methodwriter85

This one makes me think of Matt Price's student council speech. More contemporary to my high school era as opposed to Andy's, but whatever. Good Charlotte circa 2000-2001. Man, I miss them.

Why are you so mean to me, Adam? *cries, turns, and runs away ala Laura Ingalls*

Does this remind anyone else of the end of Titanic I like that they're spending eternity with each other the way they want to be. (They both died, right?)

They had board shorts circa 1994? I always thought board shorts weren't in until later that decade. Hmm. Things you learn... Anyways, good chapter. Powerful speech by Matt. I remember the drama that surrounded student elections every year, because it was always the same popular fake-nice girl who got elected every year, and her opposition always gave a speech bitching about it. In the end, though, we were the class that had the highest fundraising total fotal, so the girl did something right. I'm kinda glad I didn't go to an affluent school, though. Where I went was strictly blue-collar and middle class, though there were some upper-class kids. I never really had to deal with kids making fun of my clothes, which probably would have happened if I had gone to school at St. Mark's or Sallies.

That so explains Matt Carrswold of Bloodlines.

Hey, don't sell yourself short, Mark. I've seen you embrace mid-life with an equanimity that frankly takes my breath away. I should hope to do the same thing when I hit middle age in about ten years. You've grown up into a fine man that any father would be proud of. As for Adam, I wouldn't be his bitch so much as I would be his whipping boy every once in awhile if he so pleased. The way that guy insults me just makes my toes curl.

Chapter 17 - When Steven comes home after his training. "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B" by the Andrews Sisters http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wiVkdVPGoY

This one, for obvious reasons, reminds me of the scene where Andy becomes a sadistic little prick to one his friends for missing a basket, and Matt rips him for it in a subtle, disarming way. The song was based on a boy who committed suicide in an affluent suburb of Dallas in 1991, while in his English class.

There should be some kids around Darius's age. It wasn't a Hayes kid you're thinking about- it's Matt's biolgical mother's son.

Anyone have songs that make them think of the story? Here's one that makes me think of the emotions that Andy's feeling in the prologue. In the chilly hours and minutes Of uncertainty I want to be In the warm hold of your loving mind. To feel you all around me And to take your hand Along the sand Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind. When sundown pales the sky I want to hide a while Behind your smile And everywhere I'd look, your eyes I'd find. For me to love you now Would be the sweetest thing, T'would make me sing Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind. Dee dee de de de de de de de de... When rain has hung the leaves with tears I want you near To kill my fears To help me to leave all my blues behind. Standing in your heart Is where I want to be And I long to be, Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind. Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind

Here's one from Adam P's first grade days in 1985...

Chapter 16 -When Steven and Nathan have sex after the party, and Steven realizes that he's falling for Nathan. "I've Heard That Song Before" by Harry James (vocals by Eileen Wilson) - When Steven reads Aaron's letter to him. "You'll Never Know" by Dick Haymes http://www.youtube.c...h?v=GpVXGKUGbbM -When Nathan tries to tell Steven that he loves him, too. "People Will Say We're In Love" from Oklahoma! *** I love that damn musical. I saw the Patrick Wilson version in '02...man, it was awesome.

You can tell him that the young man grows up to become a happy, well-adjusted professor/family man in the mid-West, settling into middle age quite comfortably.

