methodwriter85

So, I'm going to get more serious here. The Miss America racist backlash really made me think again about the upcoming anti-Middle Eastern sentiment. It's amazing to me that it's 12 years after 9/11, and someone of middle-Eastern descent will still get a comment like this: It's just really frustrating and saddening that with all of the coming together that happened because of 9/11, you also had along with it some pretty bigoted beliefs take root in the minds of some Americans. It's also really important to remember that racists don't make the distinction of, "Well, Al-Qaeda was from Aghanistan, and Nina Davulari is Indian, so it's all okay." Nina gets lumped in as being an "Arab", and "Arab=Terrorist", so then you get the "Miss America is Terrorist!" bullshit mindset going on. Ugh. So disgusting.

So, history was made last night when the first Indian-American Miss America was crowned. And quite predictably, racist comments were made. Ugh. Here's this wonderful response video by a guy basically saying what I think about this: America is basically defined by the fact that it's a melting pot that has never had any kind of singular culture, given the fact that it's the size of a continent. Even before Columbus got here, you had a pretty big variety, from the Mohawks to theLenni Lenape to the Plains Indians. There was a time when the Irish weren't considered American. Being Italian was a taboo well into the 20th century. And if you proclaimed to be Catholic? Woo-wee. I guess this is the price we have to pay for the freedom of speech- having to listen to bigots spout off really horrid things.

I stand corrected. I still don't think Elizabeth would be pleased given that neither Jeanine nor Cody come from prominent families, and she's very much of the "who are your people?" old money South mindset. Even though Wade's relationship with Matt is a gay one, I imagine that Elizabeth was still on some level good with it because he's carrying the Carrswold name. It's probably not a nationallly prominent name, but Mark's written them as being a pretty regionally prominent, well-regarded name.

Thanks. When I first stared doing music recs, I had this rule that I wasn't going to back more than 3 years- it was all going to be from 1977-1980. Given that it was kind of a sucky era for music (transition periods usually always are), I eventually had to break that. So I generally try to keep things within a three-year period, the bulk of it, but oldies get thrown in as well. The only hard and fast rule I stick to is that I won't use music that came out after the year the story is set. I mean, of course, I used Linkin Park for scenes set in summer 2000 when their album didn't come until October 2000, but that's about as much fudging as I'm willing to do. I think music acts like a time machine, in some way- it really has a way of connecting you to where you were and who you were when a certain song was popular. I hear The Way I Are by Timbaland, and I immediately connect to 2007/2008, when 22-year old me would dance my ass off to this song at bars and college parties. Or I hear Quit Playing Games With My Heart, and I remember the summer of 1997, when 11-year old me rushed over to a loudspeaker blaring this at the Italian festival and the total joy I felt singing along to this, while my sister and the carny guy she was flirting with looked at me like I was crazy. The farthest back I can go is 1989, with She Drives Me Crazy by Fine Young Cannibals, We Didn't Start the Fire by Billy Joel, and Like A Prayer by Madonna...I remember seeing those on T.V. as a three/four-year old.

I don't think Will's moving back to Malibu- Mark really seems to like the Menlo crowd, more than he did the HW crowd, and he really likes the idea of Marie, Will, and John going together through school. I kind of assumed that Tiffany would have to move back to Malibu at some point, given that she's JJ's coach, and JJ's moving back to SoCal given that it's got a better figure skating scene there. I'm not sure where Maddie ends up, but I really hope it's not with Tiffany. We can't have Riley and Maddie raised as siblings- it'll kill the future storyline potential of Elizabeth Danfield hitting the roof about her precious grandson dating the no-name granddaughter of an 80's terrorist! I feel like Matt is screaming to be a narrator again, if not here, at least in the next story. There's so many questions and issues that this guy is going to be dealing with- not just his grief, but adjusting out of college (which will probably be harder for him than it is for Wade as Matt really did relish his BMOC title) I can see what you mean about that. For the bulk of my life (18 out of 27), I've never lived more than 90 minutes away from an ocean. The sound of sea gulls and such are a comforting, familiar thing. That was the weirdest part about living in Western P.A., which is pretty close to being in the mid-West- no seagulls, and seafood didn't seem like that much of a big deal around there. I met people who had literally never been to the ocean and my mouth just dropped.

