexual fervor, Rosy is good enough, non-threatening and never says no. There is a vast difference between a promiscuous 13 year old and a college freshman. Only 5% of 13 year old males have lost their virginity and only 10% of 14 years olds vs 68% of 19 year olds. Even at that, the 13 year old who loses his virginity is still not likely to have very many partners by the time he graduates high school. Will exceeded the average number of lifetime partners for the average U.S. male before the end of his 9th grade year and before his 15th birthday.

I think you way over generalize and put people in too many boxes. I see a lot of skinny twinks who like other skinny twinks, especially at the younger ages because big guys intimidate them since those are the guys who they tend to get bullied by. And if Alistair wants to explore his sexuality, someone very inexperienced like himself (assuming he is still rather inexperienced) is pretty attractive rather then intimidating. As to JJ needing someone to call his on his bullshit, have you forgotten that when we first met him it was little Alistair that called the much bigger Ryan Grafton on his BS bullying. That is one of the reasons I love this kid, he might be slight and prim and proper, but he isn't afraid to stand up and speak his mind. That is a main reason I see him as a great future partner for William, because he'd certainly call BS on him, keep him in line, but also support him when he is in the right. As to Zach and football, even if he is a good player you needed to be great at your position, top 10 or so in the country to get a USC to notice you in the Carroll era. There is a lot more to college football in CA than the Pac 10 (12 now), San Jose State, Fresno State, UC Davis and San Diego State have certainly all placed players in the NFL and there are the small schools like Claremont McKenna, Pomona Pitzer, Azusa Pacific etc that play a tough brand of football and have sent the occasional player to the NFL like Christian Okoye.

Ha ha me either, thanks

Me either, never ever have heard the expression until I just read it now. "Blue, what do you call it then when someone's trying to mack on a girl, and his friend/brother, etc etc says embarrassing things about him that leads to a cock block?" I believe the proper expression is, "that's fucked up bro" As to would an Ohioan or anyone else be confused by slang, like a car being sick, to be confused to the point of thinking something is wrong with the car, that is the stuff of bad Hollywood scriptwriters. An Ohio teen might not know if the expression was good or bad, but they would understand it was slang, not literal.