Many of you guys are aware of Adam Phillips, a new author here at Gay Authors. Last night, he posted at another group this touching tribute to Mark. I really thought I'd like to share what Adam wrote with all of you. *** This will be long. f**king deal with it or move on. I've been interacting with people through Yahoo groups for 7 years now. I'd been hanging out at various places on the Net a couple of years before that, places where I ran into Ed and a couple of others, but it was 2003 when I began writing Crosscurrents and talking to some of you people. Ridiculous. Seven and a half years it will have taken for me to finish this damn thing. That's absurd, but it is what it is. I've walked some road during that time. Mark. What to say about Mark. Where to start? I have something specific to say, but I can't say it without saying some other shit too. Mark has had my back and been my bud from all the way back to 2003. He is a f****n Man. We clicked early and often. He's definitely First Tier in my book of Internet Companions. Over the years I've disappeared occasionally and he's disappeared occasionally, and as the Dylan song says--sort of--I've seen a lot of women but he never 'scaped my mind. So back already over a year ago Mark asked me to look at his first 3 chapters of Chronicles of an Academic Predator. He knew I'd tell him what I thought even if he didn't like what I thought. I actually liked the three okay. I wrote him back in some detail, trying to be helpful and encouraging. And, man, did he go to town. Boy got the writing bug. I liked his stuff okay. Wasn't my favorite stuff, but I liked it okay. I had my demurrers here and there that kept me from engaging with his stuff 100%. Mostly topic and technique stuff. And I wasn't always crazy about the narrative pacing and the motivations driving characterization. But it was Arbour, man, and I wanted to be loyal and supportive. He's always been that with me. See, problem was, I'd read On the Mark. And it was clear that that was much more from his heart. I wanted that intensity and passion in Cramptonworld and wasn't particularly getting it always. Seemed like he was playing God with his little universe and deciding what he oughta do with them next rather than loving his characters and loving his stories and telling tales of the heart, as the aborted On the Mark clearly was. Then a bad thing happened. Second novel out, he killed off a character I'd come to love, and it seemed to me utterly gratuitous. At the time, anyway. I'm not sure I'd put it like that any more. It told me a couple of things, though. One thing it told me was that his character portraits were starting to work. Other thing it told me was that I wasn't necessarily safe in his hands as a reader. I'm not sure if I can explain that. I don't mind authors taking me into tragedy. But they have to kind of f****ing ready me for it, and there has to be a sort of redemptive purpose to it. That may be old-fashioned of me, but I can't deny it's a factor in my assessment of an author. Well, in 1968 I wasn't ready for it, and there seemed to be no redemptive purpose to it. So I was leery as I continued on to his next story. The Land Whore never really grabbed me hard. I'm not a big fan of the Stefan character and he was narrating. But beyond that, the narrative just never engaged me. Didn't take long, though, for him to snag me again. I loved Brad and Robbie, the Main Guys in Be Rad and Man In Motion. I thought, for the most part, that they were believable, loveable characters, and they behaved in ways that worked for me. The narrative, too, was once again interesting. I was participating in Mark's little group that responds to early drafts of his chapters. And as I was reading along in Man and Motion, out of the clear blue sky, he does it again. F****in takes a character that he's portrayed effectively and sympathetically, and sent him down the tubes. Gratuitously. Again. That was it. I couldn't do it any longer. Subject myself to an author who has the skill to get you to fall in love with a character, only to watch him discard that character like used cat litter. I wrote him a scathing email--as scathing as I can get with Mark--and left his drafts group. I just couldn't subject myself to repeated salvos of having the author waste these beautiful lives he's drawn just for sh*ts and giggles. I don't know, maybe it was just to shut me up or to prove to me that he wasn't a one-trick pony, but he decided not to take that direction after all. I read through his revision with some gratification and a little embarrassment that I'd popped off at him like that, but I was pretty rattled, and my own life was pretty busy, so I never really got back on board with reading his stuff, and he just kept churning out the chapters. But eventually I couldn't take it any more. I felt disloyal as f**k. This is Arbour, goddammit. So I took a deep breath and started over from the very beginning of the Crampton saga, just so I could get a feel for everybody once again. I died once again in 1968, but made it through without too much bitterness. I rejoiced when the rat bastard who'd come to kill Jeff died a horrible, miserable, and in-my-opinion much-deserved death of AIDS (Sharon, I'm sure, is