methodwriter85

Good point. We're even. Sometimes I forget what a snarky bitch I can be, given that 90 percent of the time I'm just sweetness and light to all. In any event, I love that Mark's been beefing up the Danfield family. It's been really gradual and a slow build. Too many soaps will just add on this family out of nowhere and they'll suddenly become a core family. Sometimes it works, like the Buchanans on One Life to Live, but most of the time it falls flat, like the Eckert family on General Hospital. It's taken us five stories before Mark officially inaugurated the Danfields as a CAP Core family with a long-lost relative. LOL.

MapQuest failed me. Oh, well. In any event, I'm pretty sure I'm owed an apology for that erroneous snarky remark, Arbour. I'm fine with snark that's well-deserved, but I'm not cool with it if I don't deserve that remark. Conveniently, the school closed at the end of the 1999-2000 school year, when Ethan would have been finishing 8th grade. Which would then necessitate a new boarding school for high school, enter Webb.

Hmm, interesting. The school closed in 2000, but it would have been open for the 1993-1994 and 1994-1995 school year, when Ethan would have been in 2nd and 3rd grade. That makes it a pretty good candidate for his pre-Webb School, too. "The market changes" the thing is alluding to just seem to fall into the idea that boarding schools in general seemed to have declined, especially the boarding-only kind. I kind of wonder if that has to do with changes in parenting styles or something. I also wonder if charter/magnet schools have to do with it. Two articles: Private Schools Are Declining in Popularity (Time, 2011) Fewer Students Attend Private School (U.S. News, 2011) It's an interesting thought to me, because I grew up in Delaware, where the public school system was absolutely wrecked by desegregation busing, so a lot of people either go private, choice out of their school district, or attend a charter/magnet school. Although it definitely seems like the Catholic schools are dropping off like flies, the sectarian public schools in my area, like Caravel Academy or Tower Hill, seem fine.

Post 4379, Dated: September 28th, Mark's Beta Group- Me: I did have a question though- I checked the Webb School, and they don't house elementary school students- it's a 9 through 12 school, I believe. You made it sound like Ethan was just dropped at the Webb School, and that's not actually the case, if he was 7 at the time. I did look for a school that would make sense- let's say that Ethan got dropped off at St. Catherine's Academy in Anaheim, California. It's a k-8 school, so Ethan could have spent his elementary school/junior high years there. It's a military Catholic academy, and I can buy that a conservative Cuban mother would want him at a Catholic school, and that a military school would appeal to Wade's Dad. It would probably give Ethan a pretty interesting bearing for him to have been raised in a military school- it would contrast pretty strongly with kids like Will and JJ. Then, of course, when Ethan graduated, he could have gone off to the Webb School. I looked it up, and it's a 34-minute drive from St. Catherine's Academy to The Webb School. BOOM! Perfect. Yes, Mark, it is indeed a nice thing you have beta readers. Tim, I asked this in the CA thread and I'll ask it here- do you know of any boarding schools that take in people as young as 2nd grade? Otherwise, Ethan had to have had some kind of guardian who looked over him until he was old enough to go off to boarding school. (If it's St. Catherine's, it'd be 4th grade, I think there are some other boarding schools that take in 6th graders.)

Hmm. I like your theory- maybe what happened is that Ethan's mother was promised that he'd be given a guardian while he went to a the D.C. area school, like say Georgetown Day School. Then when he reached the 4th grade, Elizabeth shipped him off to St .Catherine's, or whatever boarding schools have elementary school grades in them on the West Coast. That would actually be a pretty typical Elizabeth Danfield move- a Catholic military boarding school on the West Coast. But yeah, Ethan couldn't have just been dropped off at the Webb School- his journey can't be that linear. I wonder if it used to be more common to have boarding schools that also took in elementary school kids, and that's something that became less common as time went on. I can't help but think of Little Christina Crawford being dropped off at Chadwick School in Mommy Dearest. (Although Chadwick School disbanded their student housing in 1968.) As for the Inland Empire...pretty funny stuff. I had an online friend who told me about how they had this big real estate boom/bust by people who banked on the idea that the Inland Empire would become the next Valley or something. It sounds like the Inland Empire is the New Jersey of the West Coast. (No offense to New Jersey people. Stone Harbor is truly lovely.)

Chapter 49 -When we learn the back story of Veronica Fletcher, a woman from Cuba who bore Senator Danfield a son, and got her ass deported back to Cuba in 1993. "Come Undone" by Duran Duran -When Wade and Matt imagine Wade's half-brother as having a loveless, orphan-like upbringing. "Where Is Love?" from Oliver -When Will and Tony have sex, and Will realizes that it's not what it used to be. "Torn" by Natalie Imbruglia I was pretty obsessed with this song back in 1998. Mainly because of the lead guy in the video. Hottie Australian type, yay! (Check out his late 90's/early 00's chords.) I also remember thinking at 12 how much I liked how the deconstructing of the video set was such a great metaphor for the young woman's idealized image of her ex-boyfriend unraveling as she faces the truth about who he is.

