PrivateTim

I still think, regardless of what teen hormones were flowing, they would have been more discrete, especially after Nancy's admonishment.

The Bible doesn't say 'spare the rod, spoil the child', Proverbs 13:24 says, 'Those who spare the rod of discipline hate their children. Those who love their children care enough to discipline them.' The rod being talked about is the same rod as in Psalm 23:4 'Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me'. It is the rod of a shepherd. A shepherd never used his rod to beat his sheep, he used it to guide and direct the sheep. In the same way in the proverb, it is not to be used to beat a child, but to show the child which direction to go. The rod isn't an instrument of abuse, it is used to prod sheep (and children) not beat them. “Now, you boys need to be more careful, but you’ll have no problems from old Nancy here.” No shit Sherlock.

So this is my second time through obviously. In reading it this time, I think Andy moved way too fast. This wasn't the right time to start macking with Joey. Joey is in a very vulnerable, emotional state right now. Andy should merely have let Joey know he and his father had his back for now and waited for a better time to talk about the other stuff. It also puts the Judge in a tough position in trying to maintain his impartiality.

12 years now, waiting for a new chapter of With Trust. I may never know what happened when Nelson met a painter.

This chapter deserves so many more likes and eyeballs. Sammy looked at Brent and saw a smug satisfied look on his face. Brent might be an asshole, but I don't think he'd be happy Tony was stabbed. It is one thing to be a punk like Brent is, but the stark reality of a teammate and friend, even a former one, fighting for his life would be a wake-up slap in the face. Trauma has a way of focusing the mind.

Hunh? The story started in Jan 2015 and this chapter is July 2016, so hardly 4 years. Interesting drama, but how did no one notice Evan lurking about?

“Thanks. I’ve always been alone here at school. No friends. Only shunned or called names." Okay, I don't quite get this. Sure I get that at some point a Brent could have made school uncomfortable for Sammy, but Sammy is bright, personable, a good athlete and nice to people. His classmates would gravitate towards someone like him in the long term and it would be Brent who was isolated with a few like minded people.

The great thing about being a judge is you are the god of your courtroom. You can do pretty much what you want as long as you stay within the cannons of ethics, and legal principles. Okay, mild criticism here. The uncle voice sounds too stilted, like he's Iron Eyes Cody in a 1950's Western. But, and it was a huge but, he didn’t know if Mike was gay or not. What’s worse, he didn’t have a clue on how to find out. Should he just walk up to Mike and ask him? Or should he tell Mike he thought he might be gay Why do gay/questioning/curious boys stress on this stuff so much? Why a rush to put labels on yourself and others when you are 14 and 15 years old? How about this, just hang out with each other and get to know each other. You will figure out the rest naturally.

There was a time I would have thought a gay teen boy story set in rural Kentucky with an openly gay teen boy absurd. But then I met Noah Lee Miller, a totally cool kid who had a YouTube channel I followed. Noah lived in rural West Virginia in coal country and he came out in the 8th grade. Near as I remember, Noah never had any major problems. People were either supportive or indifferent. He took down his original Coming Out Video he did, which had hundreds of thousands of views, but he did another one, still worth watching. @noahleethatsme37 at YouTube and @noahleethatsme3 on Instagram. Really quite inspiring. It validates a lot of what happens in this story.

Damn he thought, fifteen miles in fifty minutes. That was a record for him Ha ha, yeah. The world record for 15 miles is 67 minutes, so Sammy is in the wrong sport. 😁 And when douche-bag threatened me, I'd have gone straight to Coach Parker and asked him if he wanted me off the team. I pretty much know the answer would be no and DB would be getting his ass chewed.

“But Sammy, everyone will find out about me if I do. I’ll lose every friend I have.” “No, no you won’t. You have me as your friend. And if anyone gives you any trouble, then they will have trouble with me, too.” Then Sammy’s voice softened again. “Tony, if you lose any friends over this, then they really weren’t your friend to start with.” “Okay, I’ll do it.” Tony agreed Well THAT was way too easy.... Dom Luka would have had Tony saying 'no' for at LEAST three chapters 🤣 Interesting though, Tony is gay and likes Sammy, Sammy is unsure but gets warm tinglies over Mike, and Mike we don't know (but suspect).

