July 18, 2010: Our second-oldest founding crew member is 24 today.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ERIC! We love you, big dawg!
Eric's birthday always reminds us that summer vacation is ripping by too
fast. We hope you're all having a great summer and a safe one. If you
find time for reading, check out the sites linked from our Stories page
for lots of new additions.
A reminder: you can catch SIRIUS OutQ's hourly GLBT news updates
online without subscribing to SIRIUS satellite radio. OutQ News on
Channel 109 is linked from the purple box on the righthand side of this
page. Just click on the little speaker icon.
July 4, 2010: We wish everyone in the U.S. a safe and happy
Independence Day weekend, as we observe our nation's 234th birthday.
Today we also celebrate the 69th birthday of Trey's grandfather, who is
like an extra grandpa for all of us. We love you, Pops!
June 28, 2010: We've just had a party weekend, because the oldest
member of our crew is 24 today. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAVID!! We had
thought that David and Susan would be married by now, but we're still
waiting for a wedding.
David and Susan are still helping the crew by addressing questions from
supportive straight people who write to us after finding out that a friend
or family member is gay.
June 20, 2010: HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to our dads and to
fathers everywhere. As always, we also say "Happy Father's Day, Pops"
to Trey's grandfather, who has been Eric's substitute dad for years.
Eric's dad was killed by a drunken driver when Eric was a toddler.
We're fortunate that those old boys are our friends and dads, not just
our biological fathers. We love you guys!
June 18, 2010: We were recently reminded of a series of books that
many GLBT people have found helpful in being true to their spirituality
while remaining true to their sexuality. We recommend to you the
bestselling Conversations with God trilogy and subsequent books
(including Conversations with God for Teens) by Neale Donald
Walsch. These works are available at your neighborhood and online
booksellers, and also at Mr. Walsch's website.
If you're not out to your parents -- or even if you are -- be aware that
it's getting easier for them to track what you do online, by using
services such as the free Norton Online Family. Check out the "Want to
see it in action?" video on that site. A service that's aimed at helping
parents track your social networking activities is SafetyWeb. That one
charges a small monthly fee for 24/7 monitoring.
We hope all of you who are on summer break from school are being safe
and staying above it.
If you find time for recreational reading, be sure to visit the sites linked
from our Stories page. ^-^
May 9, 2010: HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all of our moms and to all
moms and mums who visit our site. We're always thankful that we have
wonderful mothers who accept us and love us as we are. You're the
greatest, and we love you very much!
May 8, 2010: We congratulate all of you who are or soon will be Spring
semester graduates of your high school or college. We specifically offer
congrats to five of our crew members who were awarded their Bachelor's
degrees this afternoon -- Billy, Chris, Jon, Scot and Todd. Those guys
plan to stick around for grad school and will begin work on their Master's
degrees in the Fall term.
After a year-long drought, Friday Night Lights, one of our all-time
favorite TV dramas, is finally back on the air for its fourth season at
NBC. Unfortunately, NBC.com is no longer offering online episodes from
the first three seasons of FNL, but the new season's episodes will be
there. We like Coach Taylor's motto: "Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose."
Is there anyone who's not a Glee fan? That phenomenally popular
musical dramedy is now in its second season, with full episodes online
at www.fox.com/watch/glee. Gay character Kurt's role has been
expanded for the new season. Two Glee soundtrack CDs have reached
the TOP 10, and the first season is available on DVD. There's an app for
that. There's a fun Glee app for iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad.
There's also an app named "J and D" for Jason and deMarco, a young,
gay Christian singer/songwriter duo who have been together for eight
years now. We're All Angels, a documentary film featuring Jason and
deMarco, was produced in 2007. After showing in selected theatres, it
had a successful television run on Showtime in 2008 and is now
appearing on LogoTV. In the inner circle of contemporary Christian music
production, Jason and deMarco have been virtual outcasts because of
their sexuality, but have published six albums. They've traveled across
the country and to other countries sharing their faith, their music and
their lives. They share a special message for GLBT youth; one that
shows the reality of being Christians who have a lasting, monogamous
gay relationship. Check out this selection of delightful, heart-warming
scenes from We're All Angels.
Have a safe and happy Summer break from school!
April 19, 2010: Friday's 14th annual National Day of Silence was the
best yet! At some schools it was actually cooler to participate than not
to participate. There were some schools, though, where NDoS was far
from popular, with only one or two brave students participating. As
usual, there were some isolated instances of interference by faculty
and/or administration. Props to everyone who took part in NDoS!
HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY to Andy of our crew! We partied in his honor
over the weekend. ^-^ Andy and Wade are still our A&W duo. They'll
soon complete their third year at their university, across town from the
rest of our crew. They're a lot of fun, still as artsy-fartsy as ever.
April 11, 2010: HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Scot, who was one of the early
members of our crew. He's 22 today, and has been enjoying a wild
weekend. Scot and his partner Todd are still our techies.
Just a reminder -- the sites linked from our Stories page are frequently
updated with new material. Sequoyah, one our favorite authors, now
has 61 chapters of Saga of the Elizabethton Tarheels at Sequoyah's
Place. Check it out!
April 8, 2010: The 14th annual National Day of Silence will be Friday,
April 16. The National Day of Silence brings attention to anti-GLBT
name-calling, bullying and harassment in schools. The first Day of
Silence, at the University of Virginia in 1996, drew about 150
participants. The 2009 event saw hundreds of thousands of students at
more than 8,000 middle schools, high schools, colleges and universities
participating in the largest single student-led action aimed at creating
safer schools. If you haven't done so already, please visit this site for
information and ideas, and to get involved. Participation in the National
Day of Silence is very rewarding. Enjoy it!
April 4, 2010: HAPPY EASTER to all who celebrate this wonderful
occasion. This morning, all members of our crew attended Easter
services at our churches, knowing that God does not hate us, and
believing that He loves us for accepting ourselves as He made us and
for not questioning His wisdom.
We again recommend The God Box, a novel about being a gay
Christian teen. Excerpts and reviews are available at the Alex Sanchez
website. Mr. Sanchez also wrote the Rainbow Boys trilogy and other
award-winning novels. His site includes GLBT youth resource links.
Have a wonderful day!
March 11, 2010: One of our Asian friends has led us to Rainbow
Harvest, a website based in Singapore. The site presents an extensive
collection of op-ed pieces (some expressing quite liberal interpretations
of certain areas of the Bible) and news items of interest to gay
Christians and to people who question the reality that GLBT folks can
be Christians. It's an intriguing site.
Birthdays!! We say Happy Birthday to Wade, who turns 21 today, and
to Todd, who will be 22 on the 14th. Wade and his partner Andy are
still across town at their artsy-fartsy university, but they visit us often.
Todd and his partner Scot are still our techies, dealing with the site's
technical issues. We'll celebrate those birthdays all next week.
Spring Break!! We're leaving town late Friday and heading to some
beaches. We wish everyone a most excellent Spring break!
February 22, 2010: HAPPY 22nd BIRTHDAY to Jon of our crew!
We had some parties during the weekend, celebrating a bit early. Jon
and his partner Chris, whose 22nd birthday was last month, were among
the founders of our crew a long time ago, way back in 2003. They are
still a joy to all of us.
So, who's ready for Spring break? We're planning a road trip for our
break next month. We're going to get away to a warm place. We're
actually tired of snow, so maybe we're growing up. ^-^
January 13, 2010: We wish Chris of our crew a very, very Happy 22nd
Birthday. He's still the most level-headed one of us and still keeping us
on track, with a bit of help from his partner Jon. We love you,
Christopher!
Codey's World has experienced a changing of the guard. After Codey
passed away in November of 2007, his partner Tim stepped into the role
of site owner/manager. Honoring Codey's intention to always have a
teen as the face of CW, Tim, on January 2 -- which would have been
Codey's 20th birthday -- turned the day-to-day operation of Codey's
World over to Azyclar. Azy is a teen who lives in New Zealand and has
served for some time as an assistant webmaster at CW. Tim has
stepped into the background, but remains as site owner and advisor.
Codey's World is seeking young authors. If you're a teen writer, please
consider submitting your work to Codey's World. Submission Guidelines
During this post-holiday return to school, if you have time for
recreational reading, remember to visit the sites linked from our Stories
page. It's all good!
January 1, 2010: HAPPY NEW YEAR!
December 25, 2009: Merry Christmas to all who share with us
the joy of this occasion, as we celebrate the reason for the season.
Peace and good will to all~
December 20, 2009: HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Billy!! Today is
BillyBoy's 22nd. He's one of the original members of our crew and one of
the founders of the e-mail group that started all of this in January of
2003 -- the original group at our own high school. Billy is now a senior
(year 4) in college, majoring in sports marketing. He's still Aaron's
partner and just as lovable as ever. It's party time!
Speaking of partying, during this busy season of fun and parties it's
important to stay above it, so that we'll be here to make 2010 our best
year yet. Right?
December 16, 2009: As always at this time of the year, we wish all of
you the very best during the holiday season. No matter which holiday or
holidays you observe and celebrate, we think you'll enjoy reading or re-
reading Drake Hunter's "A Yule Tale". This is the seventh season for
that heart-warming story of peace and goodwill that the author sent to
us in December of 2003. Merry Christmas, Drake!
Another "as always" for us is that we're asking our families to gives us
little for Christmas, but instead to donate to a local orphanage and to a
local shelter for the homeless. Please consider including charities in
your holiday giving, especially organizations that benefit youth.
At Codey's World you'll find some great holiday reading, including
Codey's own "A Ghost of Christmas Past" and "A Christmas Wish",
along with the Codey's World 2009 Fall and Winter Holidays Collection.
The Carolina Scribbler's "A Smokey Mountain Christmas" is a perennial
favorite at DeweyWriter.
A year ago we posted Chapter 5 of the "Zac and Kayden" segment of
Ryan Keith's Kayden series. Ryan has completed Chapter 6, and our
Rain is now editing it. We expect to have it posted before the new year.
We're in the middle of final exam week. It's good to get that over with
before the holidays. Good luck to all who're taking exams!
November 26, 2009: Happy Thanksgiving to our friends here in
the USA and best wishes to our friends in other countries. As we
celebrate Thanksgiving with our families, we are especially grateful for
the blessings of your kindness and your friendship. We're also thankful
for all of the men and women, including some of our friends, who are
stationed around the world in service to our country.
Peace and love from our crew,
Aaron, Andy, Billy, Chris, David, Eric, Jon, Rain, Scot, Todd, Trey, Wade
October 27, 2009: HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Rain! Our youngest full-
time crew member is 19 today. Now a college sophomore, he has
chosen a major. He wants to be an English teacher, and we think he'll
be a good one. Birthday parties will have to wait until the weekend.
What a college football season! Lots of great games every weekend.
Our Southeastern Conference is again powerful, with three of the top
ten teams -- #1, #2, and #9.
If you have time for recreational reading, you'll find something you like
linked from our Stories page. It's all good.
October 3, 2009: The youngest of the founders of our crew and of this
website becomes legal for all vices today. HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY,
AARON!! Aaron is now a first-year medical student, working toward a
career as an orthopedist in sports medicine. He has had to give up
editing for Ryan Keith and Graeme, but he makes time for his partner
Billy. They're still quite a happy couple.
On October 11, 1987 the original National AIDS Quilt was unfurled in
Washington, DC during a half-million-strong equality march and rally.
Each year since then, October 11 has been designated by the Human
Rights Campaign as National Coming Out Day. Because this year's
NCOD will be on Sunday, school-related activities and observances will
take place on Monday the 12th.
Each year at this time GLBT people who are not out are challenged by
various slogans, such as "stop living a lie and instead be true to
yourselves and others" and "live open, genuine, authentic lives." Those
concepts are very tempting, but we encourage caution.
For teens, we strongly advise that if you're not out at home, don't come
out at school just to please people who are promoting NCOD. If you
come out at school, your parents will find out. You know your home
situation and you have a good idea of what will happen. If you're sure
you're ready to come out to your family, do that before October 11, and
then get their input on your coming out at school -- on National Coming
Out Day or any other day. If you come out to your parents, please direct
them to our For Parents page.
We embrace unity and a sense of community among GLBTQI people,
and we believe that as members of our generation quietly and
peacefully find our places within that community we will help to weaken
the stereotypes that make people reluctant to come out, even to
themselves.
September 20, 2009: Summer will officially end on Tuesday, a month
and more after the fall/winter school term started for many of us in the
northern hemisphere. We're already looking forward to snow days.
The Secret to Teen Power by Paul Harrison is a recently published
follow-up to The Secret, the mega-bestselling inspirational book by
Rhonda Byrne. The Secret to Teen Power covers such topics as
friendships, relationships, schoolwork, and self-image, while explaining
how young people can bring joy and harmony to all aspects of life.
Check it out at your favorite online or neighborhood bookseller.
We've added links here and on our Links page to Brody's Notes &
Scribbles. Brody is a journalist with an attitude -- an "erase hate"
attitude. His daily updates are pertinent to GLBT issues worldwide, and
he supplies links to many news sources and to resources relevant to our
lives. Brody is currently writing a serialized novel that is hosted by
Codey's World. What about Max? is told from the viewpoint of
Meghan, in the aftermath of an attack on her gay brother.
Most of the sites linked from our Stories page have updates and
additions. Enjoy!
August 15, 2009: Today, the third of the three oldest members of our
original crew turns 23. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TREY!! We love and admire
you more than you know.
It's school! With the new year, if you're starting an e-mail group for
your school, be sure to consider the suggestions on our How It Works
and Do/Don't pages. Those were created before the advent of social
networking and video-clip sites, but are still applicable. Your group is
local, for your school only -- private and confidential. The networking
sites can be useful in a broader, global sense, but be very careful what
you make public there.
As we always say, let's make this the best school year yet!
July 18, 2009: Our second-oldest founding crew member is 23 today.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ERIC! We love you, big dawg!
Eric's birthday always reminds us that summer vacation is ripping by too
fast. We hope you're having a great summer and a safe one, staying
above it. If you find time for reading, check out the sites linked from our
Stories page for lots of new additions.
A reminder: you can catch SIRIUS OutQ's hourly GLBT news updates
online without subscribing to SIRIUS satellite radio. OutQ News is
linked from the purple box on the righthand side of this page.
July 4, 2009: We wish everyone in the U.S. a safe and happy
Independence Day holiday weekend, as we observe the 233rd birthday
of our nation.
Today we also celebrate the birthday of Trey's grandfather, who is like
an extra grandpa for all of us. That old firecracker is 68 today. We love
you, Pops!
June 28, 2009: Our oldest crew member turns 23 today at 4:23 pm, ET.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAVID! David, one of our founders, is still engaged
to Susan, and we're still waiting for a wedding. They were delaying it
until after college graduation. That happened last month, and they'll be
entering graduate school in August. It's time for a wedding!
David and Susan are still important to our crew, handling questions from
straight guys and girls who write to us after finding out that a friend or
family member is gay. We're going to make sure that David has a
memorable birthday, as usual. ^-^
June 21, 2009: HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to our fathers and to fathers
everywhere. We're always thankful that those "old guys" are our friends
and dads, not just our biological fathers. As always, we also say "Happy
Father's Day, Pops" to Trey's grandfather, who's been Eric's substitute
dad for years, and who's an extra grandpa to all of us. Eric's dad was
killed by a drunk driver when Eric was a toddler.
Happy first day of summer, everyone! You'll find great summer reading
at the sites linked from our stories page.
May 25, 2009: We hope the long Memorial Day weekend is and has
been a good one for all our friends here in the United States. Our
freedom to enjoy family gatherings, parades, picnics, swimming, water
skiing, baseball games, car races, and other activities was earned by
those whose lives and service we honor today. May we always
remember, respect, and be grateful for their sacrifices.
May 10, 2009: HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all of our moms and to
all moms who visit our site. We're always thankful to have wonderful
mothers who accepts us and love us as we are. You're the greatest, and
we love you very much!
Like many of you, we have been busy with final exams. Good luck to all!
April 19, 2009: Another one of our crew has a weekend birthday.
HAPPY 20th BIRTHDAY, Andy! Andy and Wade are still our A&W duo,
and will soon complete their second year across town from the rest of
our crew, at their "artsy-fartsy" university. They're doing quite well.
Friday's National Day of Silence was a big success, from that we've been
hearing. There were some isolated instances of interference by faculty
and/or administration, but students generally reacted positively.
Tweeting apparently replaced texting as this year's most popular
alternative to talking. Props to everyone who participated in NDoS!
April 12, 2009: HAPPY EASTER to all who celebrate this wonderful
occasion. This morning, all members of our crew will attend Easter
sunrise services at our churches, knowing that God does not hate us,
and believing that He loves us for accepting ourselves as He made us
and for not questioning His wisdom.
We again recommend The God Box, a novel about being a gay
Christian teen. Excerpts and reviews are available at the Alex Sanchez
website. Mr. Sanchez also wrote the Rainbow Boys trilogy and other
award-winning novels. His site includes GLBT youth resource links.
Have a wonderful day!
April 11, 2009: HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Scot of our crew, who turns 21
today. We love you, bro! This is Scot's first Easter weekend birthday
since his 16th, which was on Easter Sunday. Scot and his partner Todd
are still our techies.
Last night marked the end of the third season of NBC's Friday Night
Lights, one of our all-time favorite TV dramas. The critically acclaimed
series has already been renewed for two additional seasons. If you've
missed any of this great show, all three seasons' episodes are online at
this site, along with soundtrack CDs, season DVDs, and even a replica
of Matt Saracen's Dillon Panthers no. 7 football jersey. ^-^
April 9, 2009: The 13th annual National Day of Silence will be Friday,
April 17. The National Day of Silence brings attention to anti-GLBT
name-calling, bullying and harassment in schools. The first Day of
Silence, at the University of Virginia in 1996, drew about 150
participants. The 2008 event drew hundreds of thousands of students at
over 8,000 middle schools, high schools, colleges and universities. If
you haven't done so already, please visit this site for information and
ideas, and to get involved.
We know from experience that a slightly modified version of NDoS works
very well. We encourage students to participate as usual in teacher-led
classroom discussions, but otherwise to remain silent throughout the
day. By alienating fewer students and teachers, that approach leads to
more participation. No matter how you, your friends and anti-bullying
allies approach the day, participation in the National Day of Silence is
very rewarding. Enjoy it!
April 8, 2009: We've been busy since the last entry on this page.
Spring break was great, with better weather than last year. We met new
friends and enjoyed catching up with some we had met on previous trips.
Writers and webmasters have been busy, too. Check the sites linked
from our Stories page for recent additions. Sequoyah's Saga of the
Elizabethton Tarheels has grown to 48 chapters, Dewey's The Power
Within is up to Chapter 31, Graeme's award-winning The Price of
Friendship (hosted by four sites) now includes 15 chapters, Noah at
Orbital One has 21 chapters, and Don Hanratty's Beloved sports 36.
We congratulate the University of North Carolina Tarheels basketball
program for winning the NCAA national championship game Monday
night. UNC now has five championships, joining Indiana University in
third place, trailing the University of Kentucky's seven and UCLA's
eleven championships.
We know that many of you have enjoyed and learned from MTV's Pedro:
The Movie. It's now available on MTV's website, where President Bill
Clinton offers these comments regarding AIDS activist Pedro Zamora,
his mission and his message.
We were young kids when Pedro passed away in 1994, but some of us
remember seeing him in bits and pieces of The Real World: San
Francisco. The complete 20-episode 1994 San Francisco season is now
available online, here. We applaud MTV for bringing back that 15-year-
old series. Every 9 1/2 minutes, someone in the U.S. is infected with
HIV. Please, get the facts and be a part of the solution.