Chapter 40 -When Wade gets the news about his father, and it becomes Matt's turn to comfort him. "Across the Universe" by Fiona Apple I used this song to close out Bloodlines, when Matt was happily celebrating Father's Day, 1999 with his two different fathers, and Wade actually mentioned calling his father. I thought it fit as a "full circle" kind of thing. -When Will and JJ grieve together. "Glory of Love" by Bette Midler -When Brad goes through the task of telling Frank that he's lost his beloved son. "A Whiter Shade of Pale" by Procol Harum -When Brad gets through his gut-wenching phone calls, and takes comfort in his two sons. "Angel" by Sarah McLachlan

Thanks for the clarification. The closest I've ever gotten to being in the Mid-West was being in Pittsburgh. I totally thought Stefan's adventures in 1995 Boystown meant that he lived there.You gotta admit, Mark, the Obama connection WOULD be pretty interesting. And there's no way that Obama's election isn't eventually going to become pretty important to the characters, because racial justice was a huge part of what the original CAP story was all about. Yeah, I was assuming that Wade's getting a J.D. and Matt would get a MA or higher, likely in economics. Chicago or Northwestern are good for both, right? My view of JJ is that he's very comfortable with the temperamental, "I want all of the M&M's in my hotel room bowl to be green" kind of act. But when it comes to sincere emotions, it's something he runs away from. I can't see him dropping skating, though. JJ's invested too much and has given up too much for him to drop out now. He's given up school, friends, time with his family, and his childhood innocence for the dream of someday getting an Olympic medal. It's probably going to be the thing that helps him deal with it and not concentrate too much on his parents dying.

I could see this making Matt get closer to them. Maybe he'll decide to go to U Chicago for a master's degree in economics to be nearer to them, thus utilizing Stefan's recently renovated Chicago condo? Which makes me wonder if that happens, would Wade change his plans about going to either UCLA or Cal for law school? (I mean, in 2002 Chicago was ranked 6th while Northwestern was ranked 12th as law schools, so it's not like he'd have to settle for mediocre.) .But....would a condo in Boys Town be remotely anything resembling a decent place to raise a kid? 9/11 is hitting right when Matt and Wade are in the middle of making major decisions in their lives as seniors in college. That's pretty interesting. They made a committment at the end of Paternity, but they made it without really thinking hard about "what happens next?", as 20-year olds usually are wont to do. I love that the major questions Matt and Wade are going to have to wrestle with have absolutely nothing to do with jealousy over other potential love interests and the like.

I saw Kate Winslet as Jeanine Matthews in the Divergent trailer, and I thought she'd make a really good Elizabeth Danfield: I've been thinking of Elizabeth Danfield as a brunette, but I don't know if Mark's ever specified her haircolor...we know that Beau is a swarthy brunette, Wade and his dad look like Nico Tortorella, and MaryEllen rotates between blonde and brunette, but I can't remember if Mark has specified all that much what she looks like. Anyway, I could see Kate Winslet in the part...just ignore that she's about 5-7 years too young. (Kate's nearly 38...I'm assuming that Elizabeth Danfield is probably more in her early/mid-40's.)

I really don't think Robbie could have lived with himself if he had left Hank and Jeanine up there.

1. Titanic was THE movie of the late 1990's, and aside from the parallels about people losing their innocence, we're also saying good-bye to the world of the late 90's, where the economy was booming, hope was abound, and peace was a given because the U.S. won over Russia. 2. Thanks. MTV suspended all of their programming during 9/11 and just ran videos instead, with scrolls at the bottom giving directions about donating to the Red Cross. This was a video that made the rotation a lot. 3. Yeah. I love that theme. I wanted something that conveyed playful, childish innocence. 4. Thanks. It's from when Beth died in Little Women. Thought it fit.

Beau was stated as being 15 when we met him around late 1998, so in late 2001 he should be 18. I'm guessing he's either started college or is about to, because Wade mentioned Beau being a senior in high school in Paternity. So Beau should inherit the land no problem, though the problem is that Beau isn't that strong against his mother and probably won't be much help to Wade. It's going to be interesting to see the fall-out, because Wade had some pretty set plans about his life going ahead. Being with Matt, raising Riley, graduating from Stanford in the spring of 2002, and going to law school, like at Cal or UCLA. This all puts everything into question, because Wade's finding himself forced to step up as the head of his family at the ripe ol' age of 21. This is his first year skating as a senior on the circuit, so at the very least he'll have some good distractions. I have a feeling he'll bury this all down deep, focusing on getting himself to the '06 Olympics, and then when he doesn't get a medal, THAT'S when we'll see him explode.

Chapter 39 -When JP surveys his devastated family, and makes a decision. "A Life So Changed" from Titanic -When the gang escapes from New York City. "It's The End of the World" by REM -When Wade and the Virginia contigent ride on a beautiful, sunny morning in the Mid-Atlantic area. "Vada's Theme" from My Girl -When Wade finds Matt in the stables, and comforts him. "Valley of the Shadow" from Little Women

No, it's "become a boy toy for the Schluters and get lavish gifts and/or trusts/tuition money, THEN run away like hell from the Schluters and you'll be fine." Marcel, Lou, and Max are all leading pretty nice lives now, right?

