Kitt

I can't express enough how much I like a slower approach to evaluating the horses. I've been involved with horse rescue through the ASPCA here and have seen well meaning but ignorant volunteers want to jump on and see what happens without thinking what a horse may have endured. Of course in the story you can't go quite as slow as I would in real life ... but I have no doubt the rescue you work with goes slow and steady and has good results because of it! I have to agree - this was a great feel good chapter. Still have us wondering who is so angry he would take it out on a bunch of boys though. We will be here waiting when you are done with your break!

And being a teen oriented site that is exactly what I meant as acceptable censorship. You do not tell people what to write or how to write it, simply if it can be posted with you or if they need to take it elsewhere. The issue of changing what you write to present an issue or group in a better light however is a totally different ball of wax. No amount of flowery language is going to make rape, forced incest, and child abuse any prettier. Trying to, or refusing to address the topics at all, only make things worse.

His fingers always have a problem keeping up with his brain.

Lisa is right too in that a person may not have the time - or facilities - to leave a review right away. I do most of my pleasure reading on my tablet, and leaving a review with it is time consuming and annoying. I tend to click like and then ( if i can remember with my sieve of a brain) go back the next time I am at the computer to leave the review.

I find myself wondering at the various directions this thread has taken. Censorship of a story falls pretty much into 2 categories. The "self censorship" of the writer, and limits upon what may be written levied by outside influences. Some external limits are necessary at times. The limits placed here are for the benefit of the sight, to keep sponsorship and the like. There are other forms even more "acceptable". Freedom of speech protects my right to express myself. It does not give me the right to make public information about some neighbor that was the victim of an attack. If said neighbor does not want the details of that attack made public, that is their right. As I understood Ron's initial question, it was asking opinions on if a writer should change how he/she portrays a character so as to present the gay community in a better light. My reaction to that was "Is the portrayal realistic?" Chosing to avoid a controversial subject will not make that subject cease to exist. Gay bashing happens. It is not right, most reasonably minded people know it is not right, and would never engage in it. Unfortunately it does happen. The same can be said for some forms of incest and child abuse. For the most part it is pretty much reviled, but that doesn't stop it from occurring. Society has its ills. Ignoring those ills will not make them go away. The only way to minimize the occurrence is to make people aware of them, vigilant of the issues, and hope that bad situations can be corrected. That a family member see's signs of impending incest and intervenes. That someone on the street sees the beginnings of a potential gay bashing, or any beat down for that matter, and takes steps to stop it - which could be anything from speaking up to dialing 911. Ignoring it only enables. Fiction does not mean patently untrue. It can be a way to expose the ills of society without some real person needing to suffer those ills. Better that someone learns how horridly rape can affect a person through a fictional TV series on prime time than through experience. Better to learn about the different forms of incest through a fictional story than having the weird uncle corner you on the holiday. So - should an author self censor to present a topic, group, or issue in the best possible light? There is no "right" answer to that. Is it wrong to white wash something just to gain public approval? I think so, but each of you will need to make that decision for yourselves.

LOL the rest of the country may have heard about that one when it first occurred, but my area was pretty much incommunicado for interest stories like that till well past Halloween. Sandy knocked out all power and most cable systems on or about the 29th and, in my case, was not restored for 11 days. What information that was able to be passed was pretty much kept to the important stuff. Thanks for posting Rustle. It does add interest to the Halloween season.

Of course it doesn't keep us from speculating - that's half the fun of this forum!

MaryEllen may not be a very likable character, but she is still a well educated, presumably intelligent young woman. Emotional abuse and physical ( violent beating type) abuse would have been very visible in the home she also grew up in. That pretty much leaves sexual abuse, and it was probably not all that hard for her to do the math.

I keep getting the feeling Ethan will be the catalyst that sets Elizabeth off. She had to have had a hand in momm'a deportation, and in Ethan being hidden away. First she lost control of Goodwell in the divorce, then any plans to regain control of the property were smashed when Reilley inherited the place with Wade as the trustee, so for Ethan to then inherit while she received nothing more and not even to be given control of that money thru the trust must really be turning up the heat under the pressure cooker!

Phew! Spring and Summer is when I am the busiest with the horses! But then again, I find editing while sitting my the trailer babysitting ponies to be doubly productive!

What is this camp several have mentioned? First you threaten me with nano - now I have to go to camp too?

I really think it has got to be a function of the character speaking. You would not expect the Sunday school teacher who just got run off the road to say "God damn fucking son of a bitch ran me off the road." On the same coin you would not expect the biker in the same situation to say "Oh my, that man was so careless he ran me into a ditch."

LOL most of us don't care if it happens all in one chapter Sammy, as long as how ever many chapters it takes come at us quickly! And Carlos? I believe that last character not leaning toward sluttyness would be Father Tim.