March 14, 2009: Today another one of our original crew members turns
21. Happy Birthday, Todd! Todd and his partner Scot deal with our
site's technical issues.
We're on the road today, heading toward our Spring break destinations
-- New Orleans first and then the beaches of Florida. Birthday boys Todd
and Wade will have a week-long party. ^-^
Early notice: On April 1, MTV will premiere Pedro: The Movie. Click
here for info and a trailer.
March 11, 2009: Today we're wishing Wade, who's still Andy's partner,
a Happy 20th Birthday, but the partying will have to wait until the
weekend and next week. Spring break is next week for both of our
universities, so we're leaving town Saturday morning.
Happy Spring Break, whenever yours happens. ^-^
February 28, 2009: Congratulations are in order! Again! Earlier this
week, GayAuthors.org announced their 2008 Members' Choice Awards.
Graeme, one of the contributors to our Authors Speak to Teens feature,
won Best Non-GA-Hosted Story of the Year for his novel The Price of
Friendship, and he won Best Anthology Story for his "Street Life"
short story. Graeme won the 2006 and 2007 Story of the Year awards,
so this makes three in a row for him. All of his novels and short stories
are hosted by AwesomeDude, Codey's World, DeweyWriter and The
Story Lover's Home.
We're very proud of our Aaron and Rain for editing Graeme's work. Aaron
edited the 2006 and 2007 award-winning novels and he and Rain are co-
editing the 2008 winner, which is a serialized work in progress. Rain
edited the award-winning "Street Life" with some input from Aaron.
Spring break has already started for some, even though it's still
February. Ours will be mid-March; many will have to wait until April.
Y'all know to stay away from Mexico this year, right? Have fun
elsewhere, and be safe and wise. ^-^
February 22, 2009: HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY to JON of our crew!
Jon and his partner Chris, who turned 21 last month, were among the
founders of our crew way back there in 2003. They're still a joy to all of
us. It's been a party weekend and it's not over yet. ^-^
We've been having fun watching YouTube sensation Bo Burnham, who
next month will be the youngest person (18) ever to appear on a
Comedy Central Special. Go Bo! Bo yo! Bo has a CD/DVD combo pack
coming out next month, and a couple of movies later in the year.
February 20, 2009: Someone recently reminded us of the stories by
John Tucker, aka JET, that are hosted at CRVboy. The writer passed
away while on a vacation cruise a couple of years ago, but his stories
are still popular.
At alien son, Chapter 10 of Black Dog is up, completing the excellent
novel that explores the life of Australian teen Michael as he recovers
from a major traumatic event. The novel is posted chapter-by-chapter
and also as a complete novel in .pdf format.
Don Hanratty, the award-winning author of Working It Out, has
resumed work on his great second novel, Beloved, and now has 34
chapters on his site.
Harrod200's novel Noah has grown to 18 chapters at Orbital One.
Check it out if you like scifi.
February 15, 2009: We've been without power again. This time due to
strong winds on the 12th bringing down trees and power lines that
survived the ice storm in weakened condition. We hope everyone had a
great Valentine's Day!
February 5, 2009: We were without power for several days because of
the major ice storm that hit numerous states. We're up and running
now, though, and finally can recharge all of the electronic gadgets that
we can't live without.
Today is the final day of existence of that malicious gossip site, Juicy
Campus. Good riddance!
January 25, 2009: The sixth annual No Name-Calling Week is Jan. 26
thru 30. The project, inspired by James Howe's novel The Misfits, is a
joint effort of GLSEN and Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, along
with more than 40 national partner organizations. Again this year,
additional funding has been provided by a generous grant from Cisco
Systems. We appreciate the efforts of all of you who are involved with
the project at your middle school or high school. You're taking a stand
against bullying in your scholastic environment. You rock!
January 24, 2009: Tonight we gathered all of our crew and some
friends to watch a Lifetime Red Carpet Premiere. Tonight’s movie was
one that we had been asked to mention here in News/Updates, but due
to the subject matter we wanted to see it before we recommended it. It
will be encored tomorrow night, Jan. 25, at 8 pm ET/PT and again on
Jan. 27 at 9 pm ET/PT on the Lifetime network.
We very enthusiastically recommend Prayers for Bobby, and we wish
that every person on Earth, especially GLBT young people and their
parents, could watch it. The film, rated 9 of 10 stars on The Internet
Movie Database, is based on the 1995 Leroy Aarons nonfiction book of
the same name. If you feel uncomfortable during the course of the
movie, please stick with it. The ending is very positive and powerful.
We are grateful to Bobby’s mother for pursuing her quest for
enlightenment, which led to her continuing work with PFLAG.
January 13, 2009: We wish Chris of our crew a very, very HAPPY 21st
BIRTHDAY. His level-headedness is still keeping us on track, and he's
still Jon's partner. We love you, Christopher!
As predicted, the Florida Gators won that national championship. The
Southeastern Conference still rules college football!
January 7, 2009: We hope holiday vacations have been great for
everyone. We'll start a new semester on the 12th, so we still have a
few days of frivolity and buffoonery.
We've seen a great bunch of college football bowl games, 33 so far. The
34th and last one of this season is tomorrow night's BCS Championship
game, and we predict that Florida (led by 2007 Heisman Trophy winner
Tim Tebow at quarterback) will beat Oklahoma (led by 2008 Heisman
Trophy winner Sam Bradford at quarterback) for the national title.
We were favorably impressed by tonight's first episode of The Real
World: Brooklyn, the 21st season of that series. The eight housemates
-- one more than usual -- are an interesting bunch, and they made it
through the whole first episode without screaming and yelling at one
another. The group of 20- to 24-year-olds includes a personal
trainer/model/actor who won a Best Abs on the East Coast contest, an
Iraq war veteran, a gay guy (who trains dolphins and whales) whose
early life was so bad that he left home at age 13, a virgin metrosexual
Mormon, an aspiring professional hip-hop dancer, a post-op
transgendered girl, an ex-lesbian (???), and one humongous set of
boobs. There's a bromance developing between the metrosexual and the
war veteran. Check out realworld.mtv.com, where each full episode
will be available soon after its original telecast.
Don't forget to drop in on the sites linked from our Stories page. ^-^
January 1, 2009 HAPPY NEW YEAR!
December 25, 2008: Merry Christmas to all who share with us the
joy of this occasion, as we celebrate the reason for the season. Peace and
good will to all!
December 20, 2008: HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Billy!! Today is
BillyBoy's 21st, so he's now fully legal for all sorts of mischief that he's
already been up to. Billy is one of the original members of our crew and
one of the founders of the e-mail group that started all of this in
January of 2003 - the original group at our own high school. Billy is now
a junior (year 3) in college, majoring in sports marketing. He's still
Aaron's other (better?) half, and still as lovable as ever. It's party time!
Speaking of partying, during this busy season of fun and parties it's
important to stay above it, so we'll be here and be able to make 2009
our best year yet. Right?
Peace and joy!
December 19, 2008: Final exam week is over! We finished today, and
all of us did very well. We hope.
If you receive an e-mail from writeraaron (at) themailcrew (dot) com,
delete it without opening it. It's not from our Aaron, but from a
spammer who has sent thousands of e-mails using that address.
We often recommend the essay written by Grasshopper for our Authors
Speak to Teens feature. It's definitely a "feel good" piece. If you
haven't already, check it out. It's called "My Name is Grasshopper and
I'm Left-Handed". All of the contributions to that feature are good.
A month ago, we posted Chapter 5 of the "Zac and Kayden" segment
of Ryan Keith's Kayden series, but failed to mention it here in
News/Updates. We did post a notice in Ryan's One Life and More
Yahoo! group, though, so the word has spread. It's another good
chapter in the continuing saga of Kayden, Zac and their friends.
More story news: alien son has added Chapter 9 of Black Dog to his
site; Harrod200 has added Chapter 16 of Noah at Orbital-One; Dewey's
The Power Within has grown to 29 chapters at DeweyWriter;
Graeme's The Price of Friendship is up to Chapter 7 at
AwesomeDude. More of the sites linked from our Stories page have
new material. Check out the Christmas decorations at Penguin Huggle.
Good job, Mikie!
December 17, 2008: As always, at this time of the year, we wish all of
you the very best during the holiday season. No matter which holiday or
holidays you observe and celebrate, we think you'll enjoy reading or re-
reading Drake Hunter's "A Yule Tale" that is linked from the green box
on our Stories page. This is the sixth season for that story of peace and
good will that was sent to us in December of 2003. Merry Christmas,
Drake!
Another "as always" for us is that we're asking our families to give us
little for Christmas, but instead to donate to a local orphanage and to a
local shelter for the homeless. Please consider including charities in
your holiday giving, especially organizations that benefit youth.
At Codey's World you'll find more good Christmas reading, including "A
Smokey Mountain Christmas" by The Carolina Scribbler, as well as "A
Ghost of Christmas Past" and "A Christmas Wish" by Codey.
November 27, 2008: Happy Thanksgiving to our friends here in
the USA and best wishes to our friends in other countries. Many of you
have helped and encouraged us in various ways and at various times
during the past few years. We are thankful for each and every one of
you, and we hold you dear to our hearts. Today, as we celebrate
Thanksgiving with our families, we are especially grateful for the
blessings of your friendship and your kindness.
Peace and love from our crew,
Aaron, Andy, Billy, Chris, David, Eric, Jon, Rain, Scot, Todd, Trey, Wade
November 4, 2008: One year ago today the world lost a brilliant and
wonderful young man, 17-year-old Codey, founder of Codey's World.
We miss him. His website now includes a memorial section created by
his partner Tim, with the help of Azy and Ben. The About Codey
message was written by Tim. Please visit the Codey Memorial, read
the guestbook entries, and feel free to add your thoughts. Our favorite
of Codey's many fine poems is I Danced with Unicorns.
October 27, 2008: HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Rain! Our youngest full-
time crew member turned 18 today, Monday, but we had his parties
during the weekend. Rain is doing very well as a college freshman, and
he's still finding time to do some editing for a couple of authors. We
love you, Rain!
We thank Jim, who edits for one of the most popular authors on the
Internet, for providing re-formatted .PRC files of Don Hanratty's Working
It Out and Brew Maxwell's Foley-Mashburn Saga. The new files, linked
from the bottom of our Stories page, are more eBook device-friendly
than the older ones.
Chapter 8 of Black Dog is now at alien son, one of the sites linked from
our Stories page. The site confronts the reality of depression and
suicide and provides links to pertinent information and helpful sites that
deal with those subjects.
Exercise your right to vote!
October 13, 2008: Happy Thanksgiving to all of our Canadian friends.
We hope you're enjoying your long holiday weekend!
October 7, 2008: On October 11, 1987, the original National AIDS
Quilt was unfurled in Washington, DC during a half-million-strong
equality march and rally. Each year since then, October 11 has been
designated by the Human Rights Campaign as National Coming Out
Day. Because this year's NCOD will be on Saturday, school-related
activities and observances will take place on Friday or Monday.
As usual, GLBT people who are not out are being challenged to "stop
living a lie and instead be true to yourselves and others" and to "live
open, genuine, authentic lives." Those concepts are very tempting, but
we encourage caution.
We embrace unity and a sense of community among GLBT people, and
we believe that as members of our generation quietly and peacefully
find our places within that community we will help to weaken the
stereotypes that make people reluctant to come out, even to
themselves.
For teens, we strongly advise that if you're not out at home, don't come
out at school just to please people who are promoting NCOD. If you
come out at school, your parents will find out. You know your home
situation and you have a good idea of what will happen. If you're sure
you're ready to come out to your family, do that before October 11, and
then get their input on your coming out at school -- on National Coming
Out Day or any other day. If you come out to your parents, please show
them our For Parents page.
Sequoyah is back! His Saga of the Elizabethton Tarheels will resume
soon, with Chapter 47. All of Sequoyah's wonderful stories and novels
are at Sequoyah's Place, a site created and maintained by the
AwesomeDude.
Check out Codey's World and the other sites linked from our Stories
page for new material. It's all good.
Unfortunately, we didn't hear anything new in tonight's McCain/Obama
debate. We'll be diplomatic again and call it a tie.
October 3, 2008: The youngest of the founders of our crew and of this
website leaves the teen ranks today. HAPPY 20th BIRTHDAY,
AARON!! Eric and Trey say that you have officially outgrown the
nickname "Squirt" that they saddled you with shortly after your 14th
birthday. You're a big boy now. We love you, bro.
Aaron somehow always finds time to help anyone who needs him. He's
still editing for Ryan Keith and for Graeme, and working toward a career
as an orthopedist in sports medicine. He and Billy are still partners, and
we foresee no change in that commitment.
We were surprised by the performance of Levi's future mother-in-law in
last night's debate. She did better than political pundits had predicted.
Fact: Tobacco companies spend more than one million dollars per day --
yes, per day -- promoting their products on college campuses.
September 26, 2008: It's been too long since we visited this page.
We have spent most of our available spare time this month working
with a local non-partisan voter registration drive. We were disrupted by
a freakish (for our section of the country) windstorm on the 14th that
left hundreds of thousands without power, some for more than a week.
November 4 is only six weeks away, and time is growing short for
registering to vote. Historically, only about 40% of 18- to 24-year-olds
vote in presidential elections. Let's raise that percentage!
We have added links on our Stories and Links pages to alien son. The
site addresses the subjects of depression and suicide and also hosts
Black Dog, the story of how Michael, an Australian teen who suffers a
major traumatic event, deals with the psychological aftermath of that
event. We heartily recommend alien son.
Tim of Codey's World has been finding stories and poems by Codey
that were unpublished at the time of his death. "A Ghost of Christmas
Past" is one such work that is now at Codey's World in text and as a
reading by Ben W. Blue. Enjoy that and many new postings of stories
and poems by several authors, including some newly hosted ones.
Graeme has two new short stories and the first chapter of a new novel
at your favorite Graeme-hosting sites. Don't forget to visit all of the
sites linked from our Stories page, most of which have new material.
We have received numerous e-mails commenting on our August 29
mention of Australian Olympic gold medalist Matthew Mitcham. Most of
those e-mails refer, either favorably or unfavorably, to the fact that we
didn't mention that Matthew is gay and was the only openly gay male
athlete among the 10,500 athletes who competed in the 2008 Olympic
Games. The favorable comments came from younger writers and the
unfavorable comments came from older writers. That's interesting. In
praising Matthew's accomplishments as a diver, we saw no reason to
mention his sexual orientation. We do appreciate the well-documented
fact that he is open about his orientation, and yes, we do see that as a
possible encouragement to other gay athletes. That's an expanded topic.
We're going to be diplomatic here and call tonight's Obama/McCain
debate a tie. We're looking forward to watching Levi's future mother-in-
law in the vice-presidential candidates' debate.
August 29, 2008: With school having already started for many and
soon to start for the rest, we're working with some new e-mail groups
and their leaders. We really appreciate your efforts. Although your local,
school-specific groups are facing more and more competition for
students' time, you know you're making a positive difference locally,
even against the odds. The social networking, video clip, RPG and
virtual world sites can be useful and entertaining, but addictive and
isolating.
Author Ryan Keith is working on a new chapter of "Zac and Kayden" in
the popular Kayden series. He has a new email address, which we've
highlighted on our index page for his stories.
Ryan's birthday was on the 27th and Tim of Codey's World had a
birthday yesterday. Happy Birthday to you guys!
Check out the sites linked from our Stories page for new material.
We're glad to know that The Dude of AwesomeDude is back in action
following a health-related absence that included a hospital stay. He's
been busy this week covering the Democratic convention in Denver.
Dude is one of the newsmen for the OutQ 109 LBGT channel on Sirius
Satellite Radio.
We're very proud of Michael Phelps and all of the American athletes who
competed so well in the Olympics, but we believe that the single most
impressive performance of the entire 2008 Olympic Games was
Australian Matthew Mitcham's final 10-meter platform dive that earned
a record all-time-high Olympic diving score of 112.10 points. Awesome!
We wish everyone here in the U.S. a happy, safe and fun-filled Labor
Day holiday weekend. Enjoy it!
August 15, 2008: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TREY!! Today, the third of
the three oldest members of our original crew turns 22. Trey, more than
anyone, has been the foundation of our group, from its beginning in
2002, to the starting of the original e-mail group in January of 2003,
and the birth of this website in August 2003. Trey is a leader, and not
just because he's a bit over 6'5" tall, which is about an inch taller than
his partner Eric, and about two inches taller than David, the third of our
22-year-olds. Trey is big of heart, soul and spirit, and he always stands
up for what he believes to be right and just. Trey, we love and admire
you more than you know. Believe it, big bro.
Y'all probably aren't doing much reading during this busy back-to-school
time, but check out the sites linked from our Stories page. Lots of new
stuff is available, from both new and established writers.
August 3, 2008: School's starting! How can this be happening so soon?
Some schools start as early as this week. Let's make it the best school
year yet!
With the new year, if you're starting an e-mail group for your school, be
sure to follow the suggestions on our How It Works and Do/Don't
pages, and contact us if you have problems or questions. Your group is
local, for your school only -- private and confidential. Beware of
involving your group in any of the social networking sites. Those sites
can be useful in a broader, global sense, but be very careful what you
make public there.
Robb at CRVboy previously announced a July 31 closing of his forum,
but he's decided to keep it going on a smaller scale. It's still there, so
check it out!
If you've been waiting for the completion of Grasshopper's Just One
Starfish, the 17th and final chapter has been posted. To find it, click
here and scroll down to the chapter list.
Click here for an AwesomeDude Forum topic that includes a link to an
important article about HIV+ Americans. Be safe!
Codey's World is hosting poems and stories by new writers Heather
Rose Brown and Merkin, plus some new work by other authors, including
Colin Kelly. All of the sites linked from our Stories page are excellent
sources of entertainment and enlightenment. ^-^
July 18, 2008: We send a special Get Well wish to Sequoyah, who is
taking a break from writing as he recovers from some health issues,
including spinal surgery. His latest novel, Saga of the Elizabethton
Tarheels, has grown to 46 chapters, available at Sequoyah's Place,
the site created by AwesomeDude for the hosting of all of Sequoyah's
work. Sequoyah's stories have been a positive influence in many
people's lives, including ours. His contribution to our Authors Speak to
Teens feature is here.
When the latest Alex Sanchez novel The God Box was published last
October by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, we read it and
recommended it here in News/Updates. We enthusiastically repeat that
recommendation. Lots of teens -- and some adults -- have written to
tell us about how that book has enlightened and comforted them. From
the book's dust jacket: "With candor, conviction, and compassion, Alex
Sanchez dramatizes the plight of teens who struggle to balance their
homosexuality and their deeply felt religious beliefs. An important,
heartfelt book that deserves a wide readership."
If you're struggling with conflicts between your sexuality and your faith,
please click here for links to important sites for GLBT people of all ages
who are of the Christian, Jewish, Mormon, and Muslim faiths. There's
also a link about that ex-gay thing.
The sites linked from our Stories page have been busy with updates. At
Orbital-One, Noah now includes 14 chapters. Updates at Codey's
World, AwesomeDude, DeweyWriter and The Story Lover's Home
include some new stories by Graeme, one of our favorite writers. Gabe
at Lonely Ocean has been busy this summer, as you'll notice in his
site's blog, which includes more of his impressive photography.
We haven't done any multi-state traveling this summer, and we miss
that. Most of us are attending summer sessions or doing co-op
programs, and that keeps us off the highways.
It's party time this weekend, though. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to ERIC!!
That big guy, Trey's partner, is 22 today. He's one of our founding
members and our resident jokester/prankster/clown. We love you, dawg!
We hope everyone's enjoying the summer -- and staying above it.
July 8, 2008: Our friend and yours, Grasshopper, has shared with all
of us his feelings about a significant event in his life. If you cry a bit
along with Jamie, as we did, when you read his journal, bless you! And
bless you, Jamie, for sharing.
