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A nice moment for Frankie and Ingenio. I have a strong suspicion Prudence will keep the pregnancy. Hmm... I wonder what the baby’s name will be?

Quite the performances from Frankie. He has left school with a bang. Sounds like the student body has benefited from his investigation into the suicides. It’s too bad Lydia is rumored to be anti-gay, otherwise she seems like a good ally for Frankie.

Oh gosh, this topic is hot to the touch. I try to stay focused on things I experience or am closely connected to, in this regard I have seen both men and women on their best and worse behavior, in seemingly equal quantities. The mass media, to me, is a distortion that tends to play on emotions/anger/fear for profit, so I stay away from it unless I’m engaged in an issue locally. I think if I want to understand the sentiments of your writing I should stay focused on what’s going on with the male characters on campus. Their response to oppression is portrayed with much more sympathy and nuance than the campus ‘females’ who appear static and frivolous characters I have trouble relating to.

I have to admit the lack of nuance in female/male interactions & group think is making it hard for me to invest in this segment of the plot. I can understand how this is a reaction against other dystopia plot lines that pit female vs. male, but I dont read/watch that media, either. It was nice Frankie’s lecturer recognized his need for companionship the night of the assembly. Glad the young males are finding comfort and friendship in one another.

The bodies are piling up. That cave is going to run out of room...

😢 A lot of pain in this chapter. Waiting to see the results of the investigation.

How nice, Frankie and Sadu were able to spend some quality time together before school ended. It’s great Karmai and Sylvan were comfortable enough to go to Ingenio and Con to air out their relationship concerns. Wise advice from that couple, they have found a peace in their love not everyone manages.

Yeah, the US isn’t doing very well, or good. I’m sure I could go on indefinitely, if only to feel clever. In reality, those of us who are falling out of the middle class and joining the legion of poor, realize money is unreliable for safety or pleasure. It may be possible for some to accumulate wealth in order to feel comfortable and independent, but many of us make the best of life on peasant wages, our humanizing interest laying outside the sphere of capitalism. Luckily, in Montana it is still possible to live closely in communion with the land, but as people escape with their wealth from unsustainable environments in San Francisco, Seattle, etc. they arrive and treat the land as a commodity to be ‘enjoyed’ or profited from, leaving less for nature and natural means of living.

Heart wrenching despair and evil then uplifting love and happiness, what a rollercoaster you’ve strapped us in.

Lots of possibilities opening out of this chapter. It’s good to see Sylvan again, sorry to hear he’s had a rough time. I think he’ll enjoy his new position at ‘85’. Karmai may be surprised to have company so soon, but I’m sure they’ll get along splendidly.

Wow! What a chapter! Action packed and they’ve found a fourth comrade😊 The guys sensitivity and acceptance helped Snake as much as his quick planning and quicker shooting helped them. What consequences await the crew now, and will Frankie see Sadu again if they all move to ‘85’?

So, I am on board with your acerbic description of the principles and consequences of neoliberal economics, street kids being useful to multinational businesses for prison slave labor, and fiat money as a sham. I'm not sure where I stand on the value of gold, but I think it is irrelevant to my prevailing personal philosophy. Where I depart from your opinion (or your characters', it's early in the book to understand which opinion is whose), is the desirability of "the means to be completely (oneself) without economic or social constraint", your vaguely referenced opinions on over-population, the sense of importance it appears the characters place in money (both it's positive and negative effects), and the limits of the human condition in how it relates to a gift of 50 million dollars and a thousand hectares of land. Still feathering out a response, to be continued...

Somewhere in this chapter our philosophies part ways (slightly). I’ll have to sit on it for a day or two to come up with a cogent reply.

The play was better received than I anticipated! Good for Frankie and the cast/crew. Frankie’s comfort in nudity has had quite the positive effect. Not sure where we are being gently guided, but I recognize some themes from Dancing Bare😉

This is a bleak, if not surprising, take on the happy reunion. Con’s anxiety inducing soliloquy makes me think he’s a bit too wrapped up in his cynicism. Frankie is doing well in his new school, quite the student production. Based on the comment section, I can only believe progress with Sadu will be fraught with complications. Good luck to Sylvan in his difficult choices ahead. Onto more gospel of Rigby!

I was wondering where you’d end up in western Montana. Appears like Kalispell was worth the stop. That kid’s game sounds ridiculous, my siblings and I would never have survived playing it. The gallery seems interesting. The internet tells me it’s still there, which is not too far from where I live. Maybe we’ll check it out next time we’re passing through.

‘Beautiful minds crash together’ nice imagery. 👍

Nullenvoid is a fun word 😆

Well, that chapter was fairly bright, but these comments make me think it won’t last for long😂 Onto the next adventure!

It’s unfortunate these problems exist... I’m also relieved not to have an HOA. We aren’t allowed roosters and can only start a 2’by2’ cooking fire in city limits, but otherwise there is little oversight.

So the Fey’s have left a society they find irredeemable to live in the wilderness. They are unconcerned in their need to kidnap free labor to work a land they have no ancestral claim to and have demonstrated little knowledge of the natural bounty of; although, they were able to identify wild edible mushrooms. In true colonial spirit, their capitalistic might and spiritual superiority allay any need to think critically about the horrors that groomed this land for capitalist consumption of ‘untouched wilderness’. To their credit, their meditative practice seems pure enough to live up to their spiritual ideals. I have a feeling Frankie will not be staying here much longer.

Ingenue and Con’s house sounds like paradise for young Frankie. I like how they’ve cultivated native trees on their property instead of imposing artificial control over the ecosystem.

Can I say, it's refreshing to see rape (or whatever we're calling it) portrayed as F on M? U.S. media is claustrophobic in its obsession with M on F violence/ rape to the detriment of all sexes. An inauspicious beginning for Frankie.

Intelligent, energetic, curious, frank, lacking constraint or supervision, and possessing an expanse of open time before him and a healthy distain for social convention... I think Frankie is set up for trouble; hopefully, the good kind

Haha, good thing women have more time for child-bearing...