JamesSavik

I never though I would read that. In fact, I think I need to wash my eyes.

I like Aussies and Kiwis myself. Canadians with their hockey and flapping heads... Tell us what it was all "aboot" again?

I hate seeing this topic. I really do. I don't know whether to lie and tell a rosy truth or simply tell you a shitty truth. All is not wine & roses and coming out can be debacle. It is not something to be taken lightly or on a whim. I don't lie well. It's part of the culture that I both embrace and am hopelessly trapped by. So I might as well tell the truth and let you sort it out for yourself. If I had to pick a bad place and time to be gay, I doubt that I could have done much worse than choosing Mississippi, the 1970s, and choosing a very religious, very military and very Old South family. Immediately when I say the word Mississippi, people get the images of klansmen and inbred trailer trash. They are there- just not in the quantities that you might think. That's not who we are. Our family came from a South-Central part of the state: Smith and Jones counties. Cattle country, horse people. We are an odd mix of English and Swedes who bought a compass from a street vendor in New York and thought they were going to Minnesota. The military is a strong tradition in the family that goes as far back as Agincourt. We were never Generals or Lords. We were always trusted Lieutenants and Captains. We are BIG men. We grow large early and excel at sports. We are a quick witted lot and can beat you at chess or simply... beat you. It is difficult to describe our culture. Being immersed in it, it is as natural for me as breathing air or swimming in water. For someone who has no idea what Southern culture is like, describing it is like trying to nail jelly to a tree. At the core of Southern culture is tradition. Knowing your family, knowing your history and knowing what is expected of you. A young Southerner knows these things. The second tenet of our culture is honor. Your word must have meaning or you and it are worthless. To lie is a hateful thing and can be remembered and held against you for decades. Next duty is central to our culture. Duty to family, duty to community and duty to God. Finally, faith is part of who we are. It is a force that unites us and gives us continuity across the generations. Southern culture is horribly misunderstood by people who don't know or care about the truth. There it is. For better or worse and it could be a great deal worse. If you know someone who has grown up in this culture and tradition, that's the kind of friend who would take a bullet for you. It's someone that you could trust with your life. As conflicted as I am by it sometimes, it is a matter of great pride. As a boy I did all of the expected things. I was expected to follow in my fathers footsteps. I would be a military officer and that's something you prepared for from boyhood. I played sports, hunted, fished and lived in the outdoors and when the time came- I became a Boy Scout. This would prove to be my undoing. To make a long story short, I was outed by an overzealous scoutmater who went on an anti-homosexual witch hunt with 12 and 13 year olds. He made a point to tell all of our parents why we were no longer welcome in scouting and he told the other parents so they could make sure their kids didn't catch faggotry. This happened to me on the very day of my 13th birthday. It was a disaster for me personally and it pretty much caused wounds that my family never really healed. I laugh at what some people call abuse today. It's a joke. Some of the shit I lived through was the stuff of nightmares. I was in a f**king war. Worse, I was in a war with people I loved. I can't say that all of my friends turned their backs on me- they just turned on me like a pack of wild dogs. There was a time I was fighting so often and regular that I never completely healed from one fight to the next. Thankfully- I fought enough to get good at it and became more than a match for most kids my age. When I knew that I couldn't win, I made the bastards pay for it. I made them hurt. I continued to do the things I loved like playing football. In fact, I was the first ever openly gay kid to play and letter at my high school. I fought my way through high school and picked up a nasty little drug habit. When I turned 20 I cleaned up and got my college degree. I thought that I was past it all. In the eighties, people started dying. That was another little horror show I got a front row seat for. You never knew who was going to be next. It went on for years and I have to admit that it got to me. I got to the point to where I couldn't stand to read the newspaper. Finally it hit someone that I very close to and I snapped. I started drinking and smoking pot again just so I could pass out and not have to feel it anymore. Something else was wrong. All the violence that I had been exposed to had taken its toll. I knew that it wasn't wise for anyone to sleep in the same bad as me because I was violent in my sleep. I didn't understand what was happening to me. I thought I was cracking up. It took a shrink and a couple of years therapy to get it sorted out. I had post traumatic stress disorder and was only sleeping when I passed out. I was very screwed up. That was 7 years ago. I have since cleaned up and starting rebuilding my life. ________________________________________________ So- in all of those words, what did I want to say about coming out? It's not a joke. It's not a lark. It's something that you have to think over carefully. If you live in certain types of families or cultures, it can actually be dangerous for you. I offer two pieces of advice: be ready. My "coming out" wasn't voluntary. I didn't get to pick and chose when I came out and I wasn't ready for the consequences. Wait until you are 18: if all else fails, you can walk away if you have to. Before you turn 18, your parents can, and many do, things that are badly wrong out of ignorance and fear. If you are not sure what they will do, err on the side of caution. It can save you a lot of grief in the long run.

loyalty trust integrity creativity constancy strength determination courage passion curiosity honor

Dangerous question as these points are turning points. Zigging where you once zagged? Answer the phone or don't? Take the red pill or the green pill? Changing directions at one of these points could change your whole life and make you a different person. It also makes a mess of the quantum structure of the universe when you change history. Time Travel: Just Say No. The temporal reality that you save might just be your own.

Bad Touch, BAD TOUCH!

You are so much more than just a pretty face Chase.

No. Tom looks like Clay in the Place In Between- my newest story for the anthology! Come to think of it, he could be Tom in Twilight- which I will rename Childhood's End for publication.

Welcome to GA. I like you already.

I'm entirely too evil to be anybody's Mr. Right. I'm more a Mr. Right Now kind of guy. Sure. It's a dirty job but somebody has to do it.