If you haven't read "My Name is Grasshopper and I'm Left-Handed"
in our Authors Speak to Teens feature, be sure to check it out. You'll
surely be glad you did.
July 4, 2008: We wish everyone in the U.S. a happy and safe
Independence Day holiday weekend, as we observe the 232nd birthday
of our nation.
We're also celebrating another birthday. Trey's grandfather was born 67
years ago today. "Pops" is like an extra grandpa to the rest of us, and
we'll enjoy the annual July 4th barbecue and fireworks display at his
place today and tonight. It's always a fun-filled gathering of friends and
family. We love you, Pops, you old firecracker. Happy 67th!
June 28, 2008: The oldest of our founding crew members turns 22
today, at 4:23 pm, ET. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAVID!!! David and Susan
are still engaged, but will wait another year to get married, after
college graduation. They're still important to our crew, corresponding
with other straight guys and girls who write to us after finding out that
a friend or family member is gay. We'll make sure that David has a
memorable birthday. We love you, big guy!
June 15, 2008: HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to fathers everywhere, and
especially to ours. We're fortunate that those 'old guys' are our friends
and dads, not just our biological fathers. As always, we also say "Happy
Father's Day, Pops" to Trey's grandfather, who has been Eric's
substitute dad for years, and who's an extra grandpa for all of us. Eric's
dad was killed by a drunk driver when Eric was a toddler.
We have all of our crew together for the weekend, and we're making
today a Dads and Lads day. We'll take the old boys to a baseball game
this afternoon and then grill steaks for them tonight. Actually, it'll be
steaks for our dads and our moms, and for some more friends, and
maybe there'll even be some left over for us.
Hey, you'll find good summer reading at the sites linked from our
Stories page. ^-^
May 27, 2008: We hope the long Memorial Day weekend was a good
one for all our friends here in the United States. Our freedom to enjoy
family gatherings, picnics, swimming, water skiing, baseball and other
activities was earned by those whose lives and service we honored
yesterday. Let us never forget their sacrifices.
We won't be doing as much traveling as in past summers, because
some of our guys will be attending summer sessions and others will be
doing summer internships. We do hope to spend a little time on some
beaches, though.
Grasshopper has a new story!! The introduction and 10 chapters of
Just One Starfish have been posted at IOMFATS. This one revisits
some of Grasshoppers past characters, Gabriel of Just Hit 'Send' and
Brian of "Whispers from the Past".
Chapter 28 of Dewey's The Power Within of the popular Brian and Pete
series is now at DeweyWriter. There are lots of additions at the sites
linked from our Stories page, including CRVboy, AwesomeDude, The
Tickie Story Pages, and The Story Lover's Home.
Over at Codey's World some new story chapters have been posted, and
Ben W. has been busy writing poems and making audio recordings of
them.
DaBeagle is still up and running, contrary to rumor, and is sporting new
material, including the complete Tales from the Quarry by Driver.
Make it a great summer!!
May 11, 2008: HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all of our moms and to all
moms who visit our site. We're always grateful to have been blessed
with wonderful mothers who accept us and love us as we are. You're the
greatest, and we love you very much!!
May 10, 2008: CONGRATULATIONS, GRADS! We congratulate all of
you who are or soon will be Class of 2008 graduates. Our Rain will
graduate from high school next week. Rain is the only high schooler
currently holding a full time position with our crew.
Trey, Eric and David have just completed their third year of college and
Todd, Scot, Jon, Chris, Billy and Aaron their second. A few miles away
from those guys, Andy and Wade's freshman year will end next week.
As always, we encourage e-mail groups to stay active during the
summer and to recruit new leaders to replace those who are graduating.
Let's make it another great summer!
In story news, most of the sites linked from our Stories page have
updates. Some of them update as often as twice weekly. There are new
audio files of Codey's fables at Codey's World, and a recording of a new
short,short by Blue.
We've previously mentioned the GLBT radio news at SIRIUS OutQ 109,
where The Awesome Dude, Michael Wengert, is one of the news
anchors. You can catch OutQ News online without subscribing to
SIRIUS, by clicking the "Listen Now" arrow in the purple box on the right
hand side of this page: www.sirius.com/outq
April 30, 2008: We're hearing positive things from all around the
country regarding last Friday's National Day of Silence. It was a huge
success, although there were some publicity-seeking protest attempts
at isolated spots in a few states. This year, student groups at a record-
smashing number of schools and colleges/univerities (8,500)
participated in NDOS. Outstanding!!! Monday's anti-gay Day of Truth
again this year was totally ineffectual -- rather silent, actually.
Check this out! www.posornot.com It's a very thought-provoking and
educational project from mtvU and The Kaiser Family Foundation.
If you've been waiting to read the complete "Anything We Want-Paul"
by Driver, well, go for it now. The Paul section of what we hope is the
first of several sections is complete with the posting of Chapter 18 at
Stories by Driver.
We'll be back soon with some story updates and more. It's a busy time
as the semester is coming to a close, with all those projects to finish
and papers coming due.
April 19, 2008: Another birthday! Party time! HAPPY 19TH BIRTHDAY
to Andy. Andy and his partner Wade, our lovable and colorful "A&W"
duo, will soon complete their freshman year of college, and they're
doing very well.
Grasshopper's latest novel, Darkfall, is now complete with the posting
of Chapter 30 and an epilogue. Don't miss this one!
Sequoyah's Saga of the Elizabethton Tarheels has grown to 45
chapters. We appreciate The Awesome Dude's work in creating and
maintaining Sequoyah's Place, where you'll find all of Sequoyah's
stories and novels. The other sites linked from our Stories page
frequently add new material for your enjoyment.
A year ago, we told you about an interesting man named Randy, a
California cowboy whose nickname is Mule. Mule's Ride of Ages is
"unique campfire theater on trails through yesterday, today and
forever." He's still active, and his unique website includes details of his
life and his shows.
All of our crew experienced our first earthquake very early yesterday
morning, a 5.2 that shook much of the Midwest and South. Whoa!
Interesting, but spooky. Thankfully, no injuries have been reported.
Have a great weekend!
April 11, 2008: HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Scot of our crew, who turns 20
today. Party weekend coming up! We love ya, bro! Scot and his partner
Todd solve our technical problems. Well, usually.
Our Dedication page lists Pedro Zamora (1972-1994) as one of the
people to whom this website is dedicated. The story of Pedro's brief life
is a source of inspiration and enlightenment for us, so much so that he
is definitely on our "we wish we could have known you" list. During last
week's The Real World Awards show on MTV, Pedro was remembered
and honored in a special video tribute that includes President Clinton's
praise of Pedro. Click here to watch it again, or for your first time. Judd
Winick, one of Pedro's Real World castmates, who appears in the clip,
created the graphic novel Pedro and Me: Friendship, Loss and What I
Learned, a book in pictures and words that has won numerous awards.
Pedro came to The United States from Cuba, with his parents, when he
was eight years old. "You can be more" is a favorite quote of our friend
Blue over at Codey's World. Pedro was more. Much more.
Monday April 14 will be the 5th anniversary of OutQ Channel 109 on
SIRIUS satellite radio. THE Awesome Dude, Michael Wengert, is one of
OutQ's news anchors. Launched on April 14, 2003, SIRIUS OutQ's
exclusive programming includes talk, entertainment, news, politics and
more. In its first five years, SIRIUS OutQ's news team has provided
unique and insightful coverage for the LGBT community, with more than
11,000 newscasts covering 44,000 stories.
SIRIUS OutQ recently expanded its news resources and launched OutQ
News online at www.sirius.com/outq. Updated hourly, this online stream
features the latest headlines straight from the OutQ News desk,
delivering a unique and exclusive service from a large, dedicated team
of journalists covering the gay community.
April 9, 2008: The 12th annual National Day of Silence is coming up on
Friday, April 25. The National Day of Silence brings attention to anti-
GLBT name-calling, bullying and harassment in schools. This year's
event will be held in memory of Lawrence King, a California 8th-grader
who was shot and killed on February 12 by a classmate because of his
sexual orientation and gender expression. If you haven't already, please
visit this site for information and ideas, and to get involved. We know
from experience that our modified approach to NDoS works very well,
with minimal backlash from anti-GLBT forces. We encourage students to
participate as usual in teacher-led classroom discussions, but to remain
silent otherwise. That approach leads to more participation, by
alienating fewer students and teachers. No matter how you and your
friends and anti-bullying allies approach the day, participation in the
National Day of Silence is very rewarding. Enjoy it!
March 23, 2008: HAPPY EASTER to all who celebrate this wonderful
occasion. We hope that all people of other faiths also have a wonderful
Sunday. This morning, all members of our crew will attend Easter
sunrise services at our churches, knowing in our hearts that God does
not hate us, but that He loves us for accepting ourselves as He made us
and for not questioning His wisdom.
Last October, we recommended the latest Alex Sanchez novel, The God
Box. We now repeat that recommendation. We've received e-mails from
lots of teens who love the book, and some who say that it has helped
them feel comfortable with returning to church. We hope more of you
will check out book excerpts and reviews at the Alex Sanchez website.
Mr. Sanchez wrote the Rainbow Boys trilogy and other award-winning
novels.
March 14, 2008: Hey, yet again, from Rain. Today we say Happy
20th Birthday to crewmember Todd, Scot's partner. Todd, Scot and
all the rest of our college guys are still Spring breaking in Florida and
they're lovin' it, in spite of the cool and wet weather.
There's a new chapter of Dewey's The Power Within segment of the
very popular saga of Brian and Pete, at DeweyWriter.
DaBeagle has new material, and the site will remain active, reversing
their earlier announcement that they would be closing soon.
Happy Spring Break, whenever yours happens. Rain
March 11, 2008: Hey again from Rain. Happy 19th Birthday to
crewmember Wade, Andy's partner. The birthday party is in Florida,
where all of our college guys are still enjoying Spring break. Being in
high school, so I'm stuck at home, watching the snow melt.
There's now a link on our Stories page, and one here, to The Cove, a
site that is, among other things, one of several sites that host a group
of stories known as The Clan Short Universe. The site hosts more than
twenty authors and a growing number of stories. Greybear, the
webmaster and one of the authors, updates the site weekly. Check it
out! Rain
March 8, 2008: Hey, from Rain. All of our college guys left yesterday
for Spring break at some of Florida's beaches. Both of the universities
they attend have break next week. They got away while we were under
a winter storm warning, but before the snow was deep. That warning
was later changed to a blizzard warning, which is still in effect as I
write this, early on Saturday morning. It's still snowing heavily. Forecast
is for a total snowfall of more than 15 inches from this storm. It's
almost Spring. Daylight saving time starts tomorrow. Blizzard? Whoa!
Well, I think good weather will be here by the time my high school's
break starts at the end of this month.
Even if you missed American Idol on Tuesday night, you've probably
seen at least one of the many clips of Jason's performance. This one
includes some personal remarks, the song, and then the judges'
comments. Laptop speakers don't do it justice -- try some good audio
and pump up the volume. Almost-always-negative judge Simon C.
declared Jason's performance to be "absolutely brilliant". It was.
Viewers have voted the 20-year-old Texas A&M student through to the
next round.
Check the sites linked from our Stories page for new material, including
new chapters of Sequoyah's Saga of the Elizabethton Tarheels,
Grasshopper's Darkfall, and Driver's Anything We Want. We anticipate
some additions at Codey's World, tomorrow. AwesomeDude Radio is
still cranking out the tunes.
Hey, everyone who is on or will soon be on Spring break -- have fun and
be safe and wise! Rain
February 22, 2008: HAPPY 20th BIRTHDAY to Jon of our crew! Jon
and his partner Chris, who turned 20 last month, were among the
founders of our crew way back in 2003. They're still together and they're
still a joy to all of us. Weekend parties coming up!
February 18, 2008: Congratulations are in order! Graeme, one of
the contributors to our Authors Speak to Teens feature, has won the
Best Non-GA-Hosted Story of the Year award in the 2007 Members'
Choice Awards, announced today by GayAuthors.org, for his novel
Heart of The Tree. If you wonder why "The" is capitalized in that title,
you'll understand when you read the novel. It's hosted, along with the
rest of Graeme's work, at AwesomeDude, Codey's World, DeweyWriter
and The Story Lover's Home.
Last year, Graeme won the same best-story award for his novel New
Brother, which is hosted here on our site and also at the sites linked
above.
We're very proud of our Aaron for editing both of Graeme's award-
winning novels.
February 14, 2008: HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY to all of you. Thank
you for being friends of The Mail Crew. We appreciate you!
Blue, editor and designer at Codey's World, has made an audio
recording of the "My Two Cents Worth" essay that Codey contributed
to our Authors Speak to Teens feature. We intend to add the audio link
to our web page that contains Codey's essay, but for now we can't get
that done because our working file of that page has been hacked and
corrupted by an outside source. We'll get that worked out, and
meanwhile, here's a link to the recording, and we were able to add one
on the Authors Speak to Teens page, too.
February 3, 2008: Wow! What a game! We're lovin' the 12-point-
underdog Giants' 17-14 Super Bowl victory over the season's only
(previously) undefeated team, the Patriots. In case you missed it, the
Giants scored the come-from-behind winning touchdown with only 35
seconds left on the game clock. It's cool that quarterback Eli Manning
led his team to the win and achieved MVP status a year after his
brother Peyton led the Colts to the 2007 Super Bowl championship and
was Most Valuable Player of that game.
Yesterday, on Groundhog Day, our Eric saw his shadow, so we'll have
six more weeks of winter. ^-^
The new "Darkfall" story of Grasshopper's that we mentioned on Jan.
24, when it first appeared, now has 9 chapters posted, plus the
prologue, and several new chapters will be added each week.
The awesome Dude at AwesomeDude has added RealPlayer and
QuickTime options for listening to AwesomeDude Radio, which is
linked from the AD home page.
Camy, one of the hosted authors at Codey's World, has written music
for Codey's poem/song "Broken Heart" and he and his band have
recorded the song. It's amazing! LINK to the lyrics and the recording.
Hey, have a great week, everyone!
January 25, 2008: We recommend the autobiography Out of Sync: A
Memoir by Lance Bass of the band *NSYNC. The 28-year-old frankly
discusses life as a young gay man who grew up a Southern Baptist,
including his struggle to "stay in" until his eventual coming out at the
age of 27. The enlightening book is available at your favorite online and
neighborhood booksellers. It's already being hailed as an important read
for questioning teens.
Stories by Driver webmaster CRVboy has posted Driver's latest:
Chapter 13 of "A Horse Named Phil" and Chapter 6 of "Anything We
Want". Driver's work is among the most highly-praised on the Web.
January 24, 2008: GRASSHOPPER is back! It's Only Me from Across
the Sea, the home site for his stories and novels, is hosting
Grasshopper's newest work, Darkfall. Click here and scroll to the
bottom of the page for links to the prologue and five chapters. It's great
to see you back, man! Grasshopper is a contributor to our Authors
Speak to Teens feature, where his jewel of an essay, "My Name is
Grasshopper and I'm Left-Handed" is very popular.
We join millions of folks from all around the world in mourning the
untimely death of actor Heath Ledger. Our thoughts and prayers are
with his family, loved ones and friends, and most especially with his
and Michelle's daughter, Matilda Rose.
January 22, 2008: In early November, following the passing of Codey
of Codey's World, we met through e-mail a university pre-med student
who used the pen name Jonathan Davis as one of the hosted authors
at The Tickie Story Pages. We enjoyed our contacts with Jason, aka
Jonathan. We sadly note that Jason and his partner Nicky, both
honorary grandsons of Tickie, recently died in a traffic accident. Please
visit this page for details and a link to a site where you can light a
candle for them. May God bless them and keep them.
January 21, 2008: It's been a good three-day holiday weekend. The
winners of yesterday's conference championship games in the NFL were
the Giants and the Patriots. It's been fun watching quarterback Eli
Manning lead the underdog wild-card Giants to playoff wins these last
three weekends, earning a slot in the Feb. 3 Super Bowl.
National No Name-Calling Week started today, but most schools,
including ours, were closed for Martin Luther King Day. Still four days to
go, though, and we know a lot of you are involved in the project at your
schools. It would be amusing to see the politicians try it for even one
day.
As usual, most of the sites linked from our Stories page have updated
content. Included in those updates is the addition of Chapters 8 and 9
of Noah at Harrod200's Orbital-One.
The Dude of AwesomeDude is a newscaster on the OutQ 109 LGBT
channel on SIRIUS satellite radio. Each morning he does three brief
hourly newscasts. Each day's newscasts and those of the preceding few
days are available at the AwesomeDude site, linked from the Gay Radio
News button on the home page's navigation bar. In other AD radio
news, for those who would prefer Windows Media Player for listening to
AwesomeDude Radio, that choice has been added to the service.
January 15, 2008: Coming next week: January 21 thru 25 will be the
fifth annual No Name-Calling Week. The project, inspired by James
Howe's novel The Misfits, is a joint effort of GLSEN and Simon &
Schuster Children's Publishing, along with more than 40 national partner
organizations. Added financial support this year comes from a generous
Cisco Systems grant. No Name-Calling Week was originally aimed at
middle school students, but was soon expanded to include high schools.
We appreciate the contributions of all of you who are involved with the
project at your schools. You rock!
January 13, 2008: We wish Chris of our crew a very, very HAPPY 20th
BIRTHDAY. Chris has made it through another year of keeping the rest
of us on track, with his calmness and level-headedness. He and his
partner Jon are doing well in their second year of college. We're having
a weekend-long birthday celebration/party. ^-^
January 12, 2008: For our crew and for many of you, schools are either
starting second semester or finishing up first semester. Welcome back
to school! If you've been thinking of starting an e-mail group, now's a
good time to run with that. Reread our How It Works and Do/Don't
pages before you start, okay?
On our Stories page we've added links to some sites that deserve
attention. We hope you enjoy the offerings at Penguin Huggle, Orbital-
One, and The Tickie Story Pages.
January 2, 2008: Today would have been Codey's 18th birthday. In his
honor, during 2008 there will be a special festival celebration at
Codey's World. As we had told some of you, it was scheduled to get
underway today, but we'll have to update its status at a later time.
January 1, 2008: HAPPY NEW YEAR!
December 31, 2007: A recently published national survey indicates
that only 14% of American teens still use e-mail daily to communicate
with friends, while 55% use social networking sites. Our concept for
local, private, school-specific e-mail groups has taken some hits from
the soc net sites the last couple of years, but it's still alive. Two Nova
Scotia students used e-mail in recruiting friends at their school to take
part in a brilliant anti-bullying campaign, which they called "a sea of
pink". We don't know if an established e-mail group was involved, but
the use of e-mail instead of a soc net kept their project localized,
contributing to its success. Check out the news article and related
comments posted in the forum at Codey's World. If you scroll down a
few posts in that forum topic (past the pink pistols), you'll see a link to
the actual published article complete with photos of the heroes.
We can't let the year slip away without some story news. Chapter 26 of
Dewey's The Power Within segment of his Brian and Pete series has
been posted at DeweyWriter, where you'll also find several serialized
stories by newly-hosted author Retta, and the final chapter of Graeme's
Heart of the Tree. If you've been waiting for the complete Heart of the
Tree to be posted before starting to read it, go for it now. It's also at
the other sites that host Graeme's work, including The Story Lover's
Home, AwesomeDude and Codey's World. Those sites as well as
CRVboy all have lots of new stories and updates.
Sequoyah's wonderful Saga of the Elizabethton Tarheels has grown to
42 chapters at Sequoyah's Place, a site created and maintained by The
Dude of AwesomeDude. Chapter 32 of award-winning author Don
Hanratty's Beloved has been posted at the Don Hanratty Official Site.
