methodwriter85

I'm not so sure about that. JP never pressured Brad about going into the family business, and I can't see Brad pressuring Will to into his family footsteps. Darius is a good example of their parenting style- when he didn't go Ivy League like Brad or Robbie did, Brad didn't really care as long as Darius went to college. (It'd be interesting see how Brad reacts if/when JJ announces that he's not going to college in order to prepare for the 2006 Olympics.) The thing is that the business isn't really a local "family" business anymore- it's more like a national (possibly international) conglomerate being run by business associates, not family. So it's not a big deal for them if they don't follow in their foot-steps. It would be great though if Will does wind up a professor- it'd be kind of a full-circle deal.

Right. The general point here is that John probably wouldn't view Will as a non-risk hook-up, because of their history together and because of Will's personality. It's true that Will's changed at least somewhat, but if I were John, I wouldn't risk getting on Will's bad side just to get him in bed. I'm sure John has this Abercrombie and Fitch polo with matching flip-flop collection that he doesn't want to find torched. It'd be funny though, if Will's ego took a slight ding if he found John messing around with another guy and realized that it's not about John not wanting to hook up with other guys, but about John not wanting to hook up with Will. Anyway, my idea that it's possible someone did have a talk with John is that Stefan basically had that talk with Will about how he can't go scorched earth on John because he's his cousn. Stefan probably isn't that close or perceptive of John to have had that kind of talk with him, but I think it's possible Stefan did, and that John might have listened to him. John isn't as mature as Will, but he's still depicted as being mature for his age, and I think John could have gotten it. But yeah, like you're saying, regardless of whether or not John got a head's up, John would have learned that a hook-up with Will would not be worth the grief that he could possibly get himself into. Will's bad side is NOT a place you want to be on, and unlike Tony, John can't hide himself away at school should Will become pissed at him.

That's the thing though- it's not "no-risk" fun for John to mess around with Will. Will is his cousin, and they go to school together, and they're only a grade apart in a school that appears to be on the smaller side. Will has a big temper, and a tendency to blurt out things that people might not want to talk about. Will is also not exactly known for his discretion, either- is there anybody from that family who doesn't know that Will is engaging in some statutory with Jeff and Tony? And even though Will is different from last summer, I think John is still wary of the fact that Will basically had himself picking out china patterns for their future wedding. It's entirely possible that at some point during the Poor Man's Son Summer, Stefan took John aside and let him know that Will's feelings for him might not match his own. I think it makes total sense that John would not want to go down that road again with Will, because given their history I'd have a hard-time believing that John would think he could have no-strings attached fun with him. It was cool to be bisexual in the performing arts high school I went to, but only if you're a girl. For guys, you were either straight, or you were expected to be Carson Kressley from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Although around 2005-2007 I remember it became "cool" for emo guys to kiss other guys at parties, and then post it in videos on YouTube or on their Myspace accounts.

Chapter 19 -When Will muses on his life with his shrink, and the consequences that come with doing or having whatever you want. "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk" by Rufus Wainwright I remember in 2001 having all these e-friends who were just *raving* about Rufus Wainright. He was the go-to street cred name drop for people who wanted to have cool music taste during this time period. I like his stuff now, but in 2001 I was 15 and more interested in listening to poppy punk like Good Charlotte and Sum 41. *shrugs* -When Will shares these life epiphanies with Robbie, who shares a few of his own. "Movies" by Alien Ant Farm -When Will and Robbie hit the Hollywood premiere. "South Side" by Moby ft. Gwen Stefani -When Will wonders if maybe there's a lesson to be learned about cheating, and Robbie agrees that there probably is. "Stand By Your Man" by Tammy Wynette

