B1ue

Jeremy and I have pointed that out, and also that one didn't even need to be Muslim to have been affected by that, just merely be the correct shade of brown. We also pointed out that while Darius lives in California, and it simply was not as bad in California as it would have been in NYC, he would get comments and face closed doors that he wouldn't have months earlier. There was a certain resistance to the idea that overt racial profiling like that actually happened. A couple people implied we were lying.

I disagree. Much (by no means all, but much) of the drama in the CAP series is class based. The clash between Brad and JP would be a completely upper class disagreement, and one spawned over values by people who are in no way actually threatened by warfare. Do you not remember why JP is so antiwar? He lost his first great love and two of his cousins to the military. For him, it's deeply personal, but no one else has that level of awareness of the human cost of war, except Stefen. Philosophers arguing about the value of human death while sending others to do the dying is highly featured in several nauseating novels I had to force myself to read during school. I would hate for this series to become another.

A moment of cultural clash. I was momentarily confused when you mentioned Frank as the obvious head, because to my cultural programming a male would never be in the running. I have to agree with everything you said about Ethan's tantrum. I was taken aback that he'd loose that much control, at his age, in front of his peers, over money. I'm curious what's going on there, and how tight his access to money has been in his life.

Don't spoil my dreams. I want Zach to remain a villain, in his own mind at least. It allows me to maintain that his theme song is "Cowboy Casanova."

o.O . . . I don't even know what to say in response to that. Although, with those three schools, also add Cal Berkeley. I'm not sure any other school in California has a sports program of note.

This chapter made me distinctly happy I am no longer a teenager. I think I may be happy all day tomorrow from that thought.

Being me, I suppose. To clarify, I can't imagine doing that to a friend, but my siblings, cousins, and I have been throwing off each other's game since forever.

Ooh, I remember this story. I think it's my favorite out of all your stories that I've read so far.

If so, it's news to me. I have never even heard of that until this moment.

I actually copied and pasted slightly incorrectly (I was missing the first line that said "You must be accompanied by a driver over age 25 if:" but you seemed to have it figured out) Here is the current law regarding emancipated minors: Exceptions to Restrictions When reasonable transportation is not available and it is necessary for you to drive, the law grants the following exceptions for minors to drive between 11 PM and 5 AM or to transport an immediate family member unaccompanied and unsupervised. The law requires that you must carry a note explaining why you must drive and when the necessity will end. Medical necessity The note must be signed by your physician and contain a diagnosis and probable date when recovery will end your need to drive. Schooling or school-authorized activities The note must be signed by your school principal, dean, or his or her designee, and include a reason for the school or school-authorized activity and probable date when the activity will end. Employment necessity The note must be signed by your employer and verify employment and probable date your employment will end. Immediate need of family member The note must be signed by your parent or legal guardian, and include the reason and probable date the necessity will end. Emancipated minor No documentation is needed for this exemption. However, you must have already declared yourself emancipated by completing a DMV form and by providing Proof of Financial Responsibility (SR 1P) in lieu of your guarantors’ signatures when you applied for your instruction permit. I am not certain if the note regarding emancipated minors was in there during 2001, but it seems to make logical sense, as an emancipated minor would not necessarily have ready access to an of age guardian, although Will in his case does. And I do recall the bits about medical, school, familial and employment necessities, but as the emancipation part would never have applied to me, I confess I didn't pay close attention. It's arguable that this would not apply to Will, as his family employs a driver, but he doesn't have one assigned to his own personal use, so he could probably argue it. As old as he looks, I doubt anyone would question it anyways. Missed this. You do, and did. However, that's only a 6-8 hour course, and you need to log an additional 40 hours of parent/guardian/hapless bystander supervised driving either before or after the training course.