"Anything We Want" is a new story showing up at Stories by Driver,
with two chapters posted so far.
The mighty Southeastern Conference has nine teams in bowl games,
and all four that played today and yesterday won their games. Four
more will play in major New Year's Day games, and LSU will play in the
BCS National Championship game on January 7. The SEC rules college
football! Not as strong as usual in basketball, though, this season.
Y'all be safe and careful all through New Year's Eve and New Year's
Day, ya hear?
December 29, 2007: We're lovin' it! A good break from school made
better by all of the college football bowl games (there will be a total of
32), and tonight's pro football clash between the New York Giants and
the undefeated New England Patriots. Go Giants!
For the Bible Tells Me So is an award-winning documentary that was
recommended to us by Davis Mallory, one of the housemates of MTV's
The Real World: Denver. We're impressed by what we've seen at the
film's official website and in these video clips. From the website:
"Through the experiences of five very normal, Christian, American
families -- including those of former House Majority Leader Richard
Gephardt and Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson -- we discover how
people of faith handle the realization of having a gay child or family
member." The website gives screening locations and dates through
January, and those are kept up-to-date. Information is given for pre-
ordering (at a 25% discount) the DVD that will be released on February
19. Thanks, Davis, for telling us about For the Bible Tells Me So.
We'll be back soon with some story update news, and more. ^-^
December 25: Merry Christmas! to all who share with us the joy
of this occasion, and Happy Holidays to all who observe other holidays during
this season. Peace and good will to all!
December 24, 2007: We have a holiday gift for all, from Ryan Keith.
Chapter 4 of the Zac and Kayden segment of Ryan's Kayden series is
now available here. It's a long chapter that includes some nice
surprises for fans of Ryan's stories.
Most of the sites linked from our stories page have updates that you
can enjoy during your Christmas/Winter/Holiday break, if you find some
free time away from all of the partying, family gatherings, etc. ^-^ Be
safe and well!
December 20, 2007: HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Billy. Today is what Billy
calls his 20/20 birthday. He's 20 on the 20th. BillyBoy is one of the
original members of our crew and one of the founders of the e-mail
group that started all of this in January of 2003 - the original group at
our own high school. Billy is now a college sophomore, still Aaron's life
partner, and still as lovable as ever.
Enjoy your school vacations and stay safe! We're getting into some
major partying for our birthday boy. ^-^
December 18, 2007: As always, we wish everyone the very best during
the holiday season. Our holiday is Christmas, but no matter which
holiday or holidays you observe and celebrate, we think you'll really
enjoy reading or re-reading Drake Hunter's "A Yule Tale" that is linked
from the green box on our Stories page. This is the fifth season for that
story, and it still draws many readers. Merry Christmas, Drake!
Another "as always" for us is that we're asking our parents to give us
less for Christmas and to donate instead to a local orphanage and to a
local shelter for the homeless. Please consider including charities in
your holiday giving, especially organizations that benefit youth.
Back in August, we thanked Jim, editor for a popular Internet author, for
sending us the LRF eBook files of Brew Maxwell's Foley-Mashburn
Saga and of Don Hanratty's Working It Out. Jim has now formatted
those works as PRC files, which we've added to the site and linked from
our PDF page. Thanks once more, Jim! The PRC eBook files can be
downloaded to and read by any device that supports the free
Mobipocket eBook Reader application, including PCs and various
PDAs, cell phones and eBook readers.
Hey, let's all be sure to stay above it during this busy season of fun
and parties, so we'll be here to make 2008 our best year yet.
December 14, 2007: Hey, hey, hey! We're still here. Thanks to all who
have expressed concern about us. It's just that the last few weeks have
been mainly consumed by term papers, research projects, preparing for
first-semester final exams, etc. Today was the end of finals week for
our college guys at both universities. Rain and his high school buddies
will have their finals the first three days of next week.
During our Christmas/holiday/winter break we'll be adding some new
links to other sites and revising the text on some of our pages, and
we'll catch up on our visits to other sites and forums. Also, Aaron will
finish the final edit of the next chapter of Ryan Keith's Kayden series.
Meanwhile, we hope you'll keep up with what's going on over at
Codey's World, and also check out Penguin Huggle, a cool site by
Mikie, a friend of Codey's World. At that site, in its Memorial Hall,
there's a tribute section devoted to memories of Codey.
November 22, 2007: Happy Thanksgiving to our friends here in
the USA and best wishes to our friends in other countries. Many of you
of our generation and of our parents' and grandparents' generations
have helped and encouraged us in various ways and at various times.
We are thankful for each and every one of you, and we hold you dear to
our hearts. Today, as we celebrate Thanksgiving with our families, we
are especially grateful for the blessing of your kindness.
Peace and love from our crew,
Aaron, Andy, Billy, Chris, David, Eric, Jon, Rain, Scot, Todd, Trey, Wade
November 4, 2007: With great sadness, we make the following
announcement: At 9:15 this morning, Codey, the founder of Codey's
World, passed away at the age of 17, five years after an auto accident
took his parents and brothers and left him with ongoing and eventually
overwhelming health problems. We shall always remember our brother-
in-spirit Codey, as we appreciate all that he accomplished through his
creative writing and his website, for the benefit of GLBT teens and folks
of all ages. We could never be more proud of anyone than we are of
Codey's partner, 16-year-old Tim, who was at Codey's side, holding his
hand, as Codey's brilliant, inimitable spirit left his impaired body, to fly
free. Free to dance with unicorns, if he chooses. Codey's World will
continue to grow, under the able direction of Tim, Ben, Colin and others.
October 31, 2007: We want to thank all of you who have responded so
kindly, whether by e-mail or simply in your thoughts and prayers, to our
Oct. 26 post about 17-year-old Codey. We want to share with you an
opinion expressed in a post to a forum thread about Codey's condition,
at Codey's World: "Caring for someone you don't personally know, and
from whom you have nothing to gain, is the purest form of love and
altruistic caring that a person can offer." Again, thank you, all of you.
Today's discouraging news is that Codey's failing kidneys haven't
restarted and that he has had dialysis. It is our understanding that he
is conscious but non-responsive to his surroundings. He will be taken
home tomorrow, according to his previously stated wishes. He has
known for some time that his time on Earth will be shorter than most of
ours, and has so bravely endured much pain and discomfort. His partner
Tim is and has been a true blessing to him, and Ben W. and Michael W.
have helped Codey realize his dreams for a website aimed at being a
safe place for teens of all orientations.
Our fervent hopes and prayers are for another comeback from the brink,
but we're trying to be prepared in case of dire news. We again ask for
your prayers and thoughts for Codey, his family and his partner Tim.
Almost two years ago, during one of Codey's hospital stays, in a state
of semi-consciousness he had a vision of dancing with unicorns. Upon
regaining full awareness, he asked Tim for pen and paper, to write of
what he had seen. The result was one of the most moving and beautiful
poems we have ever read, especially knowing the circumstances of its
creation. This is a link to the poem I Danced With Unicorns, and here
is a sample verse:
I felt the pounding of our hearts
and heard the screaming of our souls,
at the death and rebirth of all that we are,
at the pain of being made whole.
As we moved in frenzied circles,
my soul became entranced.
My heart slowly filled with joy and love,
as I, with the unicorns, danced.
May God bless you and keep you, Codey.
October 27, 2007: Our youngest crew member is turning 17 today, but
he still looks like he's about 14. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RAIN!!! Rain
is a great asset to our crew. He's a good organizer and a very talented
editor. He's recently been working with some younger high school
students who will be joining our crew and taking over some of the
duties that are still being handled by our original crew members. We
love you, Rain, and we're proud to have you as a crew member and an
honorary brother.
Everyone, have a good and safe weekend!
October 26, 2007: Our friend Codey's partner Tim has told us that
Codey was hospitalized at 2:00 this morning, in critical condition. This
latest event is another complication from a car accident several years
ago that left Codey with major, continuing health problems. We hope to
see Codey back at Codey's World soon. He is, and will continue to be,
in our thoughts and especially in our prayers. Please keep Codey, his
family, and his partner Tim in your thoughts and prayers.
October 8, 2007: Happy Thanksgiving Day to all of our Canadian
friends. We hope you're enjoying your long holiday weekend.
Many of you are familiar with the Rainbow trilogy (Rainbow Boys,
Rainbow High, and Rainbow Road) by Lambda Literary Award-winning
author Alex Sanchez, as well as his So Hard to Say and Getting It. Mr.
Sanchez' latest novel is now available, and we've already ordered some
copies. The official release date for The God Box is tomorrow. The Most
Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop and Primate of the
Episcopal Church, has said of The God Box: "Alex Sanchez evokes the
crucifying experience of adolescents wrestling with their sexual identity
as Christians. He does a remarkably faithful job of opening up long-
abused biblical passages often used as proof texts to denigrate
homosexuality. This book is a gift not just to teenagers, but to those
who love and work with them." We're stoked about the publication of
The God Box and we hope you'll check out excerpts and more reviews
at the Alex Sanchez website.
It's happening this Thursday, October 11. Yep, it's that time of year
again. National Coming Out Day. Twenty years ago, on October 11,
1987, the original National AIDS Quilt was unfurled in Washington, DC,
during a half-million-strong equality march and rally. That event has
since been observed each year on October 11.
Again this year students are asking for our advice and opinions about
the day "when closeted gay and transgender people are encouraged to
stop living a lie and instead be true to themselves and others." This
year, the Internet-based challenges aimed at GLBT people also include
the encouragement to "live open, genuine, authentic lives." That's so
tempting as to make you want even more to come out, but be cautious.
We embrace unity and a sense of community among GLBT people, and
we believe that as members of our generation quietly and peacefully
find our places within that community, we will help to weaken the
stereotypes that make people reluctant to come out, even to
themselves.
For teens, we strongly advise that if you're not out at home, don't come
out at school just to please people who are promoting NCOD. If you
come out at school, your parents will find out. You know your family
situation and you have a good idea of what will happen. If you're sure
you're ready to come out to your family (please read this first), do that
before October 11 and then get their input on your coming out at
school, on National Coming Out Day or any other day. Please show your
parents our For Parents page.
Some new authors and their stories, novels and poems have been
added to Codey's World and some at AwesomeDude. Audio versions
of some works have been posted at Codey's and more are to follow.
Some audio files are also at Dude's. If you don't feel safe reading gay-
friendly stories on the shared family computer, you can save the MP3s
for private use, or put something school-related on the screen and
listen to the stories with your earbuds or phones, as if you're listening
to tunes while doing homework. Cool!
Aaron has done the editing of the next chapter of Ryan Keith's "Zac and
Kayden" and it's with Ryan now for final alterations and additions.
We're hoping to get that one posted within just a few days.
Make it a great week!!!
October 3, 2007: HAPPY BIRTHDAY to AARON!! Okay, this is
where we would typically insert some nice words about Aaron, one of
the founding members of our crew and of this website, but he wants to
make a little birthday speech, so here he is:
October 3, 2002. That was the day of my 14th birthday, and I fully
intended it to be my last day on Earth. Had it all planned. A simple
plan, really. Just wait until evening and take the whole new refill batch
of anti-depressant tablets that I'd been given the day before.
I was out to my parents and they hadn't disowned me, but I felt that
they merely tolerated me, as did my (then 25-year-old) brother.
Just before lunch that day, I found a letter in my locker. Trey and Eric
had stuffed an anonymous note through one of the vent slots. They
didn't know it was my birthday, but they knew that I was sometimes
verbally abused at school and they thought I always looked sad. Their
brief letter really brightened my day and, as explained on our How It
Started page, that letter actually saved my life. I soon quit the anti-
depressant, and haven't taken it since. Shortly after that, studies began
surfacing which suggest that certain anti-depressants can contribute to
teen suicidal tendencies. Please do research on and question the doctor
about any medication prescribed for you.
October 3, 2007. It's now five years later, it's my 19th birthday, and I'm
still alive! Five years! Half a decade! It's been a wonderful five years,
and life just keeps getting better. I'm so thankful for all of the friends
I've made during all this time, and for the opportunity I've had to try
and help other GLBT teens to accept themselves and to know that there
are so many wonderful reasons for living.
As I begin my 20th year of life, I want to thank my honorary brothers of
The Mail Crew -- and all of you who visit our site -- who have been so
kind me. I want to thank my parents and my brother for accepting me
now, not just tolerating me. And of course, I thank my partner Billy for
everything he is and does. In a little over three more months it'll be five
years that we've been together, and we plan to stay together. Life is
grand! ^-^ I'm a happy birthday boy.
Thanks for your time and attention. Be safe and be well, my friends.
Sept. 29, 2007: That Back to School anthology mentioned last time is
now up at Codey's World. Check it out.
We're a couple of days late with this, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Dewey
of DeweyWriter , one of the best story sites.
It's been a while since we've mentioned Graeme's Heart of The Tree,
which is hosted at several sites, including Dewey's. It's a great story
that's nearing completion, so why not go ahead and get started reading
it? Twenty-eight of an expected thirty-two chapters have been posted.
Our Aaron is the editor of that brilliant novel.
Lots of new additions today at AwesomeDude, always a great place to
visit.
This was a Saturday of major upsets in college football. Even so, we
still think Tebow rules.
Sept. 25, 2007: We've been given a sneak preview of the Back to
School Collection that will appear at Codey's World on the 29th. Six
authors have contributed five stories and one poem to the anthology.
It's all good. Expect it on the 29th, Saturday.
Halo 3 is finally here. We must be outgrowing such things, as there's
not been much excitement among our crew about H3. Some of the
limited edition sets have disks that have been scratched by their metal
cases.
At Stories by Driver, "A Summer Story" is expanding, with the fifth
chapter posted today. At Sequoyah's Place, Saga of the Elizabethton
Tarheels has new chapters, total of 30 so far.
Sept. 16, 2007: This has been a great weekend for football, especially
at the college level. Tim Tebow rocks and rules! Go Gators!
Some recent news articles site studies that claim that as time spent
online increases, a person's number of real friends decreases, as does
his/her frequency of having sex. Hmmm. Too much tubing and spacing?
Sept. 9, 2007: HAPPY GRANDPARENTS DAY to our grandparents and
to all grandparents. You're all very special to us, and we love you!
August 31, 2007: Whoa! Long time since the last entry here. We've all
settled in to the new semester's schedules and routines, and we're
enjoying working with all of you new e-mail group leaders. Yep, we
know that your local, school-specific e-mail groups are competing with
all of the social networking, video clip and online RPG sites, and even
the teen version of Second Life, that are eating more and more teen
time and keeping teens way out there in cyberspace. But you know
you're making a positive difference locally, even against such odds. ^-^
Thanks to Jim, editor for a popular Internet author, we now have LRF
files of the complete Working It Out by Don Hanratty and The Foley-
Mashburn Saga by Brew Maxwell. These LRF files are eBooks that can
be downloaded to the free CONNECT Reader and then transferred to
the portable Sony PRS500 Reader or to the older Sony Librie 1000. The
LRF file links are now on our PDF Page and here: F-M Saga -
Working It Out
On our Stories page, we've added a link to Codey's novel From the
Heart. We had permission to host the novel here at TMC, but instead,
since our guys Scot and Todd were limited by our website software and
couldn't duplicate the brilliant artwork, colors and layout done by good
ol' Blue over there at Codey's World, we've linked to it.
Codey's World has excellent new additions, including work by EleCivil,
Graeme, DesDownUnder, Rick, and Harrod200 of Orbital One.
Most of the other sites linked from our Stories page have new material,
including CRVboy, which has frequent additions. Gabe Duncan has
posted to his blog at Lonely Ocean some impressive photos taken
during his recent trip to England. The awesome AwesomeDude
continues to post new additions. While you're there, check out
AwesomeDude Radio, which will be one year old tomorrow,
September 1. At Sequoyah's Place, Saga of the Elizabethton
Tarheels, one of our newer favorites, has grown to 26 chapters. Don't
forget to check in at The Story Lover's Home and DeweyWriter,
which have some additions, and revisit DaBeagle, just 'cause it's still
there and still good.
We hope all of you here in the U.S. have a fun-filled and safe Labor Day
weekend. We need that extra day, huh? Enjoy it!
August 15, 2007: The following was written two years ago by Aaron,
and I, Rain, reposted it last year and I'm doing it again this year
because it's so good and still so true. I'm altering it only to reflect the
fact that another year has passed:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TREY!! Today, the third of the three oldest
members of our original crew turns twenty-one. Trey, more than anyone,
has been the stone foundation of our group, from its beginning in 2002,
to the founding of the original e-mail group in January of 2003, and the
birth of this website in August of 2003. He steers us toward the right
decisions when the going gets tough and cheers with us when we reach
new milestones. Trey is a natural leader, and not just because he's a
bit over 6' 5" tall. He's big of heart, soul and spirit, and he always
stands up for what he believes to be right and just. He's become a role
model for many gay teens, but it's not easy to get him to acknowledge
that fact. Trey, we love and admire you more than you can grasp.
Believe it, big bro.
The mysterious illness mentioned last time has finally left us, after
almost two weeks of misery. Just in time for the start of the new school
year, and for Trey's birthday parties.
With the new year starting, if you'll be starting a new e-mail group in
your school, be sure to follow the suggestions on our How It Works
and Do/Don't pages, and contact us if you have problems or questions.
Your group is local, for your school only -- private and confidential.
Beware of involving your group in any of the social networking sites.
They can be fun and useful in a broader, global sense, but be very
careful what you make public there.
Let's make this the best school year yet!! Rain
August 7, 2007: We returned last week from a great trip through
several states and to some of the North Carolina and South Carolina
beaches. We want to thank everyone we met for being such great
people and for visiting our website.
Twelve of the sixteen of us who went on that trip got sick the day we
came home. So far, blood tests have not pinpointed the cause of the
chills, fever, and joint/muscle/bone pain. We have "infection and fever
of unknown origin". Scot and Chris were hospitalized for two days and
nights because their fevers were over 105, but the rest of us have
stayed at or under 103.
Adding to our problems, we had one group of networked computers
crash. Our website files and software were affected, and that has
delayed our formatting and posting of a remarkable short novel written
by Codey of Codey's World. If you haven't already found From the
Heart at Codey's World, here's a direct link. We're honored to have
been given permission to host the novel on our site, and we'll
accomplish that, but it's always available over at Codey's World,
complete with impressive artwork by Blue.
We're too far behind on our summer reading lists for fall classes.
Anyone else?
Have a safe and great last-of-the-summer vacation!!
July 18, 2007: HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY to Eric, one of our founding
crew members. There's just no way to express how amazing Eric is. He's
always been our biggest jokester/prankster/clown, but he's also the
"everyone's friend" type of guy. We love you, Eric!
We've received some enthusiastic recommendations for Cryptainer LE
and Cryptainer Mobile. If others have access to or use of your
computer, Cryptainer allows you to ensure your privacy by hiding
personal files, stories, or whatever in encrypted and password-protected
vaults on your hard drive or portable media. You can send encrypted e-
mail files with the intended recipient needing only a password to
decrypt them. It's free at Cypherix. (Windows only.)
Hey, we hope y'all are having a great summer and staying safe. It's
ripping by way too fast! We're glad to be hearing how lots of you are
adding new leaders to your e-mail groups to replace those who
graduated, getting those things worked out before the new school year
starts. Cheers!
July 4, 2007: We wish everyone in the U.S. a very happy and safe
Independence Day. Happy 231st Birthday to our nation!
Today we're celebrating another birthday, too. Trey's grandfather,
"Pops", who's like an extra grandpa to all of us, was born 66 years ago
today. He says that the huge annual July 4th barbecue and fireworks
display at his place are for celebrating the country's birthday, not his.