I watched for a while and decided that I've done enough acid for one lifetime.

I've got my eye on a little planet in NGC 1300

Respectfully- you couldn't be more wrong. There's some first class writing talent here. Good enough for publication. Beyond that, there's a community here that is special and unique. It has people from all ages and around the world. Americans, and Aussies, and Canadians, OH MY! Germans, and Chinese and Czech, oh my! Every point on the political spectrum is covered from arch-conservative to revolutionary communist. It's a damned interesting place to be. It's not the layouts or the fonts or code that make GA so special: it's the people. People you get to meet and learn about- their lives, their stories and who they are. That can enrich you life in amazing ways. All of the people here add something to the community. Here's just a few I've been privileged to get to know- past and present. *HJ*,.::Jσey::.,abbillion, acassimaty, Adrian Michaels, Aeroplane, AFriendlyFace, Arpeggio, azula, B1ue, Bao, Bardeara, BeaStKid, Benji, BoyNeedsTherapy, Bugeye, Bumblebee, C James, C.L.L, cabbagepatchwife, Caipirinha, Camy, Chaz, Christian000, Clovis, colinian, ComeWhatMay, Comicality, Coming Undone, corvus, Curti, Cyberia_Desire, Cyhort, Darion, davek48, David McLeod, Demetz, Dezlboi, Dio, DomLuka, Drewbie, Elemental, Eros, Foolplaya, Gaytron87, Gay_In_Flanders, Graeme, Greedya, Hylas, Irony, ixyam, jalaki, James Albert, Jamie de Valen, JamieD, Jeebus, JensenC, Johnathan Colourfield, Jovian_w2002, JSmith, JTRandall, Juss, JustynC, Kavrik, Kitten, KiwiShadow, LittleBuddhaTW, Luc, lurker, maddy, Mari, Mark Arbor, Mark M Matthew, Meeko, Menorain, Menzoberranzen, meowsan, miguelsanchez55, MikeL, Mirage, MMandM, moonwolf, Morganx, Myk, Myr, myself_i_must_remake, Myval, Naiilo, Narcidius, NateB, Nephylim, Nerotorb, NickolasJames8, nicks_a_writer, nono, Objectivist, OperaGhostV, Pablo, Pai-kun, phrere, PrivateTim, Razor, rekop1, ricky, Rigel, Riley Jericho, Rush, S t e v e n, Sagar, Sendraguy, shadows, sidLove, Simon, Skiller1294, slaveboy, sumbloke, TalonRider, tator_tot2010, Team Emmett, TetRefine, thatboyChase, The Reaper, TheEggman61, TheFountainhead, TheUnwanted, TheZot, Thirdeye, Tiger, VickyS, vlista20, W.L., WatchPatRun, wildone, x Trevor x, xander, Xiao_Chun, Yang Bang, Young Sage It is this amazing community that lets a redneck from Mississippi get to know people from the UK, Canada, Mexico, Australia, India, China, Brazil, Uraguay, New Zealand, Germany, the Czech Republic, Israel, the Ukraine, Belarus, Slovenia and goodness knows how many places. And it teaches that they are all special, all unique, all worthy of knowing and even caring about. No. GA is under construction. Be patient. Maybe come back later when the paint is dry. There is something very special here that is well worth getting to know and to be a part of.

When you take a dump on something holy, when you ruin something sacred, when you make a joke of a song so beloved- that's heresy. Look- I never heard of Fergie before the half time superbowl show. I hope I never hear of that skank ever again. What she did to GNR's masterpiece Sweet Child of Mine was a crime against art. No body seems to give a f**k about offending our culture. They call us trailer trash. They make fun of our mullets. f**k'em. I got no use for their half assed bullshit. They live in their $10 a cup of bullshit double latte world, I live in mine. When you do some thing that f**king wrong, a big angry redneck such as myself should drag you out and beat the living shit out of you. Do you know how many broken hearts that song has cured? Do you know how many times someone wrapped the beauty of that song around them to keep out the ugliness of the world? Or- the times that song gave someone insight into their feelings? It's more than just a song. It's a treasure. If you cover it, do a damn good job of it. It's a hymn. It is sacred. It means more to people than you know. GNR's Sweet Child of Mine done right.

I find it interesting if you know.

< Who are you? < What do you want?

If looks didn't matter, would Fergie have ever made it into the stupor-bowl halftime show to butcher sweet child of mine?

the farce is strong with this one

Don't care for Burlesque, Cher, Barbera Streisand, drag shows, musicals or least of all, Glee. Somewhere in all of those are buried stereotypes that I have been beaten over the head with for years.

Fill out one of these and flush it.

We're getting hit tonight with ice. Not cool. When bad weather happens, rednecks go outside to see it. This is bad during tornadoes.

Two definitions from the Urban Dictionary: Please note that both of these definitions are rated very low. Australian 1. sexual position similar to cowgirl where the person on top has their feet on the ground/bed/etc. and use that as leverage for bouncing up and down like a kangaroo. i want you to blow me, then ride me australian, then reverse australian, then jerk me off until i cum. 2. a sex act where a person is licked from the back of the neck to the tailbone in one long lick. Guy 1: I heard you making your girlfriend moan loudly last night while i was in the living room, what did you do to her? guy 2: I gave her an australian as a birthday gift last night ___________________________ note the spelling comes from the Urban Dictionary

<anti-global warming flame retracted since that shit doesn't belong here>

Can't stand either the Green Bay Smegma-heads or the Pittsburgh Rapists. Can they both lose? *Barfs*