*calling Private Tim, calling Private Tim* So if Mark doesn't go for my idea of having Ethan being a former St. Catherine's Military School guy, do you know of other private schools in California that board elementary school students? (Because Webb is a high school-only boarding school, he had to have gone somewhere else for 3rd grade through 8th grade.)

Well, I did a little research on Webb, and it's only a high school boarding school, so I fanwanked that Ethan was dropped off at St. Catherine's Military School for Boys, which is K-8, before going to nearby Webb. It doesn't seem like there are a lot of boarding schools that board elementary school students. Thinking about it, a Catholic military school would actually make a lot of sense- the Senator would probably like the order and the discipline of one, and with Ethan and his mother being Cuban, they're likely Catholic as well. Ethan being from a military boarding school background would likely given him a really different kind of bearing. So maybe Ethan will be a cute Cuban guy with a military air going on...nice. Now that I think of it...we haven't seen much in terms of military guys being hot sex symbols, have we? I can't even remember if Matt or Wade have fooled around with one. Will hasn't. Yet. (I think this needs to be rectified, Mark. ) That's actually kind of weird- isn't the hot military guy right up there with the masculine college jock in terms of gay male fantasies?

Well, I did research into Webb, and it's only a high school boarding school, so I'm guessing that Ethan went to St. Catherine's Military School for Boys (which is K-8) first. It was EXTREMELY hard to find a private boarding schools that still board the elementary school aged-kids in the area. It would actually fit pretty well that the Senator would decide on a military Catholic school, because being Cuban Ethan's mother would likely be Catholic, and the Senator probably was good friends with a lot of people in the military. If Ethan did indeed grow up in a military boy's academy, that could give him a really interesting bearing, and something that this story doesn't really have, especially in Will's age-set. (Hell, even Wade and Matt haven't messed around with military guys, have they?)

I think it's interesting what naming trends seem to say about their time period. Jennifer was apparently launched into the stratosphere because of the 1970 film, Love Story. You could hazard a guess that the 1970's to early 1980's dominance of Jennifer possibly could have made people more willing to branch out, because the map is pretty diverse for the 2000's (when the Jennifer Generation are in their prime child-bearing years) especially in 2007. The Addison craze was pretty funny, and so short-lived. And come on, you KNOW the domination of Isabella in 2010 has to do with Twilight. And it's kinda funny my peers just missed the Jennifer thing, though- like, I knew a couple of Jennifers including my 1977-born sister, but it wasn't nearly as pervasive as Jessica and Ashley were. Had I been just a couple years older, like Blue's age, I probably would have known a lot more Jennifer's. The burn-out must have settled in by the mid/late 1980's. It's also interesting how old-fashioned, traditional names like Sophia, Emma, Ava, Olivia, and Isabella make a huge comeback. Stark contrast to my generation, when Jessica and Ashley ruled. I remember my teacher once went on this rant about how awful trendy names like Tiffany, Amber, and Crystal are. LOL. I can't even imagine what she thinks about Addison and Madison, or on the boy side, Jaden, Aiden,and Cayden. My guess for the next big girl's name will be Hazel, in keeping with the "old is new again" theme that seems to have taken hold.

This was actually pretty cool to look at- it's a listing of the most popular names for girls by state, starting with 1960 and ending with 2012. One of the things Mark tries to do is reflect the time period by having characters with period-correct names...it's why he picked Madison, because Maddy is a cute nickname and it really was a popular name at the start of the 2000's. If our CAP female characters were named the most popular name for their states in the year they were born, we'd have: 1963: Jeanine would be Lisa 1964: Claire would be Lisa 1976: Tiffany would be Jennifer 1983: Ella would be Jennifer 1986: Marie would be Jessica 1995: Courtney would be Jessica 2000: Madison would be Emily *We don't have a birth year for Elizabeth Danfield...I always kind of assumed that she and Jeff were probably born in the late 1940's/early 1950's, because Brad and Robbie were on the young side to have college-aged kids especially with their socioeconomic status. Wade's parents don't seem like they'd still be in their 30's or even their early 40's. In any event, I think it's interesting what naming trends seem to say about their time period. Jennifer was apparently launched into the stratosphere because of the 1970 film, Love Story. You could hazard a guess that the 1970's to early 1980's dominance of Jennifer possibly could have made people more willing to branch out, because the map is pretty diverse for the 2000's (when the Jennifer Generation are in their prime child-bearing years) especially in 2007. The Addison craze was pretty funny, and so short-lived. And come on, you KNOW the domination of Isabella in 2010 has to do with Twilight. And it's kinda funny my peers just missed the Jennifer thing, though- like, I knew a couple of Jennifers including my 1977-born sister, but it wasn't nearly as pervasive as Jessica and Ashley were. Had I been just a couple years older, like Blue's age, I probably would have known a lot more Jennifer's. The burn-out must have settled in by the mid/late 1980's. It's also interesting how old-fashioned, traditional names like Sophia, Emma, Ava, Olivia, and Isabella make a huge comeback. Stark contrast to my generation, when Jessica and Ashley ruled. I remember my teacher once went on this rant about how awful trendy names like Tiffany, Amber, and Crystal are. LOL. I can't even imagine what she thinks about Addison and Madison, or on the boy side, Jaden, Aiden,and Cayden. To bring it back to CAP...I really liked the Ethan name choice. It wasn't a super-popular name in 1986, but it was around. (Actors Ethan Embry and Ethan Peck spring to mind.) And then a decade later, the name gets popular, and then by the time Ethan is 20, he'll see a lot of little toddlers running around with his name. That's gotta be a trip. (I'm the reverse of that- I've only met a Jeremy younger than my peer group once, because most Jeremy's are in their 30's/40's by now.) It's like what Westie said about how these characters should have names that reflect "forward thinking"- Ethan's a name that's becoming huge at this time period, but our character will have had a 15-year head start on that.