Whatever, it's always a big, fun-filled gathering of friends and family.
We love you, Pops, you old firecracker. Happy 66th!
June 28, 2007: Our oldest crew member turns 21 today, at 4:23 pm,
ET. That's 4:23. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAVID!!! He's now alcohol
legal. Gay bar legal. But he's straight. After Eric and Trey turn 21 in July
and August, they're going to take ol' David with them to a gay bar. Just
to see what's up. ^-^
David and his beautiful fiancé (yeah, they're engaged), Susan, are still
important here, as they help straight guys and girls deal when they find
out a sibling, cousin, other family member, or best friend is gay or
lesbian. Have a great birthday, David! We love you. Rain
June 17, 2007: Happy Father's Day to fathers everywhere, and
especially to ours. We're blessed with fathers who are our friends and
dads, not just our biological fathers. As usual, we also say "Happy
Father's Day, Pops" to Trey's grandfather, who has been Eric's
substitute dad for years, and who's an extra grandpa for all of us. Eric's
dad was killed by a drunk driver when Eric was a toddler.
We're getting comments about the YouTube clips of Davis Mallory that
we linked to on the 14th -- more favorable comments than unfavorable
ones. It's important to note again that in the second clip, Davis is
dealing with a man who was a member of a group of protesters, and
that is probably the reason that he seems a bit rattled and nervous at
that point. We admire his courage.
June 14, 2007: Hey, everyone. We hope the summer break is going
well for all of you. So far, we've been spending as much time outdoors
as possible, including a 10-day trip to Florida late last month.
Davis Mallory, one of the housemates of MTV's recently completed The
Real World 18: Denver, has linked to our site from his MySpace blog.
Thank you, Davis. Many of you are familiar with Davis's MTV
appearances, which include the currently-running series The Real
World/Road Rules Challenge: Inferno 3, with Davis still in the
competition as a member of the Good Guys team. Last semester, Davis
lectured on several college and university campuses across the country,
and plans to continue during the Fall '07 semester. His lecture topics
have included, among other things, alcohol abuse awareness, GLBT
issues, and some of his experiences as a gay Christian. Excerpts from
some of his lectures have been posted at YouTube. Whatever your
religious beliefs, you'll probably enjoy the following two clips from
Davis's appearance at Hastings College in Nebraska. The title of the
first one implies that Davis "twists scripture", but he disagrees with
that assessment. Davis Mallory Twists Scripture Questions for Davis
Mallory. Near the end of that second clip (the questions are from one of
the picketers who protested his appearance on campus), the loud
applause indicates that Davis was speaking to a very large group. We
too applaud you, Davis.
So, you have a summer reading list from school, right? It's good to take
a break from that stuff (uh oh, haven't started it yet?) and catch up
with the stories on the great sites linked from our Stories page. Always
something new popping up.
We send a special shout out to Codey of Codey's World, who's been a
bit under the weather lately. You're in our thoughts and prayers, buddy.
Codey's World is asking for input: "We at Codey's World want to
become barrier-free with website accessibility, regardless of visitors'
physical limitations. We would greatly appreciate your feedback in the
forum there. (Please register to reply.)" http://www.codeysworld.
com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=533 . Please take a look at that forum
thead and post anything that you think would be helpful in making the
site more accessible to those with handicaps.
To all you fans of Ryan Keith -- Aaron has begun the first round of
editing of Chapter 4 of Zac and Kayden. We're not predicting when
we'll have it posted, but soon, we hope. Those guys go through some
rewriting, re-editing, etc., before a new chapter hits the world. Takes a
while.
Are the Spurs gonna take that NBA championship with four straight
wins? We doubt it, but we'll find out tonight. ^-^
Be safe and be well.
May 28, 2007 -- Memorial Day
Today is Memorial Day in our country. We considered saying "Happy
Memorial Day". But then we discussed the fact that the day is set aside
as a time to honor those who have died in service to our country. Dying
in a war is not a happy event. More discussions revealed our belief that
those who have been lost would want us to be happy that their service
and sacrifices helped keep us free to enjoy this and other holidays.
Happy Memorial Day!
May 13, 2007: HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all of our moms and to all
moms who visit our site. We're very grateful that we've been blessed
with wonderful mothers who accept us as we are. You're the greatest,
and we love you very much!!
May 12, 2007: CONGRATULATIONS, GRADS! We congratulate all of
you who are Class of 2007 high school or college graduates. Our Andy
and Wade graduated from high school this week.
Todd, Scot, Jon, Chris, Billy and Aaron have successfully completed their
first year of college and Trey, Eric and David their second. Party Time!!
Our transition to the new primary e-mail account is complete and the
new address is linked from our Contact US page. The old address will
remain active as a backup, but we ask that you update your address
books with our new, more reliable address.
Let's have the greatest summer yet!!! -- even if you're going to summer
sessions. Keep those e-mail groups alive and active by adding new
group leaders to replace those who are graduating.
Be sure to check the sites linked from our Stories page for updates.
Even DaBeagle has something new!
May 6, 2007: We're pleased to announce that we've posted a new
chapter from Ryan Keith. Chapter 3 - "Into the Light" - of Zac and
Kayden is now linked from here, the page dedicated to Ryan's stories.
April 26, 2007: Young author Josh Aterovis has revised his website
and dropped the Black Sheep Productions name. The site's name is now
simply Josh Aterovis. We've updated our Stories page with the change,
and you might want to bookmark that new address.
It's already been a whole year since we posted Codey's contribution to
our Authors Speak to Teens feature. We invite you to read or re-read
it here. And we encourage you to pay a visit to Codey's World.
The posting of Part 3 of Graeme's very popular Heart of The Tree has
begun, and Chapter 17 is now at the sites where you've been following
Graeme's work, including DeweyWriter. We especially recommend
Graeme's newest short-short, "Fund Raiser", which Rain of our crew
edited earlier this week.
We haven't mentioned CRVboy for a while. It's updated each week with
new stories and new chapters of ongoing stories. Cool site.
April 25, 2007: Due to a glitch that Scot and Todd have now repaired,
some of you have received odd messages that challenge emails you've
sent to us -- mostly random, older emails. Please ignore the messages,
which might mention mailfrontier, sonicWALL, Norton, and/or
ZoneAlarm, and be assured that they are totally harmless. We're sorry
for the annoyance.
April 19, 2007: HAPPY 18th BIRTHDAY to Andy. Parties this
weekend. Andy and his partner Wade are in their second year with our
crew, along with Rain. Andy and Wade are our fun-loving, lovable and
colorful "A & W" duo, and they'll be graduating from high school next
month.
Today's anti-gay Day of Truth is expected to draw little participation,
again this year. Its originators promote their mistaken "truth" that we
GLBT kids can change or ignore or reject our natural sexual orientation.
We've recently heard from a very interesting man named Randy, a
California cowboy whose nickname is Mule. Mule's Ride of Ages is a
"unique campfire theater on a trail through yesterday, today and
forever." Visit this site to read about Mule and his life and work.
We've mentioned Codey's short novel "From the Heart" previously,
and here we go again. It's getting rave reviews on several message
boards, so we again recommend it. LINK The Codey's World site is still
growing, and now includes the works of Graeme and other hosted
authors.
April 18, 2007: Today's National Day of Silence seems to have been a
huge success. Student groups from a record number (almost 5,000) high
schools and middle schools registered with GLSEN's dayofsilence.org
before participating, and students at many other schools unofficially
took part. There were isolated problems, such as at a midwestern high
school that went on lockdown after threats of violence against DOS
participants. Anti-GLBT protesters at another school were actually
suspended after refusing to remove t-shirts bearing anti-gay messages.
Our hearts and prayers go out to the families and friends of those who
lost their lives Monday at Virginia Tech, and indeed to all the students,
faculty and staff. We're thankful that none of our VT friends were direct
victims, but that entire student body was victimized.
The next chapter of Ryan Keith's "Zac and Kayden" is getting closer.
After Aaron edited it last month and sent it back to him with some of
our comments, Ryan rewrote almost the whole chapter. We got the new
version today, and after Aaron edits it and he and Ryan toss it back and
forth again, we'll post it. Soon, we hope.
April 11, 2007: HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Scot of our crew, who is 19
today. We love ya, bro. Scot and his partner Todd keep our network up
and running. Most of the time.
The 11th annual National Day of Silence is coming up on Wednesday,
April 18th. If you haven't already been there, the site for information
and ideas is this one. We know from experience that our modified
approach to NDoS works very well, with minimal backlash from anti-
GLBT forces. We encourage students to participate as usual in teacher-
led classroom discussions, but to remain silent otherwise. That
approach leads to more participation, because it alienates fewer
students and teachers. No matter how you and your friends and allies
approach the day, participation in the National Day of Silence is actually
very fulfilling.
April 8, 2007: HAPPY EASTER to all who celebrate this wonderful
occasion. We hope that all people of other faiths also have a wonderful
Sunday. This morning, all members of our crew will attend Easter
sunrise services at our churches, knowing in our hearts that God does
not hate us and that He loves us for accepting ourselves as He made us
and for not questioning His wisdom.
March 24, 2007: More e-mail problems! When our Insight e-mail
account was taken off the temporary server mentioned last time,
Insight messed up something that affected incoming mail. Between
approximately 7:00 am (EST) on 3/22 and 4:30 pm on 3/23 all incoming
mail was lost, and Insight has now told us that they can't retrieve it. If
you wrote during that time, we didn't and won't receive your e-mail, so
we have to ask you to re-send it. We apologize for the inconvenience.
March 17, 2007: Happy St. Patrick's Day!
E-mail Problems! We were unable to receive or send e-mail from our
regular Insight address for approximately 36 hours, from early on Friday
the 16th until this evening, the 17th. We received a large batch this
evening, and then we got a notice from Insight that some of their e-
mail servers are still down and that we're on a temporary server. It's
possible that we haven't received and won't receive all of the delayed e-
mails. We're in the process of catching up with the batch we got this
evening, but if you sent an e-mail yesterday or today that is not
answered by Monday night, please re-send it. Thanks! Rain
March 14, 2007: Hey again, from Rain. Today we say Happy 19th
Birthday to crewmember Todd, Scot's partner. Todd, Scot and all the
rest of our college boys are still at the beach, and they say they're
lovin' it.
Sequoyah's Saga of the Elizabethton Tarheels has grown to 15
chapters. It's another great one from the author of A Special Place and
other wonderful stories, all available at Sequoyah's Place, a member
of the AwesomeDude Family of Sites.
Keep those local e-mail groups going and growing! It's getting tougher
and tougher to bring it home, as the social networking and video-clip
sites consume more and more teen time. Rain
March 11, 2007: Hey, from Rain. Today we say Happy 18th
Birthday to crewmember Wade, Andy's partner. We had a brief, early
party for him yesterday, but we'll have a big combo bash for him and
another crew member whose birthday is coming up soon, after the
college guys in our crew get back from Spring break at the beach. They
left yesterday. Our high school break will be next month. All of our gang
have been busy with mid-term exams and school projects, but that's
life, right?
The story sites linked from our Stories page have lots of new stuff that
we haven't mentioned, so be sure to check those out. Codey's World is
still adding new authors and hosting guest authors. Colin, aka Colinian,
a high school senior from the west coast, is now an assistant
webmaster and editor at CW, and he'll be contributing some of his
stories to the site, too.
With Spring break already started for some and coming up soon for the
rest of us, we want to urge everyone to be safe and wise while having
the time of your lives. The older folks tell us these high school and
college years are the best years of our lives. Well, maybe. Let's just
make sure they're successful, useful, safe and fun years!
Fans of Ryan Keith's Kayden series are still awaiting new chapters.
Aaron finished editing one and sent it back to Ryan a couple of weeks
ago, so we're hoping we'll soon have a final version for posting. Seems
there's maybe going to be some combining of chapters, or something
like that. Whatever happens, it'll be worth the wait. We'll let ya know.
Happy Spring Break!! Rain
March 7, 2007: We mentioned last time that our friend J.L. would
undergo a cardiac procedure on Feb. 22. That was an angiogram, and it
showed some artery blockages, so on the 23rd he had double bypass
surgery. We wish him all the best during his recuperation and cardiac
rehab. Thanks to all who wrote to express concern.
On March 4, GayAuthors.org announced their 2006 Members' Choice
Awards. Two of our hosted authors received awards, and we
congratulate both the authors, Ryan Keith and Graeme, and their
editors -- our own Aaron and Rain.
Ryan received the Best Protagonist/Main Character in a Non-GA-
Hosted Story award for his Kayden and Zac character Kayden. Our
Aaron is the editor of the on-going Kayden series.
Graeme's New Brother received the Best Non-GA-Hosted Story of the
Year Award and also the Best Supporting Character from a Non-GA-
Hoted Story, for the New Brother character Adam. Aaron edited New
Brother for Graeme.
Graeme also received the award for Best Fall 2006 Anthology Entry,
for his "Trick or Treat?" Halloween story. Our Rain edited that story for
Graeme. It's not on our site, but here are direct links to it at four other
sites: GayAuthors, AwesomeDude, DeweyWriter, The Story Lover.
Feb. 22, 2007: A very special friend of The Mail Crew, J.L., whom we've
never met personally but who has given us encouragement since soon
after we started this web site, will undergo a cardiac procedure today
and we wish him well. Our hearts and prayers are with you, dear friend!
HAPPY 19th BIRTHDAY to Jon of our crew! We love you, bro. Jon
and his partner Chris, who turned 19 last month, were two of the
founders of our crew way back in 2003. They're still together and they're
still a joy to all of us.
Feb. 14, 2007: Happy Valentine's Day to all of you. Thank you for
being friends of The Mail Crew.
Grasshopper has written a new story! "Kinda Like Getting Cats to
Walk in a Parade" is a Valentine's Day special treat.
Feb. 12, 2007: A year ago today, we added to our Authors Speak to
Teens page an essay by Grasshopper. If you missed it or want to re-
read it, here's "My Name is Grasshopper and I'm Left-Handed". It's a
feel-good piece -- pure, wonderful Grasshopper; a teen speaking to
teens.
Approximately a year ago, the Codey's Place section was added to the
AwesomeDude site, featuring Codey's poems and stories. A little over
six months later, Codey's Place grew into Codey's World, a separate,
independent member of The AwesomeDude Family of Sites. Codey's
World is expanding rapidly and features stories, novels and poetry by a
growing number of authors. Codey's own wonderful and powerful novel
From the Heart has just been added, as well as a Valentine's Story
Collection that includes the works of several authors. It's all good!
Dewey has posted Chapter 24 of the popular Brian and Pete: The
Power Within at DeweyWriter.
Hey, don't forget that Valentine's Day is almost upon us!
Feb. 4, 2007: We congratulate the Indianapolis Colts on their 29-17
win over the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI, which turned out to be a
rainbowl. We also congratulate the Bears for winning their conference
championship and appearing in tonight's game. We admire Colts head
coach Tony Dungy’s courage and his conviction of faith in saying –
during the post game show on international television – that he and
Bears head coach Lovie Smith are not only the first African-American
head coaches to be in the Super Bowl, but also that they are both
Christians who are proud to have shown “that it can be done The Lord’s
way.” Outstanding! (Both coaches are known for never having adopted
the screaming, yelling, cursing, 'you'd-better-be-afraid-of-me' style of
coaching.)
Feb. 3, 2007: The e-mails we've gotten about No Name-Calling Week
show that it went well at most of the schools that participated. It
seems to us that middle school and high school students behaved much
better than Rosie, Barbara and The Donald.
We have all of our crew, including our college guys, together here at
headquarters for Super Bowl weekend. We'll be watching the Colts beat
the Bears tomorrow night. Go COLTS!!!
Most of the sites linked from our Stories page have new material. Check
out Gabe Duncan's new design for his Lonely Ocean site, with new
photography, poems, etc. CRVboy has added some new stories and
authors, as well as his usual timely additions of new story chapters.
Over at DeweyWriter, Dewey's "The Power Within" is up to Chapter
23, and there are three new story additions by Graeme, whose stories
are hosted at several sites.
Codey's World has new additions, including the hosting of additional
authors. We like the recently added Cartoon Mischief feature on the
home page. We're looking forward to new writings by Codey, coming
soon.
AwesomeDude Radio has returned to the AwesomeDude site, where
you'll find new poems, new stories, and updates to serialized stories.
The Dude is also the webmaster at Sequoyah's Place, where
Sequoyah's latest great story, Saga of the Elizabethton Tarheels has
grown to 12 chapters.
The Story Lover's Home will soon be two years old. Check it out for
added stories and some redesign and remodeling.
Mr. Don Hanratty, the award-winning author of Working it Out, has
added Chapter 27 to his fantastic Beloved, which you'll find here.
Enjoy the Super Bowl !!
Jan. 13, 2007: HAPPY 19TH BIRTHDAY to Chris of our crew!
Good ol' Chris is still calm and level-headed, helping keep us on track.
He's doing quite well in his first year of college. We have a long holiday
weekend for extra party time. ^-^
January 22 thru January 26 will be the fourth annual No Name-calling
Week. The project, inspired by James Howe's novel The Misfits, is a
joint effort of GLSEN and Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, along
with more than 40 national partner organizations. Originally aimed at
middle school students, the idea quickly spread to high schools as well.
We appreciate the contributions of all of you who are involved with the
project at your schools.
Jan. 1, 2007: HAPPY NEW YEAR!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ERIC! We love you, big dawg!
Eric's birthday always reminds us that summer vacation is ripping by too
fast. We hope you're all having a great summer and a safe one. If you
find time for reading, check out the sites linked from our Stories page
for lots of new additions.
A reminder: you can catch SIRIUS OutQ's hourly GLBT news updates
online without subscribing to SIRIUS satellite radio. OutQ News on
Channel 109 is linked from the purple box on the righthand side of this
page. Just click on the little speaker icon.
July 4, 2010: We wish everyone in the U.S. a safe and happy
Independence Day weekend, as we observe our nation's 234th birthday.
Today we also celebrate the 69th birthday of Trey's grandfather, who is
like an extra grandpa for all of us. We love you, Pops!
June 28, 2010: We've just had a party weekend, because the oldest
member of our crew is 24 today. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAVID!! We had
thought that David and Susan would be married by now, but we're still
waiting for a wedding.
David and Susan are still helping the crew by addressing questions from
supportive straight people who write to us after finding out that a friend
or family member is gay.
June 20, 2010: HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to our dads and to
fathers everywhere. As always, we also say "Happy Father's Day, Pops"
to Trey's grandfather, who has been Eric's substitute dad for years.
Eric's dad was killed by a drunken driver when Eric was a toddler.
We're fortunate that those old boys are our friends and dads, not just
our biological fathers. We love you guys!
June 18, 2010: We were recently reminded of a series of books that
many GLBT people have found helpful in being true to their spirituality
while remaining true to their sexuality. We recommend to you the
bestselling Conversations with God trilogy and subsequent books
(including Conversations with God for Teens) by Neale Donald
Walsch. These works are available at your neighborhood and online
booksellers, and also at Mr. Walsch's website.
If you're not out to your parents -- or even if you are -- be aware that
it's getting easier for them to track what you do online, by using
services such as the free Norton Online Family. Check out the "Want to
see it in action?" video on that site. A service that's aimed at helping
parents track your social networking activities is SafetyWeb. That one
charges a small monthly fee for 24/7 monitoring.
We hope all of you who are on summer break from school are being safe
and staying above it.
If you find time for recreational reading, be sure to visit the sites linked
from our Stories page. ^-^
May 9, 2010: HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all of our moms and to all
moms and mums who visit our site. We're always thankful that we have
wonderful mothers who accept us and love us as we are. You're the
greatest, and we love you very much!
