Former Member

Why not? You’ve already discussed photos of people’s junk! ;–)

Where I live is a series of compromises. On the one hand, it’s expensive and it’s a relatively high crime area. On the other hand, I am relatively close to everything due to nearby transit and the weather is the finest in the country. I am able to attend Frameline film festival every year without needing to stay in a motel or hotel. I am able to travel by train to relatives for holiday gatherings. ;–) I could not live out in the country. I grew up in suburbs and appreciate the benefits of the nearby big cities. I live in a city with an Out Lesbian City Councilperson and my city proudly flew the Rainbow Flag in June. Many of the nearby cities also fly the Rainbow Flag for LGBTQ Pride Month. Quite a few of them also have LGBTQ Councilpeople too. I live in a state that offers some of the best and most comprehensive protections for LGBTQs in the country. ;–) I’m glad it works for you, but there are benefits available in large metropolitan areas that just aren’t there in rural areas. ;–)

So Brian was able to dance his way out of a second fight with a fat lip and sore ribs. Not quite as successful as his big fight with Jeff! He's able to do similar magic with his verbal and emotional skills. ;–) Even today, it's likely that Brad & Casey would not have gotten mental health treatment after the loss of their parents. We need to de-stigmatize mental health and make it much more available than it currently is. Currently, many health care plans ration mental health treatment by severely limiting the duration of treatment, keeping the number of available practitioners unreasonably low, or making patients wait weeks or months to get appointments.

I remember H Salt Fish & Chips in the ‘70s (before I stopped eating fish). Malt vinegar on fries (chips) is very much a British thing. I don’t know why fish & chips didn’t cross the Atlantic until relatively recently. ;–)

What seems to work is setting up beat cops that regularly patrol the same area. Someone who has an incentive to get to know the people who live in that beat. When people get to meet each other one-on-one, the distrust dissipates, if only slightly at first. The cop becomes a person rather than just an ogre in a police car. The residents become people rather than just a bunch of suspects out to hurt the cops. Maybe people can become friends. ;–) The police department in my town switched to beats and lists the officers and commanders for each beat on the city’s website. They list email addresses too. My city also pays gang members to stay out of trouble – it’s controversial, but seems to be working. ;–) Our Chief of Police has managed to bring down a murder rate that was once one of the worst in the country. He has rejected offers of military hardware. Community policing seems to work. Getting out of patrol cars and actually walking on the streets. It can be done. ;–)

That very lack of foresight is precisely why governments use young men (primarily) for their armies. Teenage boys are the easiest group to rile up and convince to go to war. Teenage boys are still adjusting to the sudden massive rush of testosterone in their bodies. Their reflexes might be at their peak, but so is their recklessness. I hope Brian's good sense wins out over his anger over the near crash. I think Jeff will help with that effort. I'm hoping that Annabelle and Missy will encourage that too. ;–)

I can see Ember & Brady having kids together – just no November Jr, please! There are always children who need to be fostered or adopted, especially if you’re willing to accept a child who is struggling with physical or mental health issues. Older kids are often difficult to place. 5-year-olds might be cute, but they’d probably do better adopting a child closer to AJ & Novy’s age. ;–)

My impression is that some people were victimized just as much then as now. Most of us weren’t aware of what was happening because it wasn’t as well publicized. No cellphones, so no cellphone cameras. Video cameras were extremely expensive and bulky. Film for 8mm and Super 8 movie cameras was expensive and people only had them around for special occasions (like holidays and birthdays). Even film cameras weren’t typically carried around every day by most people. ;–) There was no social media to spread news widely and quickly. Mainstream newspapers generally didn’t report on these sorts of stories. So only the family and the community around them would know what happened. Few people would have been able to connect the dots and see the patterns – and they would have had reasons to suppress their findings. I think the difference is more in awareness than in reality. If anything, the chances of being shot by police has decreased due to the awareness and scrutiny. Besides, there have long been stories about crooked rural sheriffs and small-town police departments.