snarling at this point LOL). And I noticed that slowly but surely, Mark was finding a pretty f****in solid voice. I read through the next couple with enjoyment, and finally got to Bloodlines. And I have to say, that opening paragraph of that first chapter...well, sh*t, that's some of the finest writing I've seen anywhere, and as great an opening paragraph as I've read in anything published. I was especially taken by the first sentence. There's an art to writing first sentences, and Arbour f****in blew the doors off the hinges. There was some incredibly artful writing on and off in Bloodlines, which surprised me because Mark had never seemed particularly interested in making sh*t Sing, as I sometimes put it. For him, watching the characters do stuff is the thing; that and the really really nice job he does of weaving historical context and background in a vivid and convincing manner. But this was another whole level of good. And not only that, he had a batch of new characters who were utterly engaging. F*ck if I didn't fall for ol' Matt Carrswold. Almost guarantees that he's going to kill him, I thought to myself; but actually, no. (Jeremy's comment: I think Mark was scared that he'd start a riot if he killed off another one of the Hayes family.) Bloodlines was a pleasure and he got the Big Accolades for it at Gay Authors. Deservedly so. But I gotta tell you...his latest one, The Box, has me grabbed by the 'nads. It's his finest piece in the Cramptonworld series, in my opinion. It's a prequel, in a way, and tells the story of an earlier generation of Schluter and Hayes boys. It's set around World War II, and in my humble opinion, Mark's grabbed himself a piece of the One Story here. I'm partial, of course: It's a coming-of-age tale about two best friends who fall in love. In an era that's much harder on That Kind of Love than anything Andy and Matt ever had to face. Aaron's angst in the earlier part of the story is of a Piece with Andy's angst from my story. And, while Bob's news article (and a post at my other group) suggest that sooner than we realize, people are not gonna get what that's all about, I'm still very much appreciative of an author who explores that internal conflict. And Mark does that here credibly, sensitively, and with love. He lifts Aaron up for the reader's consideration in a way that's utterly heartbreaking, and at least for this reader, it was impossible not to fall for him. And for his best friend. Let me repeat: I don't know if it's possible, unless you're Jeremy with his philistine, boorish tastes, not to fall in love with Aaron Hayes. (Jeremy's comment: I'm just not that engaged by Aaron, and don't find him all that interesting. I'm in this story for Steven, and could go either way with Aaron. Sorry.) The reader knows that both the main characters are doomed. (Don't we?) It's war, and from the rest of the Cramptonworld saga, we know that Steven Schluter died in the war. (Almost certainly, anyway) But that's okay. Steven's love for Aaron and Aaron's for Steven lights up the pages. F*ckin sets fire to them, even. The passion and the depth of emotion is almost palpable, and the guys are skillfully, skillfully portrayed; they and their story are told with subtlety, nuance, restraint, and dignity...yet somehow, for all that, with an explosive power. And finally, finally, it seems to me--though I saw suggestions of it in Bloodlines--Mark displays some evidence of loving his characters. Finally. I'm not completely sure where this story is going; he's not finished with it. But I have to tell you, this is damn good storytelling, in my opinion. I don't know if a reader can start in on The Box without having read the previous Cramptonworld novels and still experience the same power that I have...but I think maybe he/she can. The story of Aaron and Steven is told by giving us glimpses of Steven's journal entries. From time to time Mark breaks into the present and focuses us on the people reading the journal, and if you start with The Box you won't know who those characters are or what they've been about...but I actually think that's okay. The real storyline is in the journal, and that's where the real magic is. Beyond that, Mark's technical control has grown by leaps and bounds, and its visible here. And while he'll never be an author whose pages radiate elegance and verbal power--that's not his style--there are plenty of nice, nice passages that, not even considering the storyline, read soooo pretty, so aesthetically fine, without being self-conscious (such self-consciousness is hardly ever a good thing IMHO). Mark...a superb effort, man. I'd have said this to you in private but I want other people to get curious and check it out. I'm enjoying this immensely. At least for the duration of this fine story, You are indeed Da Man. Thanks, buddy. Adam *** Adam, that was a pleasure to read, even with the personal dig at me. I really am glad that you found something worthwhile in Mark's writing...lord knows how hard the guy works. When Mark started writing his little story about a slutty professor two years ago, I had no clue what he'd managed to build up in the world of e-stories. It's bit breathtaking to think about what he's accomplished in such a short time.