May 8, 2010: We congratulate all of you who are or soon will be Spring
semester graduates of your high school or college. We specifically offer
congrats to five of our crew members who were awarded their Bachelor's
degrees this afternoon -- Billy, Chris, Jon, Scot and Todd. Those guys
plan to stick around for grad school and will begin work on their Master's
degrees in the Fall term.
After a year-long drought, Friday Night Lights, one of our all-time
favorite TV dramas, is finally back on the air for its fourth season at
NBC. Unfortunately, NBC.com is no longer offering online episodes from
the first three seasons of FNL, but the new season's episodes will be
there. We like Coach Taylor's motto: "Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose."
Is there anyone who's not a Glee fan? That phenomenally popular
musical dramedy is now in its second season, with full episodes online
at www.fox.com/watch/glee. Gay character Kurt's role has been
expanded for the new season. Two Glee soundtrack CDs have reached
the TOP 10, and the first season is available on DVD. There's an app for
that. There's a fun Glee app for iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad.
There's also an app named "J and D" for Jason and deMarco, a young,
gay Christian singer/songwriter duo who have been together for eight
years now. We're All Angels, a documentary film featuring Jason and
deMarco, was produced in 2007. After showing in selected theatres, it
had a successful television run on Showtime in 2008 and is now
appearing on LogoTV. In the inner circle of contemporary Christian music
production, Jason and deMarco have been virtual outcasts because of
their sexuality, but have published six albums. They've traveled across
the country and to other countries sharing their faith, their music and
their lives. They share a special message for GLBT youth; one that
shows the reality of being Christians who have a lasting, monogamous
gay relationship. Check out this selection of delightful, heart-warming
scenes from We're All Angels.
Have a safe and happy Summer break from school!
April 19, 2010: Friday's 14th annual National Day of Silence was the
best yet! At some schools it was actually cooler to participate than not
to participate. There were some schools, though, where NDoS was far
from popular, with only one or two brave students participating. As
usual, there were some isolated instances of interference by faculty
and/or administration. Props to everyone who took part in NDoS!
HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY to Andy of our crew! We partied in his honor
over the weekend. ^-^ Andy and Wade are still our A&W duo. They'll
soon complete their third year at their university, across town from the
rest of our crew. They're a lot of fun, still as artsy-fartsy as ever.
April 11, 2010: HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Scot, who was one of the early
members of our crew. He's 22 today, and has been enjoying a wild
weekend. Scot and his partner Todd are still our techies.
Just a reminder -- the sites linked from our Stories page are frequently
updated with new material. Sequoyah, one our favorite authors, now
has 61 chapters of Saga of the Elizabethton Tarheels at Sequoyah's
Place. Check it out!
April 8, 2010: The 14th annual National Day of Silence will be Friday,
April 16. The National Day of Silence brings attention to anti-GLBT
name-calling, bullying and harassment in schools. The first Day of
Silence, at the University of Virginia in 1996, drew about 150
participants. The 2009 event saw hundreds of thousands of students at
more than 8,000 middle schools, high schools, colleges and universities
participating in the largest single student-led action aimed at creating
safer schools. If you haven't done so already, please visit this site for
information and ideas, and to get involved. Participation in the National
Day of Silence is very rewarding. Enjoy it!
April 4, 2010: HAPPY EASTER to all who celebrate this wonderful
occasion. This morning, all members of our crew attended Easter
services at our churches, knowing that God does not hate us, and
believing that He loves us for accepting ourselves as He made us and
for not questioning His wisdom.
We again recommend The God Box, a novel about being a gay
Christian teen. Excerpts and reviews are available at the Alex Sanchez
website. Mr. Sanchez also wrote the Rainbow Boys trilogy and other
award-winning novels. His site includes GLBT youth resource links.
Have a wonderful day!
March 11, 2010: One of our Asian friends has led us to Rainbow
Harvest, a website based in Singapore. The site presents an extensive
collection of op-ed pieces (some expressing quite liberal interpretations
of certain areas of the Bible) and news items of interest to gay
Christians and to people who question the reality that GLBT folks can
be Christians. It's an intriguing site.
Birthdays!! We say Happy Birthday to Wade, who turns 21 today, and
to Todd, who will be 22 on the 14th. Wade and his partner Andy are
still across town at their artsy-fartsy university, but they visit us often.
Todd and his partner Scot are still our techies, dealing with the site's
technical issues. We'll celebrate those birthdays all next week.
Spring Break!! We're leaving town late Friday and heading to some
beaches. We wish everyone a most excellent Spring break!
February 22, 2010: HAPPY 22nd BIRTHDAY to Jon of our crew!
We had some parties during the weekend, celebrating a bit early. Jon
and his partner Chris, whose 22nd birthday was last month, were among
the founders of our crew a long time ago, way back in 2003. They are
still a joy to all of us.
So, who's ready for Spring break? We're planning a road trip for our
break next month. We're going to get away to a warm place. We're
actually tired of snow, so maybe we're growing up. ^-^
January 13, 2010: We wish Chris of our crew a very, very Happy 22nd
Birthday. He's still the most level-headed one of us and still keeping us
on track, with a bit of help from his partner Jon. We love you,
Christopher!
Codey's World has experienced a changing of the guard. After Codey
passed away in November of 2007, his partner Tim stepped into the role
of site owner/manager. Honoring Codey's intention to always have a
teen as the face of CW, Tim, on January 2 -- which would have been
Codey's 20th birthday -- turned the day-to-day operation of Codey's
World over to Azyclar. Azy is a teen who lives in New Zealand and has
served for some time as an assistant webmaster at CW. Tim has
stepped into the background, but remains as site owner and advisor.
Codey's World is seeking young authors. If you're a teen writer, please
consider submitting your work to Codey's World. Submission Guidelines
During this post-holiday return to school, if you have time for
recreational reading, remember to visit the sites linked from our Stories
page. It's all good!
January 1, 2010: HAPPY NEW YEAR!
December 25, 2009: Merry Christmas to all who share with us
the joy of this occasion, as we celebrate the reason for the season.
Peace and good will to all~
December 20, 2009: HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Billy!! Today is
BillyBoy's 22nd. He's one of the original members of our crew and one of
the founders of the e-mail group that started all of this in January of
2003 -- the original group at our own high school. Billy is now a senior
(year 4) in college, majoring in sports marketing. He's still Aaron's
partner and just as lovable as ever. It's party time!
Speaking of partying, during this busy season of fun and parties it's
important to stay above it, so that we'll be here to make 2010 our best
year yet. Right?
December 16, 2009: As always at this time of the year, we wish all of
you the very best during the holiday season. No matter which holiday or
holidays you observe and celebrate, we think you'll enjoy reading or re-
reading Drake Hunter's "A Yule Tale". This is the seventh season for
that heart-warming story of peace and goodwill that the author sent to
us in December of 2003. Merry Christmas, Drake!
Another "as always" for us is that we're asking our families to gives us
little for Christmas, but instead to donate to a local orphanage and to a
local shelter for the homeless. Please consider including charities in
your holiday giving, especially organizations that benefit youth.
At Codey's World you'll find some great holiday reading, including
Codey's own "A Ghost of Christmas Past" and "A Christmas Wish",
along with the Codey's World 2009 Fall and Winter Holidays Collection.
The Carolina Scribbler's "A Smokey Mountain Christmas" is a perennial
favorite at DeweyWriter.
A year ago we posted Chapter 5 of the "Zac and Kayden" segment of
Ryan Keith's Kayden series. Ryan has completed Chapter 6, and our
Rain is now editing it. We expect to have it posted before the new year.
We're in the middle of final exam week. It's good to get that over with
before the holidays. Good luck to all who're taking exams!
November 26, 2009: Happy Thanksgiving to our friends here in
the USA and best wishes to our friends in other countries. As we
celebrate Thanksgiving with our families, we are especially grateful for
the blessings of your kindness and your friendship. We're also thankful
for all of the men and women, including some of our friends, who are
stationed around the world in service to our country.
Peace and love from our crew,
Aaron, Andy, Billy, Chris, David, Eric, Jon, Rain, Scot, Todd, Trey, Wade
October 27, 2009: HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Rain! Our youngest full-
time crew member is 19 today. Now a college sophomore, he has
chosen a major. He wants to be an English teacher, and we think he'll
be a good one. Birthday parties will have to wait until the weekend.
What a college football season! Lots of great games every weekend.
Our Southeastern Conference is again powerful, with three of the top
ten teams -- #1, #2, and #9.
If you have time for recreational reading, you'll find something you like
linked from our Stories page. It's all good.
October 3, 2009: The youngest of the founders of our crew and of this
website becomes legal for all vices today. HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY,
AARON!! Aaron is now a first-year medical student, working toward a
career as an orthopedist in sports medicine. He has had to give up
editing for Ryan Keith and Graeme, but he makes time for his partner
Billy. They're still quite a happy couple.
On October 11, 1987 the original National AIDS Quilt was unfurled in
Washington, DC during a half-million-strong equality march and rally.
Each year since then, October 11 has been designated by the Human
Rights Campaign as National Coming Out Day. Because this year's
NCOD will be on Sunday, school-related activities and observances will
take place on Monday the 12th.
Each year at this time GLBT people who are not out are challenged by
various slogans, such as "stop living a lie and instead be true to
yourselves and others" and "live open, genuine, authentic lives." Those
concepts are very tempting, but we encourage caution.
For teens, we strongly advise that if you're not out at home, don't come
out at school just to please people who are promoting NCOD. If you
come out at school, your parents will find out. You know your home
situation and you have a good idea of what will happen. If you're sure
you're ready to come out to your family, do that before October 11, and
then get their input on your coming out at school -- on National Coming
Out Day or any other day. If you come out to your parents, please direct
them to our For Parents page.
We embrace unity and a sense of community among GLBTQI people,
and we believe that as members of our generation quietly and
peacefully find our places within that community we will help to weaken
the stereotypes that make people reluctant to come out, even to
themselves.
September 20, 2009: Summer will officially end on Tuesday, a month
and more after the fall/winter school term started for many of us in the
northern hemisphere. We're already looking forward to snow days.
The Secret to Teen Power by Paul Harrison is a recently published
follow-up to The Secret, the mega-bestselling inspirational book by
Rhonda Byrne. The Secret to Teen Power covers such topics as
friendships, relationships, schoolwork, and self-image, while explaining
how young people can bring joy and harmony to all aspects of life.
Check it out at your favorite online or neighborhood bookseller.
We've added links here and on our Links page to Brody's Notes &
Scribbles. Brody is a journalist with an attitude -- an "erase hate"
attitude. His daily updates are pertinent to GLBT issues worldwide, and
he supplies links to many news sources and to resources relevant to our
lives. Brody is currently writing a serialized novel that is hosted by
Codey's World. What about Max? is told from the viewpoint of
Meghan, in the aftermath of an attack on her gay brother.
Most of the sites linked from our Stories page have updates and
additions. Enjoy!
August 15, 2009: Today, the third of the three oldest members of our
original crew turns 23. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TREY!! We love and admire
you more than you know.
It's school! With the new year, if you're starting an e-mail group for
your school, be sure to consider the suggestions on our How It Works
and Do/Don't pages. Those were created before the advent of social
networking and video-clip sites, but are still applicable. Your group is
local, for your school only -- private and confidential. The networking
sites can be useful in a broader, global sense, but be very careful what
you make public there.
As we always say, let's make this the best school year yet!
July 18, 2009: Our second-oldest founding crew member is 23 today.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ERIC! We love you, big dawg!
Eric's birthday always reminds us that summer vacation is ripping by too
fast. We hope you're having a great summer and a safe one, staying
above it. If you find time for reading, check out the sites linked from our
Stories page for lots of new additions.
A reminder: you can catch SIRIUS OutQ's hourly GLBT news updates
online without subscribing to SIRIUS satellite radio. OutQ News is
linked from the purple box on the righthand side of this page.
July 4, 2009: We wish everyone in the U.S. a safe and happy
Independence Day holiday weekend, as we observe the 233rd birthday
of our nation.
Today we also celebrate the birthday of Trey's grandfather, who is like
an extra grandpa for all of us. That old firecracker is 68 today. We love
you, Pops!
June 28, 2009: Our oldest crew member turns 23 today at 4:23 pm, ET.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAVID! David, one of our founders, is still engaged
to Susan, and we're still waiting for a wedding. They were delaying it
until after college graduation. That happened last month, and they'll be
entering graduate school in August. It's time for a wedding!
David and Susan are still important to our crew, handling questions from
straight guys and girls who write to us after finding out that a friend or
family member is gay. We're going to make sure that David has a
memorable birthday, as usual. ^-^
June 21, 2009: HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to our fathers and to fathers
everywhere. We're always thankful that those "old guys" are our friends
and dads, not just our biological fathers. As always, we also say "Happy
Father's Day, Pops" to Trey's grandfather, who's been Eric's substitute
dad for years, and who's an extra grandpa to all of us. Eric's dad was
killed by a drunk driver when Eric was a toddler.
Happy first day of summer, everyone! You'll find great summer reading
at the sites linked from our stories page.
May 25, 2009: We hope the long Memorial Day weekend is and has
been a good one for all our friends here in the United States. Our
freedom to enjoy family gatherings, parades, picnics, swimming, water
skiing, baseball games, car races, and other activities was earned by
those whose lives and service we honor today. May we always
remember, respect, and be grateful for their sacrifices.
May 10, 2009: HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all of our moms and to
all moms who visit our site. We're always thankful to have wonderful
mothers who accepts us and love us as we are. You're the greatest, and
we love you very much!
Like many of you, we have been busy with final exams. Good luck to all!
April 19, 2009: Another one of our crew has a weekend birthday.
HAPPY 20th BIRTHDAY, Andy! Andy and Wade are still our A&W duo,
and will soon complete their second year across town from the rest of
our crew, at their "artsy-fartsy" university. They're doing quite well.
Friday's National Day of Silence was a big success, from that we've been
hearing. There were some isolated instances of interference by faculty
and/or administration, but students generally reacted positively.
Tweeting apparently replaced texting as this year's most popular
alternative to talking. Props to everyone who participated in NDoS!
April 12, 2009: HAPPY EASTER to all who celebrate this wonderful
occasion. This morning, all members of our crew will attend Easter
sunrise services at our churches, knowing that God does not hate us,
and believing that He loves us for accepting ourselves as He made us
and for not questioning His wisdom.
We again recommend The God Box, a novel about being a gay
Christian teen. Excerpts and reviews are available at the Alex Sanchez
website. Mr. Sanchez also wrote the Rainbow Boys trilogy and other
award-winning novels. His site includes GLBT youth resource links.
Have a wonderful day!
April 11, 2009: HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Scot of our crew, who turns 21
today. We love you, bro! This is Scot's first Easter weekend birthday
since his 16th, which was on Easter Sunday. Scot and his partner Todd
are still our techies.
Last night marked the end of the third season of NBC's Friday Night
Lights, one of our all-time favorite TV dramas. The critically acclaimed
series has already been renewed for two additional seasons. If you've
missed any of this great show, all three seasons' episodes are online at
this site, along with soundtrack CDs, season DVDs, and even a replica
of Matt Saracen's Dillon Panthers no. 7 football jersey. ^-^
April 9, 2009: The 13th annual National Day of Silence will be Friday,
April 17. The National Day of Silence brings attention to anti-GLBT
name-calling, bullying and harassment in schools. The first Day of
Silence, at the University of Virginia in 1996, drew about 150
participants. The 2008 event drew hundreds of thousands of students at
over 8,000 middle schools, high schools, colleges and universities. If
you haven't done so already, please visit this site for information and
ideas, and to get involved.
We know from experience that a slightly modified version of NDoS works
very well. We encourage students to participate as usual in teacher-led
classroom discussions, but otherwise to remain silent throughout the
day. By alienating fewer students and teachers, that approach leads to
more participation. No matter how you, your friends and anti-bullying
allies approach the day, participation in the National Day of Silence is
very rewarding. Enjoy it!
April 8, 2009: We've been busy since the last entry on this page.
Spring break was great, with better weather than last year. We met new
friends and enjoyed catching up with some we had met on previous trips.
Writers and webmasters have been busy, too. Check the sites linked
from our Stories page for recent additions. Sequoyah's Saga of the
Elizabethton Tarheels has grown to 48 chapters, Dewey's The Power
Within is up to Chapter 31, Graeme's award-winning The Price of
Friendship (hosted by four sites) now includes 15 chapters, Noah at
Orbital One has 21 chapters, and Don Hanratty's Beloved sports 36.
We congratulate the University of North Carolina Tarheels basketball
program for winning the NCAA national championship game Monday
night. UNC now has five championships, joining Indiana University in
third place, trailing the University of Kentucky's seven and UCLA's
eleven championships.
We know that many of you have enjoyed and learned from MTV's Pedro:
The Movie. It's now available on MTV's website, where President Bill
Clinton offers these comments regarding AIDS activist Pedro Zamora,
his mission and his message.
We were young kids when Pedro passed away in 1994, but some of us
remember seeing him in bits and pieces of The Real World: San
Francisco. The complete 20-episode 1994 San Francisco season is now
available online, here. We applaud MTV for bringing back that 15-year-
old series. Every 9 1/2 minutes, someone in the U.S. is infected with
HIV. Please, get the facts and be a part of the solution.
March 14, 2009: Today another one of our original crew members turns
21. Happy Birthday, Todd! Todd and his partner Scot deal with our
site's technical issues.
We're on the road today, heading toward our Spring break destinations
-- New Orleans first and then the beaches of Florida. Birthday boys Todd
and Wade will have a week-long party. ^-^
Early notice: On April 1, MTV will premiere Pedro: The Movie. Click
here for info and a trailer.
March 11, 2009: Today we're wishing Wade, who's still Andy's partner,
a Happy 20th Birthday, but the partying will have to wait until the
weekend and next week. Spring break is next week for both of our
universities, so we're leaving town Saturday morning.
Happy Spring Break, whenever yours happens. ^-^
February 28, 2009: Congratulations are in order! Again! Earlier this
week, GayAuthors.org announced their 2008 Members' Choice Awards.
Graeme, one of the contributors to our Authors Speak to Teens feature,
won Best Non-GA-Hosted Story of the Year for his novel The Price of
Friendship, and he won Best Anthology Story for his "Street Life"
short story. Graeme won the 2006 and 2007 Story of the Year awards,
so this makes three in a row for him. All of his novels and short stories
are hosted by AwesomeDude, Codey's World, DeweyWriter and The
Story Lover's Home.
We're very proud of our Aaron and Rain for editing Graeme's work. Aaron
edited the 2006 and 2007 award-winning novels and he and Rain are co-
editing the 2008 winner, which is a serialized work in progress. Rain
edited the award-winning "Street Life" with some input from Aaron.
Spring break has already started for some, even though it's still
February. Ours will be mid-March; many will have to wait until April.
Y'all know to stay away from Mexico this year, right? Have fun
elsewhere, and be safe and wise. ^-^
February 22, 2009: HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY to JON of our crew!
Jon and his partner Chris, who turned 21 last month, were among the
founders of our crew way back there in 2003. They're still a joy to all of
us. It's been a party weekend and it's not over yet. ^-^
We've been having fun watching YouTube sensation Bo Burnham, who
next month will be the youngest person (18) ever to appear on a
Comedy Central Special. Go Bo! Bo yo! Bo has a CD/DVD combo pack
coming out next month, and a couple of movies later in the year.
February 20, 2009: Someone recently reminded us of the stories by
John Tucker, aka JET, that are hosted at CRVboy. The writer passed
away while on a vacation cruise a couple of years ago, but his stories
are still popular.
At alien son, Chapter 10 of Black Dog is up, completing the excellent
novel that explores the life of Australian teen Michael as he recovers
from a major traumatic event. The novel is posted chapter-by-chapter
and also as a complete novel in .pdf format.