My two cents is small town cops are mostly bored to tears. A fight at the high school, with an ambulance dispatched would have had a couple of cars show up probably and one would have followed the ambulance to the hospital to get a statement, and one would have stayed behind to take witness statements. At least in my experience.... And yet To Kill a Mockingbird is one of the most banned books of all time. Despite its very strong anti-racism message, the racist language that is used to emphasize the very strong anti-racism message contributes to the banning.

Oooo, a baseball story! Maybe the next story can be where they watch water freezing! That is only a little slower than baseball! 🤣 Do love the characters, Sammy seems like a nice kid with the support of the majority of his team.

Wait, I don't get it..... why is it called clueless camping?

No one should be fooled. Merrymount was the founding chapter of the North American Man Boy Love Association. The tribute to Ganymede, the handsome youth and old crusty Zeus was to celebrate intergenerational love.

Bungalow isn't even an English word. Certainly the Angles, Brits, Picts, Celts, etc had a word for a one story dwelling long before the British East India Company 😲

I'd say not much. For finding information and finding it fast and succinct, Google appears to still be the top. I watched the video and them did some simple tests using Google, Reddit and TikTok. On 2 of the 3 searches I did, neither Reddit nor TikTok had any results. On the most simple one, only Google returned helpful, useful information quickly. I do hate having to wade through the sponsored results on Google but not even SEO answers keeps you from finding an answer quickly.

I will be haunted forever by what happens when Nelson meets a young painter.

So sad that 12 years later it is starting to sink in, Dom isn't returning. I want Dennis and Reilly to become boyfriends and Dennis is a total bottom and Reilly a total top 😋 Dennis wasn't an asshole, any more than Owen was before Anna outed him. Dennis has severe PTSD and TSD. It takes a long time to recover from that but it is clear he is well on his way.

"I know." Aiden replied, his eyes still closed, and without the enthusiasm that I was feeling. "He’s not sleeping in our room." Nooooo! I so want a steamy, hot teen threeway! Again, the basics of any drama, miscommunications, misunderstandings, misassumptions. The Hallmark Channel wouldn't exist without them...... or opera.

OMG is Owen a MESS. That’s probably why, as much as I wanted to pretend it didn’t bother me, I couldn’t Seriously Owen? You can pretend you are straight for YEARS when you know you are gay, but can't pretend to be happy or nice to Adam? Dennis has called you all the same names Adam did, but Adam faces your wrath while Dennis you go to his house at 3AM to help him? You want to "rescue" Dennis, but you don't feel you can work to rescue Adam from his prejudice, and for using words you admit you used to use?

I know this was written in an earlier time and we don't really know where it is set, but I don't remember high school kids throwing the "f" word (fag/faggot) a lot as an insult like Adam and Shane have (meaning normal everyday, otherwise nice kids). Football players like Dennis, maybe. I also cannot see Christian kids throwing around that word either. There are just not that many fire-breathing, hell and brimstone preachers around, even it is a staple of gay fiction, especially gay youth fiction.

Teens have volatile emotions, Owen included. He can't be mad at Dennis for what happened before, especially now that he has seen a different Dennis. Ben's battle isn't Owen's to fight. You can't play the game of my friend is mad at you, so I am mad at you too. More introspection would be a good thing.

No, Aiden now sees that his mother is NOT better, she is pulling the same kind of crap she did before.

One point I've been meaning to bring up is how quickly the world has changed since this story was written. None of the teens have their own cellphones, the iPhone hasn't even come out yet, Blackberry is the only viable smartphone. There is no Twitter or Tik Tok, MySpace is bigger than Facebook and social media didn't exist. Just 15 years apart and these teens lived in a vastly different world from todays teens. Can you imagine the damage a Janie or Anna could do with technology?