I think that the reactions to the police drive-by was very telling. None of us has experienced DWB (Driving While Black or Brown). Since my ancestry is very pale Northeast Asian, and because I dress like the suburban kid I was, police don't see me as a particular threat. I don't drink or do drugs, so when I was stopped for driving way too fast, they only needed to do very quick ‘follow my finger with your eyes’ and ‘touch your nose’ tests to realize I wasn't impaired. I got lucky and was only ticketed for driving 70 in a 55mph zone – but I was threatened with the full 102 if I tried challenging the ticket. But some of my friends have to worry every time they get stopped. Police are much more likely to be trigger-happy when the driver is Black or Brown. Black and Brown drivers are much more likely to be ticketed for offenses that white drivers are given warnings about. There have been plenty of videos showing police overreaction. Racism is still alive and thriving in the US in 2018.

I think Annabelle's story arc pretty much demanded this outcome. I'm Risk-Averse and have trouble remembering details, so I can only date one person at a time – but that's just me. I also cannot imagine having sex with a woman, it just feels wrong for me. I would have had mixed feelings about watching the three of them having sex – turned on by Brian & Jeff, and mildly repulsed by the hetero sex. ;–) I have no problem with bisexuality, I just don't want to witness it myself. I would knowingly date a bisexual man, but would require him to restrict himself to me just as I would a Gay man. And a functional penis is pretty much mandatory for any man I date, so I would be very unlikely to date a Transman – I wish I could be more open-minded, but I just can't ignore the vulva that exists or existed there. ;–) When Brian was musing about the crowd of infants witnessing him kissing Jeff, I was reminded of a Retrospective showing of It's Elementary: Talking about Gay Issues in School at Frameline42. This was a documentary from 1996 where teachers, administrators, and students were interviewed talking about LGBTQ topics in elementary and middle schools. Contrary to the right-wing belief that there are discussions of sexual positions and activities, it's all about the love shared by families with two mommies or two daddies. And the kids get that! They know that all families don't have one mother and one father. They understand much more than adults generally give them credit for. ;–) And these days, kids are even more informed. They have classmates who have step-parents. They have classmates who have single parents. And they have classmates who have Same-Sex parents. They see all those variations on TV, movies, and all around them. ;–) In the past, kids were ostracized for being the product of unmarried parents. Other kids were ostracized for having parents who divorced. Some kids were even ostracized for being adopted. The stigma of all those things has lessened as they have become more common – most of us have also come to realize it's wrong to stigmatize children for things they didn't do. Our culture and society has progressed since the '50s, the '60s, the '70, and even the '80s and '90s! Situation Comedies started dealing with Gay issues realistically back in the '70s (All in the Family and Mary Tyler Moore to mention just two). ;–)

This makes me wonder about my own future holidays. As long as my favorite Aunt & Uncle are mobile, I can count on them inviting me to their place and picking me up at the train station. My younger brother will sometimes give me a ride there, but I’m not so sure about what will happen when my Aunt can no longer host the holidays. I guess my cousin will continue the tradition, but my brothers haven’t continued my mother’s tradition of alternating with her sister in hosting. My brothers don’t even make it to my Aunt’s place every year! I’m going to be the weird uncle that people feel obligated to invite. ;–) I can project futures where I end up being Eric. They’re not totally unlikely, but they probably won’t happen. I definitely identify with his feelings of isolation. ;–)

I'm glad that Brian & Jeff found new friends in JohnyG & Gary rather than rivals for their affections. Or worse, people who took exception to their being Gay and attacking them. It was a little scary to hear the big doors opening! ;–) The '80s were a time in music when there were Openly Gay artists as well as Gay-adjacent or Gay-friendly musicians on the hits charts. MTV was showing many of them in frequent rotation back when they actually played music videos. In the '70s, the best we had were musicians who identified as bisexual with (almost?) no Openly Gay musicians making hit lists. ;–)