This was actually pretty cool to look at- it's a listing of the most popular names for girls by state, starting with 1960 and ending with 2012. Lisa dominated the 1960's, Jennifer dominated the 1970's to the mid-80's, Jessica and Ashley seem to duke it out for the second half of the 1980's and first half of the 1990's, and then names start to get more creative until everybody starts naming their daughter Isabella, Sophia, or Emma by the late 2000's. One of my nieces was named Sophia in 2011, which corresponds to being the number 1 name. It's kinda funny- for that niece, Sophia, Olivia, and Emma will be to her what Jessica, Ashley, and Brittany were to me. (Amanda and Sarah were also pretty popular.)

Do any of you Californians remember the Los Angeles Bling Ring? I saw the movie, and I thought it seemed pretty incredible in a sense- that these teenaged kids set up multi-million dollar crime ring: The movie made Calabasas look like Valley Girl on steroids.

Alright, I see your point. So I did a little googling, and apparently the difference between a bisexual and a pansexual is that a bisexual is attracted to the two accepted genders. A pansexual, however, is attracted to the two genders, as well as people who fall outside of the gender binary, like genderqueers, intersexed people, and transexuals. Interesting. I have this bisexual friend, and I remember him saying once that he's attracted to the masculine qualities of a man, as well as the feminine qualities of a woman. So maybe the bisexual is attracted to the gender binary, while the pansexual feels its irrelevant. That's a really interesting reaction there. Most people I've known who've read the story said the story was a lovely picture of devoted friendship. How did the main character come off like a stalker to you?

The problem in going by clothes is that Glee's gay male aesthetic is that of tight, tailored clothes with some flare and splashes of color, not the International Male 2001 Catalog look that I think Ferris would rock. In any event, I just find Grant Gustin pretty hot and since his role on Glee is that of the bitchy gay guy I thought it might work. Oh, well. Matthew Lewis from Harry Potter as Benjamin Whist? I have Whist pictured as a tall, lanky, good-looking guy with some quirks to his face- like a former ugly ducking nerd who just grew into his looks. Matthew Lewis is 24, but let's face it, the guy could easily pass for 35. (In a good way.) And he just LOOKS like an academic. My final comment on Matthew Lewis is...wow, orthodontia and puberty were incredibly, incredibly kind to him.

1. Okay, true. Although I'm not sure what you mean with JJ- Will's joking with the flirting stuff. There was the masturbation scene, but it wasn't a "come on"- just Will showing JJ how it works. The two wouldn't actually have sex. There's actually this really great theory that when you get two kids who are not related and have them spend a lot of time together before the age of 6, like siblings, they'll become desensitized sexually to each other. It's called the Westermarck Effect. Interesting enough, when you think about how Brad had a crush on Ace and they fooled around with each other, they also weren't raised as brothers until Brad was pretty close to turning 6. As opposed to Will and JJ, who have been raised as brothers as brothers since Will came along when JJ was 9 months old. 2. That's an interesting interpretation of the term pan-sexual. I kind of felt like that was what Mark was showing with Gathan- Gathan was one of those guys who just did not factor gender in his attractions to people and didn't try and put a label on it. I'd suggest that you read Cross-Currents by Adam Phillips...I think it's a really interesting look at how sometimes labels are irrelevant.

Grant Gustin from Glee as Ferris, the bitchy gay guy from Menlo? (He's only a junior, so I figure we'll see more of the guy.)

It was so depressing. I actually used to follow Tom Bridgegroom's YouTube channel and his Twitter...I was smitten with him back around 2007 because of this commercial: I was rooting for the guy to make it big and wondered why he didn't seem to update anymore, then I found out what happened. God, so depressing.