Mark is doing some editing to CAP- he posted five revised chapters, but so far he hasn't touched Be Rad.

Yeah, right back at ya. Anyways, it has been interesting learning about why the Hayes family fell apart, and that they weren't always such a toxic, dysfunctional family.

*shrugs* You were the one who called it an Interlude. I was running with it. I do think it's been a good thing for you to brush people up on the history of the CAP saga, before we enter the first decade of the 21st century in CapWorld.

Well, the Box is supposed to be an interlude, which means it's not supposed to be a very long story. I doubt it's going to get beyond maybe 25 chapters. Probably less. We've gotten through most of that diary, I believe.

That's the thing though. Finn doesn't know that Kurt isn't going to try in touch him in a sexual way. Kurt has done nothing but prove time and time again that he won't let up on this crush, and Finn has every right to feel uncomfortable with being naked around someone who he knows likes him in *that* way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2iS8XctJKo&feature=related I always liked this one.

A lot of us are interracial, or have been in interracial relationships, so that makes sense.

I got an A in Public History, an A in Theatre 104, an A- in, and a C in Italian. That means I got a 3.3 for the final semester of college, which brought up my GPA from a 2.64 to a 2.75. Alright!

Yeah, there is. I think slowing down the storyline works- you still have a whole decade to play around with.I mean, as Tiger noted, we ARE running out of years, but there's still some good ground to cover. And I trust that, maybe four or so stories away from this one, you're going to bring the CAP saga to a satisfying conclusion. Anyways, Mark really likes to include pop culture and world events into his stories. Since we're hitting the year 2000, what do y'all think Mark will cover? Or what would you like to see covered? I'm guessing... -The tech meltdown. -The break-up of Microsoft, and the rise of the IMac. -The Y2K scare. (That turned out be a few minor glitches on some posting boards, but eh.) -The phenomenon, which kicks off the explosion in reality TV for the 2000's. I will never forget that "Snakes and Rats" speech. Has it really been 10 years? -The 2000 presidential election. JP will go absolutely livid over George Bush getting "elected". -The Summer Olympics in Australia. I can already picture Stefan and JP inviting some young Olympic stud into their limo. LOL. -The implementation of Civil Unions in Vermont. 2000 had some interesting things go on, but in retrospect it feels like the calm before the storm that was 2001.