Don Hanratty, the award-winning author of Working It Out, has
resumed work on his great second novel, Beloved, and now has 34
chapters on his site.
Harrod200's novel Noah has grown to 18 chapters at Orbital One.
Check it out if you like scifi.
February 15, 2009: We've been without power again. This time due to
strong winds on the 12th bringing down trees and power lines that
survived the ice storm in weakened condition. We hope everyone had a
great Valentine's Day!
February 5, 2009: We were without power for several days because of
the major ice storm that hit numerous states. We're up and running
now, though, and finally can recharge all of the electronic gadgets that
we can't live without.
Today is the final day of existence of that malicious gossip site, Juicy
Campus. Good riddance!
January 25, 2009: The sixth annual No Name-Calling Week is Jan. 26
thru 30. The project, inspired by James Howe's novel The Misfits, is a
joint effort of GLSEN and Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, along
with more than 40 national partner organizations. Again this year,
additional funding has been provided by a generous grant from Cisco
Systems. We appreciate the efforts of all of you who are involved with
the project at your middle school or high school. You're taking a stand
against bullying in your scholastic environment. You rock!
January 24, 2009: Tonight we gathered all of our crew and some
friends to watch a Lifetime Red Carpet Premiere. Tonight’s movie was
one that we had been asked to mention here in News/Updates, but due
to the subject matter we wanted to see it before we recommended it. It
will be encored tomorrow night, Jan. 25, at 8 pm ET/PT and again on
Jan. 27 at 9 pm ET/PT on the Lifetime network.
We very enthusiastically recommend Prayers for Bobby, and we wish
that every person on Earth, especially GLBT young people and their
parents, could watch it. The film, rated 9 of 10 stars on The Internet
Movie Database, is based on the 1995 Leroy Aarons nonfiction book of
the same name. If you feel uncomfortable during the course of the
movie, please stick with it. The ending is very positive and powerful.
We are grateful to Bobby’s mother for pursuing her quest for
enlightenment, which led to her continuing work with PFLAG.
January 13, 2009: We wish Chris of our crew a very, very HAPPY 21st
BIRTHDAY. His level-headedness is still keeping us on track, and he's
still Jon's partner. We love you, Christopher!
As predicted, the Florida Gators won that national championship. The
Southeastern Conference still rules college football!
January 7, 2009: We hope holiday vacations have been great for
everyone. We'll start a new semester on the 12th, so we still have a
few days of frivolity and buffoonery.
We've seen a great bunch of college football bowl games, 33 so far. The
34th and last one of this season is tomorrow night's BCS Championship
game, and we predict that Florida (led by 2007 Heisman Trophy winner
Tim Tebow at quarterback) will beat Oklahoma (led by 2008 Heisman
Trophy winner Sam Bradford at quarterback) for the national title.
We were favorably impressed by tonight's first episode of The Real
World: Brooklyn, the 21st season of that series. The eight housemates
-- one more than usual -- are an interesting bunch, and they made it
through the whole first episode without screaming and yelling at one
another. The group of 20- to 24-year-olds includes a personal
trainer/model/actor who won a Best Abs on the East Coast contest, an
Iraq war veteran, a gay guy (who trains dolphins and whales) whose
early life was so bad that he left home at age 13, a virgin metrosexual
Mormon, an aspiring professional hip-hop dancer, a post-op
transgendered girl, an ex-lesbian (???), and one humongous set of
boobs. There's a bromance developing between the metrosexual and the
war veteran. Check out realworld.mtv.com, where each full episode
will be available soon after its original telecast.
Don't forget to drop in on the sites linked from our Stories page. ^-^
January 1, 2009 HAPPY NEW YEAR!
December 25, 2008: Merry Christmas to all who share with us the
joy of this occasion, as we celebrate the reason for the season. Peace and
good will to all!
December 20, 2008: HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Billy!! Today is
BillyBoy's 21st, so he's now fully legal for all sorts of mischief that he's
already been up to. Billy is one of the original members of our crew and
one of the founders of the e-mail group that started all of this in
January of 2003 - the original group at our own high school. Billy is now
a junior (year 3) in college, majoring in sports marketing. He's still
Aaron's other (better?) half, and still as lovable as ever. It's party time!
Speaking of partying, during this busy season of fun and parties it's
important to stay above it, so we'll be here and be able to make 2009
our best year yet. Right?
Peace and joy!
December 19, 2008: Final exam week is over! We finished today, and
all of us did very well. We hope.
If you receive an e-mail from writeraaron (at) themailcrew (dot) com,
delete it without opening it. It's not from our Aaron, but from a
spammer who has sent thousands of e-mails using that address.
We often recommend the essay written by Grasshopper for our Authors
Speak to Teens feature. It's definitely a "feel good" piece. If you
haven't already, check it out. It's called "My Name is Grasshopper and
I'm Left-Handed". All of the contributions to that feature are good.
A month ago, we posted Chapter 5 of the "Zac and Kayden" segment
of Ryan Keith's Kayden series, but failed to mention it here in
News/Updates. We did post a notice in Ryan's One Life and More
Yahoo! group, though, so the word has spread. It's another good
chapter in the continuing saga of Kayden, Zac and their friends.
More story news: alien son has added Chapter 9 of Black Dog to his
site; Harrod200 has added Chapter 16 of Noah at Orbital-One; Dewey's
The Power Within has grown to 29 chapters at DeweyWriter;
Graeme's The Price of Friendship is up to Chapter 7 at
AwesomeDude. More of the sites linked from our Stories page have
new material. Check out the Christmas decorations at Penguin Huggle.
Good job, Mikie!
December 17, 2008: As always, at this time of the year, we wish all of
you the very best during the holiday season. No matter which holiday or
holidays you observe and celebrate, we think you'll enjoy reading or re-
reading Drake Hunter's "A Yule Tale" that is linked from the green box
on our Stories page. This is the sixth season for that story of peace and
good will that was sent to us in December of 2003. Merry Christmas,
Drake!
Another "as always" for us is that we're asking our families to give us
little for Christmas, but instead to donate to a local orphanage and to a
local shelter for the homeless. Please consider including charities in
your holiday giving, especially organizations that benefit youth.
At Codey's World you'll find more good Christmas reading, including "A
Smokey Mountain Christmas" by The Carolina Scribbler, as well as "A
Ghost of Christmas Past" and "A Christmas Wish" by Codey.
November 27, 2008: Happy Thanksgiving to our friends here in
the USA and best wishes to our friends in other countries. Many of you
have helped and encouraged us in various ways and at various times
during the past few years. We are thankful for each and every one of
you, and we hold you dear to our hearts. Today, as we celebrate
Thanksgiving with our families, we are especially grateful for the
blessings of your friendship and your kindness.
Peace and love from our crew,
Aaron, Andy, Billy, Chris, David, Eric, Jon, Rain, Scot, Todd, Trey, Wade
November 4, 2008: One year ago today the world lost a brilliant and
wonderful young man, 17-year-old Codey, founder of Codey's World.
We miss him. His website now includes a memorial section created by
his partner Tim, with the help of Azy and Ben. The About Codey
message was written by Tim. Please visit the Codey Memorial, read
the guestbook entries, and feel free to add your thoughts. Our favorite
of Codey's many fine poems is I Danced with Unicorns.
October 27, 2008: HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Rain! Our youngest full-
time crew member turned 18 today, Monday, but we had his parties
during the weekend. Rain is doing very well as a college freshman, and
he's still finding time to do some editing for a couple of authors. We
love you, Rain!
We thank Jim, who edits for one of the most popular authors on the
Internet, for providing re-formatted .PRC files of Don Hanratty's Working
It Out and Brew Maxwell's Foley-Mashburn Saga. The new files, linked
from the bottom of our Stories page, are more eBook device-friendly
than the older ones.
Chapter 8 of Black Dog is now at alien son, one of the sites linked from
our Stories page. The site confronts the reality of depression and
suicide and provides links to pertinent information and helpful sites that
deal with those subjects.
Exercise your right to vote!
October 13, 2008: Happy Thanksgiving to all of our Canadian friends.
We hope you're enjoying your long holiday weekend!
October 7, 2008: On October 11, 1987, the original National AIDS
Quilt was unfurled in Washington, DC during a half-million-strong
equality march and rally. Each year since then, October 11 has been
designated by the Human Rights Campaign as National Coming Out
Day. Because this year's NCOD will be on Saturday, school-related
activities and observances will take place on Friday or Monday.
As usual, GLBT people who are not out are being challenged to "stop
living a lie and instead be true to yourselves and others" and to "live
open, genuine, authentic lives." Those concepts are very tempting, but
we encourage caution.
We embrace unity and a sense of community among GLBT people, and
we believe that as members of our generation quietly and peacefully
find our places within that community we will help to weaken the
stereotypes that make people reluctant to come out, even to
themselves.
For teens, we strongly advise that if you're not out at home, don't come
out at school just to please people who are promoting NCOD. If you
come out at school, your parents will find out. You know your home
situation and you have a good idea of what will happen. If you're sure
you're ready to come out to your family, do that before October 11, and
then get their input on your coming out at school -- on National Coming
Out Day or any other day. If you come out to your parents, please show
them our For Parents page.
Sequoyah is back! His Saga of the Elizabethton Tarheels will resume
soon, with Chapter 47. All of Sequoyah's wonderful stories and novels
are at Sequoyah's Place, a site created and maintained by the
AwesomeDude.
Check out Codey's World and the other sites linked from our Stories
page for new material. It's all good.
Unfortunately, we didn't hear anything new in tonight's McCain/Obama
debate. We'll be diplomatic again and call it a tie.
October 3, 2008: The youngest of the founders of our crew and of this
website leaves the teen ranks today. HAPPY 20th BIRTHDAY,
AARON!! Eric and Trey say that you have officially outgrown the
nickname "Squirt" that they saddled you with shortly after your 14th
birthday. You're a big boy now. We love you, bro.
Aaron somehow always finds time to help anyone who needs him. He's
still editing for Ryan Keith and for Graeme, and working toward a career
as an orthopedist in sports medicine. He and Billy are still partners, and
we foresee no change in that commitment.
We were surprised by the performance of Levi's future mother-in-law in
last night's debate. She did better than political pundits had predicted.
Fact: Tobacco companies spend more than one million dollars per day --
yes, per day -- promoting their products on college campuses.
September 26, 2008: It's been too long since we visited this page.
We have spent most of our available spare time this month working
with a local non-partisan voter registration drive. We were disrupted by
a freakish (for our section of the country) windstorm on the 14th that
left hundreds of thousands without power, some for more than a week.
November 4 is only six weeks away, and time is growing short for
registering to vote. Historically, only about 40% of 18- to 24-year-olds
vote in presidential elections. Let's raise that percentage!
We have added links on our Stories and Links pages to alien son. The
site addresses the subjects of depression and suicide and also hosts
Black Dog, the story of how Michael, an Australian teen who suffers a
major traumatic event, deals with the psychological aftermath of that
event. We heartily recommend alien son.
Tim of Codey's World has been finding stories and poems by Codey
that were unpublished at the time of his death. "A Ghost of Christmas
Past" is one such work that is now at Codey's World in text and as a
reading by Ben W. Blue. Enjoy that and many new postings of stories
and poems by several authors, including some newly hosted ones.
Graeme has two new short stories and the first chapter of a new novel
at your favorite Graeme-hosting sites. Don't forget to visit all of the
sites linked from our Stories page, most of which have new material.
We have received numerous e-mails commenting on our August 29
mention of Australian Olympic gold medalist Matthew Mitcham. Most of
those e-mails refer, either favorably or unfavorably, to the fact that we
didn't mention that Matthew is gay and was the only openly gay male
athlete among the 10,500 athletes who competed in the 2008 Olympic
Games. The favorable comments came from younger writers and the
unfavorable comments came from older writers. That's interesting. In
praising Matthew's accomplishments as a diver, we saw no reason to
mention his sexual orientation. We do appreciate the well-documented
fact that he is open about his orientation, and yes, we do see that as a
possible encouragement to other gay athletes. That's an expanded topic.
We're going to be diplomatic here and call tonight's Obama/McCain
debate a tie. We're looking forward to watching Levi's future mother-in-
law in the vice-presidential candidates' debate.
August 29, 2008: With school having already started for many and
soon to start for the rest, we're working with some new e-mail groups
and their leaders. We really appreciate your efforts. Although your local,
school-specific groups are facing more and more competition for
students' time, you know you're making a positive difference locally,
even against the odds. The social networking, video clip, RPG and
virtual world sites can be useful and entertaining, but addictive and
isolating.
Author Ryan Keith is working on a new chapter of "Zac and Kayden" in
the popular Kayden series. He has a new email address, which we've
highlighted on our index page for his stories.
Ryan's birthday was on the 27th and Tim of Codey's World had a
birthday yesterday. Happy Birthday to you guys!
Check out the sites linked from our Stories page for new material.
We're glad to know that The Dude of AwesomeDude is back in action
following a health-related absence that included a hospital stay. He's
been busy this week covering the Democratic convention in Denver.
Dude is one of the newsmen for the OutQ 109 LBGT channel on Sirius
Satellite Radio.
We're very proud of Michael Phelps and all of the American athletes who
competed so well in the Olympics, but we believe that the single most
impressive performance of the entire 2008 Olympic Games was
Australian Matthew Mitcham's final 10-meter platform dive that earned
a record all-time-high Olympic diving score of 112.10 points. Awesome!
We wish everyone here in the U.S. a happy, safe and fun-filled Labor
Day holiday weekend. Enjoy it!
August 15, 2008: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TREY!! Today, the third of
the three oldest members of our original crew turns 22. Trey, more than
anyone, has been the foundation of our group, from its beginning in
2002, to the starting of the original e-mail group in January of 2003,
and the birth of this website in August 2003. Trey is a leader, and not
just because he's a bit over 6'5" tall, which is about an inch taller than
his partner Eric, and about two inches taller than David, the third of our
22-year-olds. Trey is big of heart, soul and spirit, and he always stands
up for what he believes to be right and just. Trey, we love and admire
you more than you know. Believe it, big bro.
Y'all probably aren't doing much reading during this busy back-to-school
time, but check out the sites linked from our Stories page. Lots of new
stuff is available, from both new and established writers.
August 3, 2008: School's starting! How can this be happening so soon?
Some schools start as early as this week. Let's make it the best school
year yet!
With the new year, if you're starting an e-mail group for your school, be
sure to follow the suggestions on our How It Works and Do/Don't
pages, and contact us if you have problems or questions. Your group is
local, for your school only -- private and confidential. Beware of
involving your group in any of the social networking sites. Those sites
can be useful in a broader, global sense, but be very careful what you
make public there.
Robb at CRVboy previously announced a July 31 closing of his forum,
but he's decided to keep it going on a smaller scale. It's still there, so
check it out!
If you've been waiting for the completion of Grasshopper's Just One
Starfish, the 17th and final chapter has been posted. To find it, click
here and scroll down to the chapter list.
Click here for an AwesomeDude Forum topic that includes a link to an
important article about HIV+ Americans. Be safe!
Codey's World is hosting poems and stories by new writers Heather
Rose Brown and Merkin, plus some new work by other authors, including
Colin Kelly. All of the sites linked from our Stories page are excellent
sources of entertainment and enlightenment. ^-^
July 18, 2008: We send a special Get Well wish to Sequoyah, who is
taking a break from writing as he recovers from some health issues,
including spinal surgery. His latest novel, Saga of the Elizabethton
Tarheels, has grown to 46 chapters, available at Sequoyah's Place,
the site created by AwesomeDude for the hosting of all of Sequoyah's
work. Sequoyah's stories have been a positive influence in many
people's lives, including ours. His contribution to our Authors Speak to
Teens feature is here.
When the latest Alex Sanchez novel The God Box was published last
October by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, we read it and
recommended it here in News/Updates. We enthusiastically repeat that
recommendation. Lots of teens -- and some adults -- have written to
tell us about how that book has enlightened and comforted them. From
the book's dust jacket: "With candor, conviction, and compassion, Alex
Sanchez dramatizes the plight of teens who struggle to balance their
homosexuality and their deeply felt religious beliefs. An important,
heartfelt book that deserves a wide readership."
If you're struggling with conflicts between your sexuality and your faith,
please click here for links to important sites for GLBT people of all ages
who are of the Christian, Jewish, Mormon, and Muslim faiths. There's
also a link about that ex-gay thing.
The sites linked from our Stories page have been busy with updates. At
Orbital-One, Noah now includes 14 chapters. Updates at Codey's
World, AwesomeDude, DeweyWriter and The Story Lover's Home
include some new stories by Graeme, one of our favorite writers. Gabe
at Lonely Ocean has been busy this summer, as you'll notice in his
site's blog, which includes more of his impressive photography.
We haven't done any multi-state traveling this summer, and we miss
that. Most of us are attending summer sessions or doing co-op
programs, and that keeps us off the highways.
It's party time this weekend, though. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to ERIC!!
That big guy, Trey's partner, is 22 today. He's one of our founding
members and our resident jokester/prankster/clown. We love you, dawg!
We hope everyone's enjoying the summer -- and staying above it.
July 8, 2008: Our friend and yours, Grasshopper, has shared with all
of us his feelings about a significant event in his life. If you cry a bit
along with Jamie, as we did, when you read his journal, bless you! And
bless you, Jamie, for sharing.
If you haven't read "My Name is Grasshopper and I'm Left-Handed"
in our Authors Speak to Teens feature, be sure to check it out. You'll
surely be glad you did.
July 4, 2008: We wish everyone in the U.S. a happy and safe
Independence Day holiday weekend, as we observe the 232nd birthday
of our nation.
We're also celebrating another birthday. Trey's grandfather was born 67
years ago today. "Pops" is like an extra grandpa to the rest of us, and
we'll enjoy the annual July 4th barbecue and fireworks display at his
place today and tonight. It's always a fun-filled gathering of friends and
family. We love you, Pops, you old firecracker. Happy 67th!
June 28, 2008: The oldest of our founding crew members turns 22
today, at 4:23 pm, ET. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAVID!!! David and Susan
are still engaged, but will wait another year to get married, after
college graduation. They're still important to our crew, corresponding
with other straight guys and girls who write to us after finding out that
a friend or family member is gay. We'll make sure that David has a
memorable birthday. We love you, big guy!
June 15, 2008: HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to fathers everywhere, and
especially to ours. We're fortunate that those 'old guys' are our friends
and dads, not just our biological fathers. As always, we also say "Happy
Father's Day, Pops" to Trey's grandfather, who has been Eric's
substitute dad for years, and who's an extra grandpa for all of us. Eric's
dad was killed by a drunk driver when Eric was a toddler.
We have all of our crew together for the weekend, and we're making
today a Dads and Lads day. We'll take the old boys to a baseball game
this afternoon and then grill steaks for them tonight. Actually, it'll be
steaks for our dads and our moms, and for some more friends, and
maybe there'll even be some left over for us.
Hey, you'll find good summer reading at the sites linked from our
Stories page. ^-^
May 27, 2008: We hope the long Memorial Day weekend was a good
one for all our friends here in the United States. Our freedom to enjoy
family gatherings, picnics, swimming, water skiing, baseball and other
activities was earned by those whose lives and service we honored
yesterday. Let us never forget their sacrifices.
We won't be doing as much traveling as in past summers, because
some of our guys will be attending summer sessions and others will be
doing summer internships. We do hope to spend a little time on some
beaches, though.
Grasshopper has a new story!! The introduction and 10 chapters of
Just One Starfish have been posted at IOMFATS. This one revisits
some of Grasshoppers past characters, Gabriel of Just Hit 'Send' and
Brian of "Whispers from the Past".