Right. We've had a lot of recent missed calls in CAP- Stefan getting shot, Brad and Will getting kidnapped, Kristen almost getting on the Concorde crash jet, etc etc. People have mentioned many times about how these characters sort of exist in a bubble- they're rich to the point where it's almost impossible that they're going to lose their money, and they live very privilieged and protected lives, especially once we got to Will's generation. This bursts that bubble and makes our characters face-up front some major horror that affected tens of thousands of people on a personal level. It's a pretty delicate balance to honor history vs. re-writing it, and it's interesting to see Mark balance between adding the characters into actual historic events, and whether or not he tweaks them just a bit. Sometimes they're affected in a periphereal way, like Columbine when Matt's friend had a girlfriend who's step-brother got shot. (But didn't die, thus not altering the 13 victims of the event.) Other times, it's in a personal way, like Andre, Billy Schluter, and now Robbie.

So...now that we've seen the beginning and the ending of Brad and Robbie's relationship, I thought it'd be cool to post a playlist that reminds me of the highs and lows of their relationship. Most of these are songs I used to score certain moments, though some might be snuck in as well. 95 percent of them will be from the '80s. The Brad and Robbie Playlist 1. Follow You, Follow Me by Genesis 2. Leather and Lace by Stevie Knicks and Don Henley 3. The Tide Is High by Blondie 4. Missing You by John Waite 5. Love My Way by the Psychedelic Furs 6. In-Between Days by The Cure 7. Tenderness by General Public 8. Melt With You by Modern English 9. Souvenir by OMD 10. Broken Wings by Mr. Mister (As an aside, this song was Number 1 the day I was born. Woo-hoo!) 11. All Through the Night by Cyndi Lauper 12. Wouldn't It Be Good by Nik Kershaw 13. Don't Dream It's Over by Crowded House 14. Bizarre Love Triange by OMD 15. But Not Tonight by Depeche Mode 16. Only You by Yazoo 17. (I'm Gonna Be ) 500 Miles by the Proclaimers 18. Babylon by David Gray 19. The Promise by When In Rome

Yeah. Those are the top two songs in my mind for Brad and Robbie.

Check out his new tune, which is much happier:

My mythology is that when Aaron faked his death and was honored as a hero, the pagan gods were enraged and then the curse began. With Robbie's honorable death, the balance has been restored, leaving the new generation, with Matt Carrswold and Gathan Hayes, safe. Although you got me curious- what happened to Robbie's older brother and sister? The brother went queer for Jesus with his mother, and the sister seemingly disapeared in the mid-1980's, right? I wonder if Robbie has any neices or nephews that haven't been discovered yet. It was really fitting. I think Senator Danfield dying adds an interesting quirk- he wasn't really a good guy, and he didn't die heroically, and he didn't even know that he was about to die. And the Senator died just when he and Wade had gotten to good place, where you could even call them friends.

Thanks. There's just something about contrasting a love song about always being there for each other against the last moment of a couple's relationship. And then Buckley's song really made the rounds for T.V. dramas in the 2000's. I used to hear that one at Tom Traver's Awesome 80's D.J. Show at Deer Park Tavern when I was 22...it was the closing song. And can't you just picture that song punctuating an explosion?

Yeah. It's a helluva lot different from the original exit you had planned for Robbie from this series, and feels a lot more organic and true to the character. * For you trivia hounds out there, Robbie and Brad were originally going to break up for good in Man In Motion because of Neal, and he and Frank were going to run tail to Dallas or something after Brad goes completely apeshit on Robbie. Brad and Max were going to become a committed couple. Mark then changed his mind to have Robbie go on trial for the murder of Neal instead. Thank god he did, because otherwise we would've never met Matt, and by extension, Wade. I'm not even sure Will exists in that alternative timeline Mark had set up- he wrote up to the characters experiencing The Challenger explosion in January 1986 before doing the revisement, and I don't remember if he had written in Will's conception before them. As the MiM story stands, part of the reason why the conception happened because of Brad's stress with Robbie being in jail, no?