That's basically how I read John's sexuality. There's Darius, who's straight as a board, and then there's John, who I'd call "straightish leaning towards bi." I think that since John has/had a girlfriend, and the people at Menlo basically know him as having a girlfriend/being straight, John doesn't really engage in that side of himself anymore...possibly because of the near-mess that he had with Will. It'd be too much trouble and too confusing to people if John suddenly started dating a guy, so he goes where his attraction is stronger to keep things simple. I do think Mark's doing a good job of showing how attitudes are changing regarding sexual orientation- I remember when Brad/Robbie/Max/Marcel, etc were the youth generation, you were either gay, or you were straight. Note that when Brad mused about the sexuality of his children in 1999, he thought either "gay", or "straight"..."bi" didn't even come up as a possibility. It's starting to get murkier, especially with characters like Gathan and with John. In any event though...John will look like this when he's college-aged. I'm hoping we will get some sexual encounters from John's p.o.v. by that time period, because damn, that kid is going to be sexy as hell. Anyway, I thought the Trevor Morgan thing was funny, because I actually thought he was pretty cute around that time period. Although around that time period, I was all about Josh Hartnett, David Boreanaz, and Nick Lachey. I'm also loving that Will is really getting what the difference between being in lust and being in love is. He's waaayyy ahead of most 25-year olds in that regard.

Today marks the 150th anniversary of the final day of fighting at the Battle of Gettysburg, which was the turning point of The Civil War. Thought I'd mark that day by sharing a YouTube documentary about it: The Battle of Gettysburg (2011 Documentary) Part of me really wishes I could be in Gettysburg, but eh...priorities change. It's funny though- I did a Gettysburg encampment in 2004, and I was so excited to think that I'd only be 27 for the 150th annivesary encampment. Now it's here, but Civil War re-enactments don't really interest me as much. Maybe when I'm middle-aged and 37, I'll be out for the 160th in 2023...possibly. I would like to try and visit this summer or in the fall, when it's not so crowded. But anyway, let's hear it for the brave men who sacrificed their lives to try and keep this union together in the Civil War!

I finished inventory on my third box, and now I've got two more boxes to go through. After that, I'll go through actually accessioning the collection. I found a packet of photos that ranged from 1957 to 1982, as well as a photo album from 2005. This was a very wide-ranging box in terms of the years. One really cool thing I found was a very old newspaper from Saturday, August 1st, 1987. It was pretty crazy- the paper was actually in really good shape considering that it was twenty-six years old. One of the front-page stories was about Ronald Reagan getting surgery from skin cancer- I don' really remember Ronald Reagan as president, but I know '87 had the whole Iran-Contra affair going on. On the back of the paper were a bunch of advertisements for VCR's, ranging from 300 dollars to 500 dollars. Crazy to think how expensive that was back then- nowadays you can get a DVD player for 59 bucks, which would be 30 bucks in 1987 money. The advertisements also listed a "Big Screen TV"- at 26 inches. LOL. Another really interesting item I found was a 1989 police statement investigating a fire incident at the State Theater. (The State Theater was located on what is now the 1996-built Galleria Mini-Mall, anchored by Grotto's Pizza.) It had been built in 1929 and put on the National Historic building list in 1983, but had closed down by the late 1980's. Here's a photo of the theater I found from 1981: Here's what's there now: Gotta love progress, right? Anyway, according to the police statement I read, four men in their early 20's snuck into the closed theater while being very intoxicated. The guy giving the statement said that they wanted to visit the theater, because it held sentimental value for him since he worked there before it closed. At some point, the theater caught on fire, and the statement was basically the guy saying that they did not intentionally set the theater on fire. The statement basically indicated that there was no way to salvage what was left of the theater, which makes sense, since seven years later there'd be a mini-mall on the site. It was really interesting learning about the history of a site I've gone to many, many times in my life. I cannot tell you how many times I've parked at the parking lot behind this mini-mall, or gone to Grotto's Pizza/Kildare's when I went to UD.