At the time in California (And I know this because I'm a bit under two years older than JJ and Will, and finally got around to getting my license at 17 in 2001), new drivers under 18 had a year of restricted driving privileges. Here is the relevant law for the time period: Transport passengers under 20 years of age at any time, for the first six months. Drive between midnight and 5 AM for the first 12 months. Persons under 18 may not be employed to drive a motor vehicle. When you become 18, the provisional part of your license ends. You may continue to drive as an adult using your photo license, which will expire on your 5th birthday after the date you applied. It seems to have gotten more restrictive since then, and you are unable to transport passengers on your own for a full year now. Curiously, this law would not seem to apply to Will, as an emancipated minor. Bet that's going to be annoying. Also, then and now, you can apply for a leaner's permit at 15.5 and get a license at 16. Although, in my case, I did not get my permit until I was nearly 16. Just never got around to it.

If you're interested in a topic, you could start talking about that topic by telling us why you are interested in it? What in the story caught your eye? Does the character have personal implications to you over and above what is represented in the narrative itself that you would not mind sharing? It's fine to want a topic change, but the best way to change the topic is to actually move the discussion, not request someone else do it for you. Personally, I don't find Frank to be an interesting character. His life sucks at the moment, but it's difficult for me to empathize with his character.

Now, I don't speak for mark Now, I don't speak for Mark, nor am I a member of his support team, but I would take a comment like this and run with it in his shoes. We've not seen many sides of Ace since Be Rad, as Sammy pointed out. While Claire is oft mentioned as a parental figure for Will's generation, even going as far as to offer her home to Will should things sour between him and Brad again, Ace is a parent too. What if he made a similar offer to JJ? I don't think this is at all likely, but it would serve a couple of purposes should JJ become a more central narrator in an upcoming story.

I don't know about all of you, but I'm reduced to eating carbs and candy after that one. I'm industriously chewing an entire loaf of French bread and chocolate for dinner. Edit to avoid double post: As a character, I like JJ. He's so very different, and so very impatient, and I cannot wait to see what he does next. Though if I actually had to deal with him, that little twerp would have ended up in a trash can.

"Dreams last, so long/ Even after you're gone. I know that you love me,/ and soon you will see/ You were meant for me/ And I was meant for you"

The problem with St Catherine's is that only 4-8 boards, K-3 is day school only. Looking at a boarding school list for California, it doesn't appear that any school would take a student as young as Ethan normally. If I had to take a stab, I would venture that Ethan's pre-highschool was quite a bit closer to home. Virginia itself, maybe. And later Elizabeth got a wild hair about it, and had him shipped off to the opposite coast. And, obviously, she put some thought in how to punish him for daring to exist, because she sent him to the Inland Empire *shudder*. I had to make that gouge. Both halves of my upbringing, the inner-city neighborhood I lived in originally and the forest small town I grew up in are united on this point, let alone the beach cities I've chosen to spend my adulthood, are all united on this point.

1. Do you honestly believe Will would turn JJ down if he said, "You know what? Yes, I do want to fool around. These other boys don't know what the hell they're doing."? 2. It's a personal gripe. I roll my eyes when someone self-identifies as pansexual, and says that they're attracted to someone regardless of gender. I really want to ask what the difference is between that and bisexual, whom are attracted to people regardless of their gender. When I'm feeling charitable, I put it down to a misunderstanding of what bisexuality actually is, or someone confusing associations with a label with the label itself. Not that this is an isolated thing. How many people have used the term straight-acting gay? I know exactly what you'd mean if you used it, but it's really weird. A straight-acting gay guy should really be someone that is gay but has sex exclusively with women. Sexual attraction has sweet-damn all to do with ones gender-role compliance, except in instances where people ceased to give a damn about the scales other people judge their masculinity or femininity because they're homosexual or bisexual and so eff it. But we, as a group, let it be a defining characteristic even as we deny the parallel exists. I read Cross-Currents. Most of it, anyways. I had a really difficult time getting through the first few chapters, because the main character kept coming across as a potential stalker, and never seemed to learn from his initial narcissistic mistakes. Although the rest of the cast did manage to get through to him in the end, I didn't really believe he actually changed. Just, stopped making those particular assumptions.