I picked up on the moment with JohnyG too. Speaking of El Caminos, I thought it was odd that GM considered importing the Holden Ute to the US, but instead of selling it as a new Chevy El Camino or GMC Caballero, they were planning to sell it as a Pontiac G8 ST. But now that Holden no longer designs and builds their own models, it seems extremely unlikely that there will ever be a new El Camino. 2008 NY Auto Show: 2010 Pontiac G8 ST proposal

So is the soundtrack for this chapter the U2 album? ;–)

In the '80s, I was subscribing to a ridiculous number of car magazines. I was into the style and design aspect rather than the mechanical bits and pieces. I was even subscribing to a Japanese car design magazine, Car Styling Quarterly, that was around $20-30 per issue! It's a magazine that's usually found in car design studios rather than individuals' homes – especially when that individual is not a professional designer. ;–) I'm afraid that a party with that many people attending is bound to have trouble.

Some of the other sites post links to friendly ‘competitors.’ ;–)

So we can look forward to you ‘ending’ all your future stories like the French end their movies – without an ending? ;–)

It’s not D/R politics, so I don’t think it’s banned outside The Pit. Outside The Pit, it’s a case of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell because some people can’t restrain themselves and their extremist politics. And even in The Pit, there are some who post statements they know to be falsehoods rather than debate honestly.

I also want to congratulate you on the ratings you achieved in the iomfats challenge!

Well, I read your story where you anthropomorphized cars, so it doesn’t surprise me that you’d do the same with a digital camera! ;–) I like how Luke was so caught up in his internal dialog that it takes him a while to realize what the other boy was actually expressing to him in that last picture. ;–) I had mixed feelings about his grandfather’s open-mindedness. I’m glad that Luke was aware of his grandfather’s efforts to avoid gender-specific terms when talking about any potential love interest for Luke. But I was a little disappointed that Luke still didn’t feel comfortable Coming Out to him. It makes me wonder why… ;–)

The stolen cars were new models, not classics. I think they might have been worth more than the numbers you mentioned. The kids were incredibly spoiled! ;–)

Jamie needs to remember that Las Vegas’ ad slogan, ‘What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.’ is just that, an ad slogan. I’m guessing Las Vegas is the next stop since it’s very close to Joshua Tree. ;–) Many of places like Joshua Tree are very familiar because they were the backdrop for dozens of movies, TV westerns, and Star Trek episodes since they are so close to Hollywood. ;–)

I remember '60s Mopars tended to have very long trunks when compared with contemporary GMs and Fords – the Charger's trunk seemed to be nearly as long as its hood. '70s Mopar sporty cars tended to have more vertical rear windows and trunks that were longer than similar GMs and Fords, but they were much shorter than in the previous decade. By contrast, in the '70s and '80s, Pontiac was always trying to make it look like all of its models were fastbacks – the '72 Grand Am/LeMans was an extreme example with many complaints about the lack of trunk space especially compared with its Chevy, Oldsmobile, and Buick near-twins. Ed is finally making a move on Missy. I see that as putting more pressure on Brian to pair up with Annabelle. She's going to be even more aware of Brian's interactions with Jeff.

I was thinking that too. If she's as interested in Brian as we've been led to believe, she's been paying attention to what he notices and responds to. I think she'd have a difficult time not noticing that Brian's focused on Jeff. ;–) Your final lines remind me of the endings of some movies where they sum up what happened and will happen to the characters in the future. Maybe I've been watching too many movies recently (including Frameline42 film festival), but it felt very cinematic. In a good way. ;–)

I shouldn't have been surprised that Ed followed Brian to find out what he was doing. The Datsun B210 was kind of a punchline! The only thing more unimpressive would have been if the car had been a Datsun Honeybee, a special stripper economy version with painted bumpers instead of the standard chromed version. I'm glad that Ed wasn't just supportive, but also came up with a plan to include Jeff in their group! ;–)