Now now Carlos - we don't know Ethan is a slut...at least we don't know YET. The speculation is a private school upbringing, probably catholic. If my memory serves me correctly the guys either were total sluts as you suggest in contrast to the whole "sex is for procreation only, and only after marriage" thing or they actually buy into the be good till marriage thing. Of course there were middle of the road behaviors but it seemed at the time that the extremes were more the norm. My guess? Ethan may very well lean to the slutty side, and might even be willing to mess around with guys, but will primarily prefer the ladies. Lots of guys raised in all boy schools while being basically straight are also realistic and will take the opportunity to be "taken care of" sexually, and while I have little experience in that area, I can't imagine that anyone who takes and doesn't give back would continue to receive any benefits.

** lays in a supply of tissues next to the computer** Ok - I am about as ready as I can be for this memorial service. I have no doubt in my mind there will be some traumatic twist to it beyond the expected sadness and the usual emotional break downs that come with things like this. You did it with Carullo's boyfriends service and he was just a bit player, how could Robbie's service not have drama considering what a roller coaster his entire life was. Hope someone is smart enough to have a shrink with some sort of sedatives in his little black bag somewhere very near the service. Looks like Will wasn't quite as over Tony as he thought, but isn't really hung up on him any more either. It was great advice to send Tony to someone who could help him sort his head out, and considering the way things had been between them since the float trip and the "stalking" crap it was pretty forgiving and generous to say he would cover the bill as well. Tony may not be my favorite supporting character, but he hasn't hit the "people you love to hate" list either. Ethan presents all sorts of avenues for speculation. Think I need more before I let my brain start on him. (Lift, lift, lift). As addictions go - I have to say yet again - I love this one. Please don't ever stop writing!

WE DO???? No one told me that! Remember Andy - I have only been here since April!

That sounds yum! You should post this one in the recipe thread!

Hi Dovesfield. Don't let the lunacy get to you, we are a nice bunch of lunatics.

7:30 am Sunday morning and in a holding pattern for a horse show. Who decided these things start your day at 5 am or earlier to sit around staring at your horse munching hay in a trailer for 3 hours while someone gets their act together?

I can remember a friend in the early 80's trying to decide on a boys name around her 3rd month of the pregnancy. She started with Aiden, a name she liked the ring to - and put every letter in front of it in various combos... Baiden, Braiden, Caiden, Craiden etc. There were some pretty out there names on her list. I will not tell you what she named the boy in the end - but the poor kid was in court and changed it to John as soon following his 18th birthday as he could manage. Guess what I am saying is think twice before saddling a child with an extremely unusual name that might bring him/her a whopper load of teasing.

That's what you get for posting a bare chested picture you crazy elf!

I can see where all the hate filled comments on the topic that accompanied the video posting would upset people. I don't however think assigning all the hate to "rednecks" is particularly any more productive than the twits that proclaim the gay population "deserving" of any ill that befalls them. Before you go labeling people redneck - or any other label for that matter, go look it up. There are two schools of thought on where the term redneck came from. Mildly offensive term for a lower class white person from the southeastern states of the USA. Derives from someone who spent a lot of time on manual labour outside and so received a "red neck" from the sun It was also used to refer to coal miners who wore red bandana's to signify their belonging to a union. While both groups have in the past had people who would be outspoken about their own prejudices, not all are hateful uneducated twats. Lets not be like the hateful idiots and malign a group of people who make it possible for white collar workers to heatand/or light their homes and fill their pantries.

OK - stupid straight woman questions here. I get that some people just have issues with being male but thinking and feeling female or vice versa, and some eventually go on to correct what they deem a mistake medically and surgically, but other than the unfortunate ones with the genetic screw ups, aren't male and female about the only choices you actually have? Gender-queers and transsexuals still end up being one or the other. There may be a grey area there during a transsexuals journey, but maybe we should leave that bit for a different discussion. I know a lot of women ( straight and bi ) who would love to explain this to you Carlos. I know "straight acting" applies primarily to the male gay community, i mean a lesbian acting "straight" never seems to attract attention, even after coming out. Why then does some gay guy catch shit for "acting straight"?

LOL!!! Do you really think Mark is going to tell us that??? We will just have to bide our time and keep reading Carlos!

And then if it doesn't work you are already buried. Honestly, let's think past the available technology for a minute. Suppose all these ideas about detection and tracking are fast tracked and put into implementation. Suppose further a defense system is also devised. The impact of these pieces of "space junk" as someone called it has been reported in terms of equivalent to nuclear explosions. An intentional detonation would be exponentially greater would it not? Just who in this totally screwed up world do we trust with their finger on the trigger? And then there is the question of what happens after all this energy is released in space. Does anyone have a clue? One said "no risk of nuclear fall out". Well - that crap has to go somewhere. Does any scientific agency have a clue where it would radiate to or what the impact would be?