It's weird though, Blue. I almost feel like you're part of a different generation even though we're only technically 21-months apart from each other in age. Like, when I talk to people born from about 1980 to 1984, it just feels like their childhoods were different from mine, in terms of the references and the like. I think there's also something about the fact that post-January 1985 people started high school in the 2000's and not the 90's, whereas the late 90's were high school for people more your age. It makes me wonder if there was just that much of a pop culture turnover in the time period where we were growing up that it created some kind of schism of between the First-Term Regan Babies vs. the Second-Term Regan ones. I just feel like I have more in common with people born in 1988 than I do with people born in 1983, even though they're both technically the same-age difference from where I am. It's interesting how hard it is to define all that...Generations usually have to have sub-generations in there. For example, Mark Arbour is technically a Baby Boomer, having been born in 1963. (The Baby Boomer generation is considered anyone born from 1946 to 1964.) But Mark is too young to have any memories of the Kennedy assassination or to have been influenced by his administration. He's also too young to have worried about getting drafted and sent off to Vietnam, another hall-mark of the Baby Boomer experience. Mark's college years weren't marked with war protests or draft cards- they were marked with tight Ralph Lauren polo shirts and Reaganism. That's why Mark and his peers might be clusetered into a sub-genre of the Baby Boomers called Generation Jones- a term describing the second half of the baby boom from 1954 to 1964- describing the people who were too young for Woodstock and were teenagers during the economic malaise of the 1970's. I'd call Mark Arbour and Sharon's co-hort "The Dazed and Confused" Generation.

It's funny when you think about how records are actually doing pretty good business as opposed to CD's, at least in terms of indie stores.

Bart Baker did a parody: Bart Baker is hit-or-miss with me, but I thought he was pretty funny here.

I'm with you on that one. Twitter fan bitch fits are hilarious. 1D vs. TW ones are pretty funny. The thing is that Justin is trying to transition to a more adult sound, so it makes sense for there to a younger guy in the same vein waiting in the wings.

Tensions in the Middle East were nothing out of the ordinary, though. That place has been a mess since at least the 1970's. As my classmate who grew up in Israel put it, Americans had become pretty blase to violence in the Mid-East, until it came here in the form of 9/11. 2001 was described as being a slow enough news summer that a series of shark attacks became big news in the U.S. I think the big story right before 9/11 happened was Aliyah dying in a plane crash in late August. I do think it's interesting that gay marriage in Holland hasn't been mentioned yet...I thought it was weird when they didn't mention civil unions on Vermont in July 2000, either. I would have thought that would have been at least a semi-big deal, considering Stefan threw a party when homosexuals were declared sane in 1973. Does John still have his girlfriend? I mean, 8th grade girlfriends usually don't last long, but eh. I'm glad we're going with "mostly straight" instead of plain straight with John, because it'd be a damned shame to waste John's looks on him being totally straight like we did with Darius. LOL. (It also goes with what Adam's talking about, how more and more guys are owning up to the idea that they're not quite so rigid in their sexuality.) In all seriousness, I think you're hitting on the awkwardness of being "broken up" without really being broken up because they were never really together...John saw their sexual interaction at 12/13 as a fun extension of their friendship, while Will had himself picking out china patterns. It makes sense that John now feels self-concious around Will about trying not to lead him on.

There's a new singer being touted as the next Justin Bieber...his new video "What About Love" has already garnered 10 million views in just three or so weeks. What do you guys think? *waits for what will surely be a funny reaction from Tet*

Here's Private Tim's suggestion for chapter 18 of 9.11: Bumped this one up just for you, Tim!

I do think that's understandable, given that he's been a protagonist for three straight stories now. Hopefully 2002 will see somebody else- I personally would welcome another Wade/Matt story, being that 2002 is their college graduation year and there's plenty of angst for them to work through. Anyway, I really liked the bit where JP muses on how quiet the world is being right now. Of course, there were signs- like in March 2001 the Taliban started destroying relgious monuments, but yeah...2000 and the first three quarters of 2001 were fairly quiet. 1999 had major stuff going on, like Bill Clinton's impeachment, Columbine, the Kosovo revolution, but not much seemed to have happened in 2000. I remember my biggest concern the morning of September 11th was whether or not I'd get in the school play. Man, it'll be interesting to see how they react to things that change.