You're forgetting that he's not a Hayes, though. From what we've seen of the Danfields, the gay gene isn't that strong- just Wade, his uncle(was he actually a Danfield or was that Amanda's brother?, and straight cousins that will mess around with a guy. But I agree with the second one. As for the third, well, we didn't make jokes about Sallies boys for nothing. As for the 4th, it depends on what Ethan looks like- he's probably good-looking, but he might be a 15-year old that actually looks 15, as opposed to a 15-year old that looks 18. Remember that Will generally leans towards guys that are college-aged, or at least look college aged. Finally...maybe there is no answer. Maybe Mark's speaking to that generation of guys who refuse to place labels on themselves, which Cross-Currents author Adam Phillips has talked about often. That would actually be pretty cool. Ethan could go all Bradley/Chelsea Manning on us. THEN John could fall for her, leading to Jack's parents going postal. My high school had a drag queen who was voted Homecoming Queen, though that was before my time. During my time, we had a drag queen named Pedro/Patrice, but he/she wasn't a very attractive draq queen. It was pretty hilarious- people ragged him not because he was a drag queen, but because he wasn't a pretty one. LOL. But in any event, going with the usual CAP M.O., Ethan will probably be a hot jock (or a hot quiet nerd type ala Alistair), and he'll fall for Will at first sight because Will is our Gary Stu and everyone must be into him.

Well, Ethan and Marie, but then again, we haven't even met the kid yet. LOL. I wonder if he'll be some rigid, color-inside-the-lines type like Wade times 10 because of his boading school upbringing, or some rebellious type. I gotta admit, I really wish I could've gone to boarding school. It just seems so cool- you make a group of really close friends, and have a caring house mother, and lots of whacky adventures. Or you can get that one avant-garde teacher who bucks against the norm and really inspires you to make a difference. Or your private school could be built on a mysterious piece of land, leading to lots of mysterious adventures.

It's be funny for Ethan to turn out to be a flaming figure skating fan type. Although I'm not sure John's going to fall in love with a guy- then again, Matt Price was also straight in Cross-Currents, and he fell in love with his best friend Andy Sharpe and became gay lovers with him. (Although really, who wouldn't fall deeply and madly in love with Andy Sharpe? He's like love catnip.) Maybe it could be Marie instead.

Two things come into play here- it was 1986, when things like this were becoming less of a taboo. If this were 1956, things were have been very different. Secondly, Brad being not that interested in having a wife, he knew that this would be his chance to have a kid, so he went with it. I think Brad envisioned himself and Jeanine becoming friends while raising kids, similar to JP and Isidore without the marriage. Finally, since Brad himself was a bastard, I just can't see it as being something that would have been a big deal. I do think that if Jack had gotten Jeanine pregnant in 1986, there's no doubt that the scenario would have played out exactly as you said, but that's because Jack comes from a conventional rich family. You did point something very interesting out- we haven't met the kids of the Help since probably the time Brad and Co. were teenagers. I wonder if that's because of how elite the Cramptons/Schluters have become, or if Rafel/Anna etc etc aren't live-ins, so we don't really see their kids. Maybe they commute from like Santa Monica or Anaheim, thus that's where their kids go to school instead of Malibu High, thus we've never met them.

Chapter 48 -When they hold the state funeral viewing for Senator Danfield in the Capitol rotunda. "God Bless America" by Celine Dion (From the Music and Heroes Tribute that aired 9/21/01) -When JP holds a dinner, and Wade sees his friends from college are there. "Seasons of Love" from Rent God, this was so cliche, but I couldn't think of anything that fit better. -When Wade gives a speech. "Finale B" from Rent I've been looking up musicals from the time period, and nothing really stands out as much as Rent did. I don't think anything has made close to as much impact as Rent did until around the time that Spring Awakening came out...it seems like the late 90's and early 2000's Broadway were mainly about revivals, light-hearted fare like the Producers or Thoroughly Modern Millie, or Disney Musicals.There was Urinetown, but that doesn't seem to have any kind of staying impact. Rent is so over-used, but it really is that "once in a generation" piece of work. -When the Danfield family has their funeral service for the Senator. "Suo Gan" from Empire of the Sun This was a special request from Mark. -When the full realization of Wade's father being gone hits him. "Danny Boy" by Andy Williams

Mark used this rule for chapter 48 of 9.11. I think this was his official welcome of the Danfields by giving them a long-lost relative. Although let's be honest...the Danfields were tobacco planters. I'm sure there are black families out there who have Jeff and Wade's blue eyes.

If there was any doubt that Mark was writing the Danfields in as a core CAP family, I think he dispelled that by giving them a long-lost relative. And a relative conveniently aged to Will/JJ/Marie/John.