Mark Arbour

As a white guy, I'm not qualified to comment on the racism you guys have experienced. I think it's an entirely different perspective, and one which I won't ever get. White guys like me have been running the show since the Mayflower folks survived that first winter, so there's a level of cultural dominance that just can't be put aside. As for Darius, I've described him in the past, as Jeremy noted. I see him as looking almost like a Spaniard or an Italian, but with darker skin. I think he could easily pass as Latino, but I would expect that his facial features would be slightly different, giving him a somewhat exotic look. Jeremy, maybe you can conjure up some models for us in the "Faces" thread.

Granger is used to getting respect from those who are his social inferiors, but he's learning that he needs to be more assertive in demanding it when dealing with his enemies (or allies). Calvert is a romantic at heart. It's hard to be mad at him for that.

I read some articles recently on officers captured during the Napoleonic War era. There were towns in England and France where these officers were allowed to live, and pretty much given the run of the town. Unthinkable nowadays.

Granger is a realist, and he knows (and has understood since he was a midshipman) how relationships in the navy work. His lover is more of an idealist. That sometimes causes a clash or two. ;-)

I don't think that Calvert's being silly, I think he's just trying to figure things out. He made the same basic decision before, to take Intrepid, and he wasn't very happy. He's trying to avoid repeating his same mistake. Unfortunately, life isn't really giving him a choice. That's the reality that finally got through to him.

I would submit that your fraternity experience at Berkeley may not be representative of the rest of the country.

October, 1797 Granger and Humphreys stood together on the parapet, watching intently as Saphiro grew nearer and nearer to the Santa Clarita. Just as planned, Saphiro’s topmast came crashing down, and now the die was cast. “My lord, a Spanish horseman is demanding to be let in,” Eastwyck said to him. Granger held up his hand, demanding his silence, so Eastwyck paused to watch the action unfold. Closer and closer the Saphiro got, until they could see her lurch as she bumped int

I think that Will may care about that stuff, but I don't see him getting pissed off that other people don't. He's not into controlling other people, so if they don't get on board with what he wants, he'll probably be less upset about it than his father would be. Of the people you've listed as potential hook-ups, I'm not really ruling any of them out. To do so would ignore how much they can develop over the next few CAP years. I can, for example, see JJ messing around with a hockey player, because it's something he's not supposed to do. A subtle way of rebellion. And I can definitely see the potential for Zach and Will to hook up. Zach showed us at the end of Poor Man's Son that he was learning to manipulate people more effectively. He was a dick at 15, but in a couple of years, when he's 17 or 18, he may seem like a nice guy. He probably won't be, but he may seem that way. And it would be in Will's nature to give him the benefit of the doubt. And to fuck him.

This one is closer to how I envision him.

We weren't talking about the demographics of soldiers/enlistees at all, and I didn't even address that issue. You were alleging there was a huge surge in enlistments, envisioning 9-11 as a Pearl Harbor moment, and I merely pointed out to you that wasn't the case. There's no generation gap here at all. You were simply wrong. I can see that Will would let Cody's lack of interest in Maddy bother him, but Cody's not jumping into bed with Will anytime soon, so there's a lot of time for Will to mature and understand Cody's perspective on fatherhood, and there's a lot of time for Cody to maybe develop some paternal responsibility. I don't think that sleeping with Cody would cause Will any squeamishness at all. I would suspect that since Will grew up with Cody being around, and because he and Cody had a relatively tight relationship before Maddy even came into the picture, he wouldn't let that bother him too much.

I'm not seeing the surge in enlistment you're talking about.

I'm so glad you liked the chapter! Thanks for saying so! I've probably said this, but I think that adolescents develop emotionally like they do physically: in spurts. And I think that Will just had a major emotional growth spurt.

Things are getting better, but they're not completely better. I don't see a Brad-Matt hookup happening.

Well, as Jeremy noted, it's not likely that Tony's Mama would take too kindly to him being away for Christmas. Besides, Will can have more than one friend, and he certainly can sleep with more than one guy. :-) I think there are two guys that Will is ultimately going to have to sleep with when he gets older: Cody and Lou. If I were him, I would.

I think that once the issue with JJ's molestation came to light, it helped everyone put their own conflicts into perspective. Sometimes tragedy can be unifying. It was in this case.

Thank you!

But as you pointed out in Poor Man's Son, Will was a full-blown dramatic adolescent, falling in love with any guy who so much as blew him. Now he's more mature, and more stable, and he's able to look at relationships with a little more complexity.

I thought you did a great job with this chapter! Even though we saw things through Corbin's eyes, it was possible to infer Mike's thoughts too. To me, it seemed like Mike was fucking Corbin almost as a gift to him. I'm kind of surprised that Corbin read so much into it.

I'm glad you liked this chapter. There are still lingering problems out there, but what you were seeing was the family bonding together, which is most of the battle.

I'm so glad you liked that line. I thought it was pretty funny.

You want more drama? That would be Chapter 92. :-)

Thanks. I've been around a few people who went through ECT. It's not pretty. I think that one of the strengths these people display is what you cited: their resilience. They're ability to forgive each other, and come together, is really compelling.

With Matt, he's more frustrated with the fact that Wade is obsessing over Brad than Brad's unobtainability, although that may factor into it.

Christmas, 2000 Escorial, CA Will The ride up to the hospital had been pretty tense, despite attempts by Robbie and me to keep things light and easy. We got there and an orderly led us through to the same conference room we’d been in before, an inauspicious beginning. “We each get ten minutes with her,” Darius announced. “I would like to see her first, if that’s alright with you,” Robbie said. “That’s fine,” Darius said. Robbie went off with the orderly, leaving the

Those pinheads at Wharton are posers. And you can surf with your clothes on at Black's Beach. I'm hoping you don't, but you can. Sometimes I get arrogant and forget that you're writing this story, not me. A few things to comment on here. First of all, the purpose of an internship is to gain experience, but also an entree into a job. For Matt, I can see it as a possibility, but neither one of these guys really has to worry about that. For Wade, he's got so much to deal with in his life right now that an internship would seem somewhat ridiculous. Why would he do that? He's already stressing his time to the maximum now. He's probably going to spend the summer trying to get a better handle on all of his assets, and on spending time with Riley. Neither one of them has to do it, so why would they? As for study-abroad, you're not tracking with what it's like to be involved in college sports. They will build their world primarily around the team, and if you're on a college team, it's unlikely that you'll bail for a semester to go study overseas. Granted, it would be more likely on the hockey team, where they're a club sport with no scholarship support, but still not a big, prevalent thing.