Chapter 18 -When Brad takes in the views, and realizes that Will is right. "Return to Innocence" by Enigma

So on Day 5 of volunteering, I finished going through my box and started on another one. On Day 6, which was this past Tuesday, I started on a new box- in this case, a good chunk of what I saw in the box was actually pretty new, like posters from the 2009 parade and the like, as well as a DVD rip. Which was interesting, because on one hand, it's good to have them, but on the other hand, it doesn't really feel like history. In main news...Newark, Delaware flooded out. Not like, Mississipppi River flooding or anything, but I've never seen flooding like this on Main Street before: Flooding is usually mitigated by the significant amount of creeks around the Newark area, so it's rare you see flooding like this in the downtown area. Pretty crazy.

To be honest, in terms of having your characters act out of character for the sake of plot, I really didn't think that for Isidore's reaction. She's never been that strongly developed of a character (definitely not like Tonto) despite being in the story for "38" years, so she's a bit of an enigma. It's been strongly hinted that Isidore grew up in a strongly upper-class French family, so I don't have a problem with her having a very strong feeling on etiquette. Mark's actually set the seeds for that when JJ was 9 or so, in If It Fits. Stefan observed that while Darius and Will were seemingly good and talented at everything they picked up like surfing and art, JJ was a cheerful kid but wasn't really that good at anything. Matt in Bloodlines noted the same thing, wondering if JJ would ever find something he was good at, and that's where skating came in. Doing what JJ is shooting for doesn't really leave much in terms of having a lot of friends or activities, so it makes sense he doesn't have much of a life outside of figure skating. That's just the sacrifice of being in a highly competitive sport when you're 15. It remains to be seen if JJ will wind up regretting that choice. I'm not sure I see him going the Brian route, but it does feel like there's a ticking time bomb of JJ's paternity, vs. the fact that he's in a very public sport that demands a very pristine, wholesome image. Born to a crackwhore being fucked by her uncle just doesn't really jibe with that, and if JJ's famous enough by the time of the 2006 Olympics, tabloids are going to jump all over it. I do see JJ having a period somewhere in his early/mid-20's when he tries to make up for all the time he lost in terms of social interactions with his peers. Child stars have talked at length about that kind of thing, and I'm thinking JJ will go through something similiar. I can also see JJ, like Robbie, trying to "buy" friendship/relationships...I'm betting 23-year old JJ is going to be picking up a lot of bar tabs for his "friends." Which will put him in stark contrast to Will, who at 14 seems to have fine-tuned his b.s. meter for who's a friend and who's just trying to take advantage.

The thing is that I have a really good memory for faces (not really names, but faces), and I watch and consume a lot of pop culture, meaning I see and remember a lot of faces of models, actors, TV personalities, Web personalities, etc etc. My two favorite "Faces for CAP" moments were Liam Hemsworth for Zach Hayes and Colton Haynes for John Hobart. Both are so, so hot, and I knew I nailed it with Mark on those. Especially the Zach Hayes pick. Liam Hemsworth really does look like he could be a Hayes, especially with that flat nose and baby blues. (I think he'd be cushier like his oldest brother Luke if Hollywood standards didn't demand a perfect six-pack for leading men.)

I think the thing about JJ is that Will's rebellion of summer and fall 2000 really did take up so much attention and concern of the family that no one really noticed the son who wasn't visibily causing waves. They assumed because JJ was part of a tightly-controlled environment like figure skating he'd be fine, and it wasn't until Will settled down and Brad found out that JJ was flunking out of school that they started really noticing that things were not okay with him. I thought that was incredibly true to family dynamics- the loud and in-your-face sibling gets the notice, while the one who generally obeys the rules doesn't. Jeanine in many ways reminded me of the classic stage mother- because Jeanine never really did anything for herself, her identity became consumed into being the Star's Mother, and if she had any suspicions about JJ's coach, she probably buried them subconciously because Jeanine convinced herself that this guy was going to get JJ to Torino in 2006, just like JJ convinced himself that the coach really did have his best interest at heart. I'm not sure I think JJ sees himself as a total outsider to the family- I don't think it's Cal in East of Eden. I think he's simply more of a typical teenager in that he's way more interested in his friends and activities than he is with his family. But it has been set up that Darius and Will were always the favored ones by JP, Stefan, Brad, and Robbie, and JJ was the afterthought. (Except for with Jeanine, and later on Tiffany and Matt.) It would then make sense for JJ to seek out a surrogate family where he's the center star, i.e. figure skating.