lot of writers will make a so-called "timeline" for their story, because it's a handy way to keep from messing up continuity, and it's fun little trivia for fans of a series. I thought I would go ahead and make one for Mark. It'll be refined and updated as I go back and read the stories to get a better picture, but...here are important dates and events in the CAP universe. And I'd like to ask for help as well- if you find a specific date for an event and think it's important for the timeline, let me know, and if I think it's important enough, I'll edit to include it! CAP TIMELINE 1903: Tonto is born. April 1925: Jim Crampton is born. May 27, 1925: Steven Schluter is born. 1936: Billy Schluter is born. June 20, 1936: J.P. Crampton is born, the result of an affair between Marie Crampton and Bill Hendrickson. December 17,1944: Steven Schluter dies in World War II. July 14, 1945: Stefan Schluter, the son of Steven Schluter, is born. November 12, 1945: Jeff Hayes is born. 1962-1963 School Year: J.P. Crampton begins teaching at Northwestern University. October 4, 1962: Brad Schluter is born. He is the adoptive son of Billy Schluter, and the biological son of Kevin Carmicheal. December 1962: Andre, JP's partner, is killed in action in Vietnam. March 6, 1963: Ace is born to Isidore, having been fathered by J.P.'s lover Andre. March 1963: Robbie Hayes is born, the youngest of three children. He is the son of Frank and Brenda Hayes. April 10, 1963: Billy Schulter dies at sea on USS Thresher October 27, 1964: Clare and Billy Crampton are born. Clare is JP's biological daughter, and Billy is Jeff Hayes's biological son. 1968: J.P. Crampton begins teaching at Stanford. July 13, 1968: Jeff Hayes dies of an heroin overdose. March 8, 1969: Marcel is born. He is the biological son of Jeff Hayes, but is raised in France. April 24, 1980: Matt Carrswold is born. He is the biological son of Robbie Hayes, but is adopted by the Carrswolds and grows up in Shaker Heights, Ohio. May 15, 1980: Wade Danfield is born. He becomes Matt Carrswold's boyfriend after meeting him on the hockey team at Stanford during the 1998-1999 school year. October 19, 1980: Billy dies in a car accident on the night of a party at Escorial. January 19, 1982: Darius Schluter is born. He is the son of Bitty Schluter and a random Iranian man, but is raised by Brad, Robbie, and Jeanine. He has one biological half-brother, JJ, and one adopted brother, Will Schluter. July 25, 1982: Gathan Hayes is born. He was raised in Claremont, Ohio by his uncle and aunt, Wally and Clara Hayes. February 1983: Kristin Hendrickson is born. August 26, 1983: Ella Hayes, daughter of Richard Crampton, is born. May 30, 1985: Zach Hayes is born. 1985: J.P.'s lover Roger, and one-time lover Sam, both die of AIDS that year. December 7, 1985: Jeremy Schluter, aka J.J., is born. He is the biological son of Jim Crampton and Bitty Schluter, and has been raised in Malibu, CA with Brad, Robbie, and Jeanine. February 19, 1986: Marie Crampton, aka Maman, dies of natural causes. April 18, 1986: Marie Hobart, daughter of Jack and Clare Hobart, is born. September 14, 1986: Will Schluter, son of Brad and Jeanine, is born. July 21, 1987: John Hobart, son of Jack and Clare Hobart, is born. Between 1991 to 1995: Tonto Schluter dies an old woman, warm in her bed surrounded by grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A death we should all hope to have. March 28, 1995: Greg, Stefan's long-time companion, dies of a heart attack. September 4, 1995: Ace's daughter, Courtney, is born. August 7, 1998: Robbie Hayes reunites with his long-lost son, Matt Carrswold. September 13, 2000: Madison Graves, daughter of Jeanine Graves and Cody Warren, is born. September 14, 2000: Riley van den Boss Danfield, son of Wade Danfield and Tiffany van den Boss is born. September 11, 2001: Robbie Hayes, as well as Jeanine and her partner Hank, die in the Towers for 9/11. Senator Danfield dies at the Pentagon. *** The orginal post I was apparently archived, so I can't edit it.

As Mark wrote in reviews, he researched this and no one in the South Tower collapse survived. The last person to get out of the South Tower was the last one to survive. The Miracle Survivors were in Stairwell B in the North Tower. Anyway....R.I.P. Robbie Hayes 1963 - 2001... There's a bitter irony in the fact that Robbie was so concerned about aging, and he winds up dying at the age of 38.

I am so glad you're not still following CAP. You would've chased Mark with a pitchfork or something.

Well, it's my alma mater, and it was in the news. We do have some good stuff that happens, but yeah. On some level, I thought it was pretty cool, and as a former college kid, I thought, "Right on! Fight for your right to rage, dudes!" Also, there's this part of me that's pissed about how the university has clamped down so hard on partying. It was absoute bullshit that they basically pressed the city of Newark to not allow Skidfest to happen, which was an amazing charity concert rager but didn't fit in with the school's wanna UVA image. I think it's schadenfreude- you make an oppressive environment on a campus and not allow people to have fun, they'll eventually rebel. Finally, that should have been, "Why do you persistently post things that only further embarrass the already big embarrassment that is Delaware College?"