I guess that makes sense, PrivateTim. Cyn, I agree with you that it's REALLY hard to believe that only one person has called Cross-Currents 'angsty'. It'd be like only one person called Fraternity Memoirs by John Walsh 'sexy'. Here's my second angsty tune. What's wrong with the world, mama People livin' like they ain't got no mamas I think the whole world addicted to the drama Only attracted to things that'll bring you trauma Overseas, yeah, we try to stop terrorism But we still got terrorists here livin' In the USA, the big CIA The Bloods and The Crips and the KKK But if you only have love for your own race Then you only leave space to discriminate And to discriminate only generates hate And when you hate then you're bound to get irate, yeah Madness is what you demonstrate And that's exactly how anger works and operates Man, you gotta have love just to set it straight Take control of your mind and meditate Let your soul gravitate to the love, y'all, y'all People killin', people dyin' Children hurt and you hear them cryin' Can you practice what you preach And would you turn the other cheek Father, Father, Father help us Send us some guidance from above 'Cause people got me, got me questionin' Where is the love (Love) Where is the love (The love) Where is the love (The love) Where is the love The love, the love It just ain't the same, always unchanged New days are strange, is the world insane If love and peace is so strong Why are there pieces of love that don't belong Nations droppin' bombs Chemical gasses fillin' lungs of little ones With ongoin' sufferin' as the youth die young So ask yourself is the lovin' really gone So I could ask myself really what is goin' wrong In this world that we livin' in people keep on givin' in Makin' wrong decisions, only visions of them dividends Not respectin' each other, deny thy brother A war is goin' on but the reason's undercover The truth is kept secret, it's swept under the rug If you never know truth then you never know love Where's the love, y'all, come on (I don't know) Where's the truth, y'all, come on (I don't know) Where's the love, y'all People killin', people dyin' Children hurt and you hear them cryin' Can you practice what you preach And would you turn the other cheek Father, Father, Father help us Send us some guidance from above 'Cause people got me, got me questionin' Where is the love (Love) Where is the love (The love) Where is the love (The love) Where is the love The love, the love I feel the weight of the world on my shoulder As I'm gettin' older, y'all, people gets colder Most of us only care about money makin' Selfishness got us followin' our wrong direction Wrong information always shown by the media Negative images is the main criteria Infecting the young minds faster than bacteria Kids wanna act like what they see in the cinema Yo', whatever happened to the values of humanity Whatever happened to the fairness in equality Instead in spreading love we spreading animosity Lack of understanding, leading lives away from unity That's the reason why sometimes I'm feelin' under That's the reason why sometimes I'm feelin' down There's no wonder why sometimes I'm feelin' under Gotta keep my faith alive till love is found People killin', people dyin' Children hurt and you hear them cryin' Can you practice what you preach And would you turn the other cheek Father, Father, Father help us Send us some guidance from above 'Cause people got me, got me questionin' Where is the love (Love) Where is the love (The love) Where is the love (The love) Where is the love (The love) Where is the love (The love) Where is the love (The love) Where is the love (The love) **** I had a moment, about fifteen months ago, where some friend made me really, really, really horrible. I had to sit around and listen to this song for quite awhile while I tried to feel better. We eventually made up six weeks later, but god I felt like crap for awhile.

100 years is an angst song? I always a thought of that as a cheerful song that celebrates the great moments that make up a person's life. Anyways, here's a major angst tune for me. I'm always going to associate this song with the summer of 2006, which was a major angst time for me. "Where'd You Go?" Where'd you go? I miss you so, Seems like it's been forever, That you've been gone. She said "Some days I feel like sh*t, Some days I wanna quit, and just be normal for a bit," I don't understand why you have to always be gone, I get along but the trips always feel so long, And, I find myself trying to stay by the phone, 'Cause your voice always helps me to not feel so alone, But I feel like an idiot, workin' my day around the call, But when I pick up I don't have much to say, So, I want you to know it's a little f*cked up, That I'm stuck here waitin', at times debatin', Tellin' you that I've had it with you and your career, Me and the rest of the family here singing "Where'd you go?" I miss you so, Seems like it's been forever, That you've been gone. Where'd you go? I miss you so, Seems like it's been forever, That you've been gone, Please come back home... You know the place where you used to live, Used to barbecue up burgers and ribs, Used to have a little party every Halloween with candy by the pile, But now, you only stop by every once and a while, Sh*t, I find myself just fillin' my time, With anything to keep the thought of you from my mind, I'm doin' fine, I plan to keep it that way, You can call me if you find that you have something to say, And I'll tell you, I want you to know it's a little f*cked up, That I'm stuck here waitin', at times debatin', Tellin' you that I've had it with you and your career, Me and the rest of the family here singing "Where'd you go?" I miss you so, Seems like it's been forever, That you've been gone. Where'd you go? I miss you so, Seems like it's been forever, That you've been gone, Please come back home... I want you to know it's a little f*cked up, That I'm stuck here waitin', no longer debatin', Tired of sittin' and hatin' and makin' these excuses, For why you're not around, and feeling so useless, It seems one thing has been true all along, You don't really know what you've got 'til it's gone, I guess I've had it with you and your career, When you come back I won't be here and you can sing it... Where'd you go? I miss you so, Seems like it's been forever, That you've been gone. Where'd you go? I miss you so, Seems like it's been forever, That you've been gone, Please come back home... Please come back home... Please come back home... Please come back home... Please come back home... *** God, this song never fails to rip at me.