I like what we're learning about John. He could an interesting future protagonist, especially if we're going with his sexuality being "straightish" instead of just straight. (Plus, he looks like Colton Haynes. Man, that guy is hot.) I really do love how JJ was dragged kicking and screaming into the family function. Pitch-perfect for a 15-year old who is more interested in his surrogate figure skating family than he is with the actual one.

I think JJ looked to his brothers and saw that they were so caught up in family loyalty, so he didn't really have to be. The thing is, JJ's essentially's Jeanine's child, while Will was Brad's. I don't think Jeanine was ever really that caught up in the grandeur of the Schluter/Crampton family tradition, whereas Brad probably did install that within Will. (Only Will is much more fervent about it.) I think he became much more loyal to the figure skating world than he did with his family, to a fault. I think JJ is probably bonded closer to his family now than he was before the molestation reveal, but I don't think family is life or death to him the way it is for Will. If JJ ever had a falling out with his family to the level that Will had when he ran away to Hawaii, he'd simply move towards making close friends in whatever city he settled in and create a new surrogate family like he did with the figure skating world. (Likely Chicago, New York City, possibly London.) Will would never be able to live without repairing his familial relationships, but JJ probably would be fine.

You know, someone's been saying for at least two years that they'd try and catch up with the story...lol.

Chapter 17 -When Will tells Brad he bought a house, and Brad blows up. "Everbody Wants to Rule the World" by Tears for Fears That song is such a great power anthem for Brad, as well as the mindset of Mark's 1980's Yuppie Generation. 1985 was such a great time for music. -When J.P. recounts the smashing success of the Bastille Day. "Pop!" by N'Sync I thought it was funny that the song asks when pop is going to fade out...and then it pretty much imploded in 2002. I think largely because after 9/11, people were not in the mood for happy pop tunes. Happy pop didn't really die out in the U.K. like it did in the U.S. -At the family, where Brad eventually blows up at Isidore, not just for Will, but for the way she played favorites with her children back in 1980. "Canon In D" (Ordinary People) I was absolutely obsessed with that movie when I was 16, 17. I was in total awe of Timothy Hutton in that movie. Conrad would be my dream role. (Alright, I'm probably too old for that now.) I never get to play vulnerable roles like that. I'm always put in cocky, smarmy roles

So the second year of Firefly came and went. It was a pretty good experience, despite how bad my feet are aching right now from all that working. I wasn't a volunteer this year, so I wound up camping with my friend Mike and his buddy Freddy. It was an entirely different feeling than last year, because the crowd was twice the size that last year had. It took a really long time to get to our campground, and we wound up parked at a spot pretty far away from the festival, which was a shock from last year, as the volunteers get camping pretty close. I had a somewhat downer of a Saturday when I thought my wallet was stolen, but it turned out to have been lost in the Home Depot where I used the bathroom, by a friend of a friend of my sister's. Only in Delaware. In terms of humor, apparently my friend Mike got lost while tripping on a hash cookie that he took in full. We also had a rather funny conversation Sunday night with an 18-year old guy who was tripping on acid, and took an incredibly round-about way time of telling us about how his life was over because his girlfriend thinks he hit on her friend. I've always found people who were tripping pretty funny. It was also a reminder of just how shitty being 18 can be- everything is soooo life and death when you're that age. It made me glad that I have some years on me now. Overall, the event was pretty awesome. I saw Wild Belle, The Avett Brothers, Calvin Harris, The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The Alabama Shakes, Edward Sharpe and the Maginficent Zeroes, MGMT, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Matt and Kim, Dispatch, Passion Pit, Vampire Weekend, and Foster the People. I'd say I enjoyed RHCP, The Alabama Shakes, Matt and Kim, and Foster the People most.