Taking these selected points in order: 1. Will certainly goes after guys his own age. The problem seems more often they're not into him, for whatever reason. Please see exhibits: Drew, Ryan, Alastair, Shane, that other kid from the skating competition, Jason, John, Zach, and Cam. And, hell, JJ. Will just isn't that discriminating. 2. I certainly hope not. I cannot stand people like that. Pansexual also bothers me, since the term seems to exist to allow people to be biphobic and bisexual at the same time. But, whatever. 3. That could be interesting. 4. What is the difference between a Mary Sue and a protagonist? Answer: I don't like the protagonist.

Odds of Ethan being straight: Not High. Odds of Ethan being straight AND unwilling to participate in gay sex anyways: Zero. Odds on Ethan being Gay and as experienced as Will: Well, he did go to boarding school. Presumably an all-male one. So, fairly good. Odds of Ethan not being hit on by Will regardless of above: Depends entirely on Wade's willingness to cock-block his younger brother. Beau and Maryellen won't let Wade be their gruff older brother, but I can see him trying to protect his virtue from Will, regardless of the actual status on said virtue.

Or, you know, this.

But we can't be finished yet. The boy needs to be a fan of JJ's, who will accept the adoration as his due but not return it, and John needs to fall instantly and irrevocably in love with Ethan. We're talking bad teenage poetry level of smitten. Will should notice none of this until the drama has truly hit the fan, at which point he'll wander in, be very confused for a moment, and then go "He-HEY! I'm the drama magnet around here. Why am I being left out?"

To clarify, I meant that the parents weren't married to each other, not that they weren't married at all. And, I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I'm not arguing with you that Brad wasn't embarrassed by Jeanine and Will. What I am arguing is that this is not a typical occurrence, even now, and that in other circumstances it would have run to taboo, primarily because of the wealth imbalance. If Brad, or the family, had reacted differently, there might have been quite a bit of pressure put on Jeanine to "take care of the problem." Or, failing that, another approach might have been to simply pay Jeanine off, get the kid and her out of town with a fat paycheck and a legally binding contract to not declare paternity or seek further child support. But that kind of thing is becoming less common. Paternity tests are relatively accessible, and there's much less pressure to marry a coparent, especially among my class level. I'm having trouble naming ten people I know that both have children, and have all their children with the same coparent. If I eliminate people that have only one child, it's really a stretch. Brad and Jeanine are in no sense a couple, but their relationship defies odds and explanations.

You're thinking of Maddy, Tim. Robbie was in jail when Will was conceived, and both Brad and Jeanine were in shock from Marie's announcement of her brain tumor. https://www.gayauthors.org/story/mark-arbour/maninmotion/22 Wow, this really is a soap opera, isn't it? Also, I realize that Will was acknowledged from the start. But that's pretty weird. Whatever else Jeanine is, she was still originally, and for most of her adult life shouldered the burden of being, domestic staff first and family a distant second. She's not even an acknowledged mistress. The primary friction between Brad and Jeanine, and Will and Jeanine, is that while she's relegated to second string status even within her own household, her son is treated as lord of the manor, where in almost any other era, and with at least five other characters I can think of off the top of my head, a bastard would have remained mostly unacknowledged, almost entirely estranged from their father and his family, and dumped on the mother's family. In a couple of cases, that worked out rather well for them, and we've seen at least two other examples (Stef, Ace) where that trend did not apply, or apply completely, but it's still the most common story. So why didn't it happen with Will? Brad had his own personal experience with being the child of unwed parents, but he also had the examples of Stef and JP to look up to. The recent discovery of Marcel may have also proven a factor. And we cannot overstate the influence of Tonto's threats.

I know what lucid dreaming is. However, using the correct psychological term isn't particularly descriptive, so I described it.