Chapter 28 of Dewey's The Power Within of the popular Brian and Pete
series is now at DeweyWriter. There are lots of additions at the sites
linked from our Stories page, including CRVboy, AwesomeDude, The
Tickie Story Pages, and The Story Lover's Home.
Over at Codey's World some new story chapters have been posted, and
Ben W. has been busy writing poems and making audio recordings of
them.
DaBeagle is still up and running, contrary to rumor, and is sporting new
material, including the complete Tales from the Quarry by Driver.
Make it a great summer!!
May 11, 2008: HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all of our moms and to all
moms who visit our site. We're always grateful to have been blessed
with wonderful mothers who accept us and love us as we are. You're the
greatest, and we love you very much!!
May 10, 2008: CONGRATULATIONS, GRADS! We congratulate all of
you who are or soon will be Class of 2008 graduates. Our Rain will
graduate from high school next week. Rain is the only high schooler
currently holding a full time position with our crew.
Trey, Eric and David have just completed their third year of college and
Todd, Scot, Jon, Chris, Billy and Aaron their second. A few miles away
from those guys, Andy and Wade's freshman year will end next week.
As always, we encourage e-mail groups to stay active during the
summer and to recruit new leaders to replace those who are graduating.
Let's make it another great summer!
In story news, most of the sites linked from our Stories page have
updates. Some of them update as often as twice weekly. There are new
audio files of Codey's fables at Codey's World, and a recording of a new
short,short by Blue.
We've previously mentioned the GLBT radio news at SIRIUS OutQ 109,
where The Awesome Dude, Michael Wengert, is one of the news
anchors. You can catch OutQ News online without subscribing to
SIRIUS, by clicking the "Listen Now" arrow in the purple box on the right
hand side of this page: www.sirius.com/outq
April 30, 2008: We're hearing positive things from all around the
country regarding last Friday's National Day of Silence. It was a huge
success, although there were some publicity-seeking protest attempts
at isolated spots in a few states. This year, student groups at a record-
smashing number of schools and colleges/univerities (8,500)
participated in NDOS. Outstanding!!! Monday's anti-gay Day of Truth
again this year was totally ineffectual -- rather silent, actually.
Check this out! www.posornot.com It's a very thought-provoking and
educational project from mtvU and The Kaiser Family Foundation.
If you've been waiting to read the complete "Anything We Want-Paul"
by Driver, well, go for it now. The Paul section of what we hope is the
first of several sections is complete with the posting of Chapter 18 at
Stories by Driver.
We'll be back soon with some story updates and more. It's a busy time
as the semester is coming to a close, with all those projects to finish
and papers coming due.
April 19, 2008: Another birthday! Party time! HAPPY 19TH BIRTHDAY
to Andy. Andy and his partner Wade, our lovable and colorful "A&W"
duo, will soon complete their freshman year of college, and they're
doing very well.
Grasshopper's latest novel, Darkfall, is now complete with the posting
of Chapter 30 and an epilogue. Don't miss this one!
Sequoyah's Saga of the Elizabethton Tarheels has grown to 45
chapters. We appreciate The Awesome Dude's work in creating and
maintaining Sequoyah's Place, where you'll find all of Sequoyah's
stories and novels. The other sites linked from our Stories page
frequently add new material for your enjoyment.
A year ago, we told you about an interesting man named Randy, a
California cowboy whose nickname is Mule. Mule's Ride of Ages is
"unique campfire theater on trails through yesterday, today and
forever." He's still active, and his unique website includes details of his
life and his shows.
All of our crew experienced our first earthquake very early yesterday
morning, a 5.2 that shook much of the Midwest and South. Whoa!
Interesting, but spooky. Thankfully, no injuries have been reported.
Have a great weekend!
April 11, 2008: HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Scot of our crew, who turns 20
today. Party weekend coming up! We love ya, bro! Scot and his partner
Todd solve our technical problems. Well, usually.
Our Dedication page lists Pedro Zamora (1972-1994) as one of the
people to whom this website is dedicated. The story of Pedro's brief life
is a source of inspiration and enlightenment for us, so much so that he
is definitely on our "we wish we could have known you" list. During last
week's The Real World Awards show on MTV, Pedro was remembered
and honored in a special video tribute that includes President Clinton's
praise of Pedro. Click here to watch it again, or for your first time. Judd
Winick, one of Pedro's Real World castmates, who appears in the clip,
created the graphic novel Pedro and Me: Friendship, Loss and What I
Learned, a book in pictures and words that has won numerous awards.
Pedro came to The United States from Cuba, with his parents, when he
was eight years old. "You can be more" is a favorite quote of our friend
Blue over at Codey's World. Pedro was more. Much more.
Monday April 14 will be the 5th anniversary of OutQ Channel 109 on
SIRIUS satellite radio. THE Awesome Dude, Michael Wengert, is one of
OutQ's news anchors. Launched on April 14, 2003, SIRIUS OutQ's
exclusive programming includes talk, entertainment, news, politics and
more. In its first five years, SIRIUS OutQ's news team has provided
unique and insightful coverage for the LGBT community, with more than
11,000 newscasts covering 44,000 stories.
SIRIUS OutQ recently expanded its news resources and launched OutQ
News online at www.sirius.com/outq. Updated hourly, this online stream
features the latest headlines straight from the OutQ News desk,
delivering a unique and exclusive service from a large, dedicated team
of journalists covering the gay community.
April 9, 2008: The 12th annual National Day of Silence is coming up on
Friday, April 25. The National Day of Silence brings attention to anti-
GLBT name-calling, bullying and harassment in schools. This year's
event will be held in memory of Lawrence King, a California 8th-grader
who was shot and killed on February 12 by a classmate because of his
sexual orientation and gender expression. If you haven't already, please
visit this site for information and ideas, and to get involved. We know
from experience that our modified approach to NDoS works very well,
with minimal backlash from anti-GLBT forces. We encourage students to
participate as usual in teacher-led classroom discussions, but to remain
silent otherwise. That approach leads to more participation, by
alienating fewer students and teachers. No matter how you and your
friends and anti-bullying allies approach the day, participation in the
National Day of Silence is very rewarding. Enjoy it!
March 23, 2008: HAPPY EASTER to all who celebrate this wonderful
occasion. We hope that all people of other faiths also have a wonderful
Sunday. This morning, all members of our crew will attend Easter
sunrise services at our churches, knowing in our hearts that God does
not hate us, but that He loves us for accepting ourselves as He made us
and for not questioning His wisdom.
Last October, we recommended the latest Alex Sanchez novel, The God
Box. We now repeat that recommendation. We've received e-mails from
lots of teens who love the book, and some who say that it has helped
them feel comfortable with returning to church. We hope more of you
will check out book excerpts and reviews at the Alex Sanchez website.
Mr. Sanchez wrote the Rainbow Boys trilogy and other award-winning
novels.
March 14, 2008: Hey, yet again, from Rain. Today we say Happy
20th Birthday to crewmember Todd, Scot's partner. Todd, Scot and
all the rest of our college guys are still Spring breaking in Florida and
they're lovin' it, in spite of the cool and wet weather.
There's a new chapter of Dewey's The Power Within segment of the
very popular saga of Brian and Pete, at DeweyWriter.
DaBeagle has new material, and the site will remain active, reversing
their earlier announcement that they would be closing soon.
Happy Spring Break, whenever yours happens. Rain
March 11, 2008: Hey again from Rain. Happy 19th Birthday to
crewmember Wade, Andy's partner. The birthday party is in Florida,
where all of our college guys are still enjoying Spring break. Being in
high school, so I'm stuck at home, watching the snow melt.
There's now a link on our Stories page, and one here, to The Cove, a
site that is, among other things, one of several sites that host a group
of stories known as The Clan Short Universe. The site hosts more than
twenty authors and a growing number of stories. Greybear, the
webmaster and one of the authors, updates the site weekly. Check it
out! Rain
March 8, 2008: Hey, from Rain. All of our college guys left yesterday
for Spring break at some of Florida's beaches. Both of the universities
they attend have break next week. They got away while we were under
a winter storm warning, but before the snow was deep. That warning
was later changed to a blizzard warning, which is still in effect as I
write this, early on Saturday morning. It's still snowing heavily. Forecast
is for a total snowfall of more than 15 inches from this storm. It's
almost Spring. Daylight saving time starts tomorrow. Blizzard? Whoa!
Well, I think good weather will be here by the time my high school's
break starts at the end of this month.
Even if you missed American Idol on Tuesday night, you've probably
seen at least one of the many clips of Jason's performance. This one
includes some personal remarks, the song, and then the judges'
comments. Laptop speakers don't do it justice -- try some good audio
and pump up the volume. Almost-always-negative judge Simon C.
declared Jason's performance to be "absolutely brilliant". It was.
Viewers have voted the 20-year-old Texas A&M student through to the
next round.
Check the sites linked from our Stories page for new material, including
new chapters of Sequoyah's Saga of the Elizabethton Tarheels,
Grasshopper's Darkfall, and Driver's Anything We Want. We anticipate
some additions at Codey's World, tomorrow. AwesomeDude Radio is
still cranking out the tunes.
Hey, everyone who is on or will soon be on Spring break -- have fun and
be safe and wise! Rain
February 22, 2008: HAPPY 20th BIRTHDAY to Jon of our crew! Jon
and his partner Chris, who turned 20 last month, were among the
founders of our crew way back in 2003. They're still together and they're
still a joy to all of us. Weekend parties coming up!
February 18, 2008: Congratulations are in order! Graeme, one of
the contributors to our Authors Speak to Teens feature, has won the
Best Non-GA-Hosted Story of the Year award in the 2007 Members'
Choice Awards, announced today by GayAuthors.org, for his novel
Heart of The Tree. If you wonder why "The" is capitalized in that title,
you'll understand when you read the novel. It's hosted, along with the
rest of Graeme's work, at AwesomeDude, Codey's World, DeweyWriter
and The Story Lover's Home.
Last year, Graeme won the same best-story award for his novel New
Brother, which is hosted here on our site and also at the sites linked
above.
We're very proud of our Aaron for editing both of Graeme's award-
winning novels.
February 14, 2008: HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY to all of you. Thank
you for being friends of The Mail Crew. We appreciate you!
Blue, editor and designer at Codey's World, has made an audio
recording of the "My Two Cents Worth" essay that Codey contributed
to our Authors Speak to Teens feature. We intend to add the audio link
to our web page that contains Codey's essay, but for now we can't get
that done because our working file of that page has been hacked and
corrupted by an outside source. We'll get that worked out, and
meanwhile, here's a link to the recording, and we were able to add one
on the Authors Speak to Teens page, too.
February 3, 2008: Wow! What a game! We're lovin' the 12-point-
underdog Giants' 17-14 Super Bowl victory over the season's only
(previously) undefeated team, the Patriots. In case you missed it, the
Giants scored the come-from-behind winning touchdown with only 35
seconds left on the game clock. It's cool that quarterback Eli Manning
led his team to the win and achieved MVP status a year after his
brother Peyton led the Colts to the 2007 Super Bowl championship and
was Most Valuable Player of that game.
Yesterday, on Groundhog Day, our Eric saw his shadow, so we'll have
six more weeks of winter. ^-^
The new "Darkfall" story of Grasshopper's that we mentioned on Jan.
24, when it first appeared, now has 9 chapters posted, plus the
prologue, and several new chapters will be added each week.
The awesome Dude at AwesomeDude has added RealPlayer and
QuickTime options for listening to AwesomeDude Radio, which is
linked from the AD home page.
Camy, one of the hosted authors at Codey's World, has written music
for Codey's poem/song "Broken Heart" and he and his band have
recorded the song. It's amazing! LINK to the lyrics and the recording.
Hey, have a great week, everyone!
January 25, 2008: We recommend the autobiography Out of Sync: A
Memoir by Lance Bass of the band *NSYNC. The 28-year-old frankly
discusses life as a young gay man who grew up a Southern Baptist,
including his struggle to "stay in" until his eventual coming out at the
age of 27. The enlightening book is available at your favorite online and
neighborhood booksellers. It's already being hailed as an important read
for questioning teens.
Stories by Driver webmaster CRVboy has posted Driver's latest:
Chapter 13 of "A Horse Named Phil" and Chapter 6 of "Anything We
Want". Driver's work is among the most highly-praised on the Web.
January 24, 2008: GRASSHOPPER is back! It's Only Me from Across
the Sea, the home site for his stories and novels, is hosting
Grasshopper's newest work, Darkfall. Click here and scroll to the
bottom of the page for links to the prologue and five chapters. It's great
to see you back, man! Grasshopper is a contributor to our Authors
Speak to Teens feature, where his jewel of an essay, "My Name is
Grasshopper and I'm Left-Handed" is very popular.
We join millions of folks from all around the world in mourning the
untimely death of actor Heath Ledger. Our thoughts and prayers are
with his family, loved ones and friends, and most especially with his
and Michelle's daughter, Matilda Rose.
January 22, 2008: In early November, following the passing of Codey
of Codey's World, we met through e-mail a university pre-med student
who used the pen name Jonathan Davis as one of the hosted authors
at The Tickie Story Pages. We enjoyed our contacts with Jason, aka
Jonathan. We sadly note that Jason and his partner Nicky, both
honorary grandsons of Tickie, recently died in a traffic accident. Please
visit this page for details and a link to a site where you can light a
candle for them. May God bless them and keep them.
January 21, 2008: It's been a good three-day holiday weekend. The
winners of yesterday's conference championship games in the NFL were
the Giants and the Patriots. It's been fun watching quarterback Eli
Manning lead the underdog wild-card Giants to playoff wins these last
three weekends, earning a slot in the Feb. 3 Super Bowl.
National No Name-Calling Week started today, but most schools,
including ours, were closed for Martin Luther King Day. Still four days to
go, though, and we know a lot of you are involved in the project at your
schools. It would be amusing to see the politicians try it for even one
day.
As usual, most of the sites linked from our Stories page have updated
content. Included in those updates is the addition of Chapters 8 and 9
of Noah at Harrod200's Orbital-One.
The Dude of AwesomeDude is a newscaster on the OutQ 109 LGBT
channel on SIRIUS satellite radio. Each morning he does three brief
hourly newscasts. Each day's newscasts and those of the preceding few
days are available at the AwesomeDude site, linked from the Gay Radio
News button on the home page's navigation bar. In other AD radio
news, for those who would prefer Windows Media Player for listening to
AwesomeDude Radio, that choice has been added to the service.
January 15, 2008: Coming next week: January 21 thru 25 will be the
fifth annual No Name-Calling Week. The project, inspired by James
Howe's novel The Misfits, is a joint effort of GLSEN and Simon &
Schuster Children's Publishing, along with more than 40 national partner
organizations. Added financial support this year comes from a generous
Cisco Systems grant. No Name-Calling Week was originally aimed at
middle school students, but was soon expanded to include high schools.
We appreciate the contributions of all of you who are involved with the
project at your schools. You rock!
January 13, 2008: We wish Chris of our crew a very, very HAPPY 20th
BIRTHDAY. Chris has made it through another year of keeping the rest
of us on track, with his calmness and level-headedness. He and his
partner Jon are doing well in their second year of college. We're having
a weekend-long birthday celebration/party. ^-^
January 12, 2008: For our crew and for many of you, schools are either
starting second semester or finishing up first semester. Welcome back
to school! If you've been thinking of starting an e-mail group, now's a
good time to run with that. Reread our How It Works and Do/Don't
pages before you start, okay?
On our Stories page we've added links to some sites that deserve
attention. We hope you enjoy the offerings at Penguin Huggle, Orbital-
One, and The Tickie Story Pages.
January 2, 2008: Today would have been Codey's 18th birthday. In his
honor, during 2008 there will be a special festival celebration at
Codey's World. As we had told some of you, it was scheduled to get
underway today, but we'll have to update its status at a later time.
January 1, 2008: HAPPY NEW YEAR!
December 31, 2007: A recently published national survey indicates
that only 14% of American teens still use e-mail daily to communicate
with friends, while 55% use social networking sites. Our concept for
local, private, school-specific e-mail groups has taken some hits from
the soc net sites the last couple of years, but it's still alive. Two Nova
Scotia students used e-mail in recruiting friends at their school to take
part in a brilliant anti-bullying campaign, which they called "a sea of
pink". We don't know if an established e-mail group was involved, but
the use of e-mail instead of a soc net kept their project localized,
contributing to its success. Check out the news article and related
comments posted in the forum at Codey's World. If you scroll down a
few posts in that forum topic (past the pink pistols), you'll see a link to
the actual published article complete with photos of the heroes.
We can't let the year slip away without some story news. Chapter 26 of
Dewey's The Power Within segment of his Brian and Pete series has
been posted at DeweyWriter, where you'll also find several serialized
stories by newly-hosted author Retta, and the final chapter of Graeme's
Heart of the Tree. If you've been waiting for the complete Heart of the
Tree to be posted before starting to read it, go for it now. It's also at
the other sites that host Graeme's work, including The Story Lover's
Home, AwesomeDude and Codey's World. Those sites as well as
CRVboy all have lots of new stories and updates.
Sequoyah's wonderful Saga of the Elizabethton Tarheels has grown to
42 chapters at Sequoyah's Place, a site created and maintained by The
Dude of AwesomeDude. Chapter 32 of award-winning author Don
Hanratty's Beloved has been posted at the Don Hanratty Official Site.
"Anything We Want" is a new story showing up at Stories by Driver,
with two chapters posted so far.
The mighty Southeastern Conference has nine teams in bowl games,
and all four that played today and yesterday won their games. Four
more will play in major New Year's Day games, and LSU will play in the
BCS National Championship game on January 7. The SEC rules college
football! Not as strong as usual in basketball, though, this season.
Y'all be safe and careful all through New Year's Eve and New Year's
Day, ya hear?
December 29, 2007: We're lovin' it! A good break from school made
better by all of the college football bowl games (there will be a total of
32), and tonight's pro football clash between the New York Giants and
the undefeated New England Patriots. Go Giants!
For the Bible Tells Me So is an award-winning documentary that was
recommended to us by Davis Mallory, one of the housemates of MTV's
The Real World: Denver. We're impressed by what we've seen at the
film's official website and in these video clips. From the website:
"Through the experiences of five very normal, Christian, American
families -- including those of former House Majority Leader Richard
Gephardt and Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson -- we discover how
people of faith handle the realization of having a gay child or family
member." The website gives screening locations and dates through
January, and those are kept up-to-date. Information is given for pre-
ordering (at a 25% discount) the DVD that will be released on February
19. Thanks, Davis, for telling us about For the Bible Tells Me So.
We'll be back soon with some story update news, and more. ^-^
December 25: Merry Christmas! to all who share with us the joy
of this occasion, and Happy Holidays to all who observe other holidays during
this season. Peace and good will to all!
December 24, 2007: We have a holiday gift for all, from Ryan Keith.
Chapter 4 of the Zac and Kayden segment of Ryan's Kayden series is
now available here. It's a long chapter that includes some nice
surprises for fans of Ryan's stories.
Most of the sites linked from our stories page have updates that you
can enjoy during your Christmas/Winter/Holiday break, if you find some
free time away from all of the partying, family gatherings, etc. ^-^ Be
safe and well!
December 20, 2007: HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Billy. Today is what Billy
calls his 20/20 birthday. He's 20 on the 20th. BillyBoy is one of the
original members of our crew and one of the founders of the e-mail
group that started all of this in January of 2003 - the original group at
our own high school. Billy is now a college sophomore, still Aaron's life
partner, and still as lovable as ever.
Enjoy your school vacations and stay safe! We're getting into some
major partying for our birthday boy. ^-^
December 18, 2007: As always, we wish everyone the very best during
the holiday season. Our holiday is Christmas, but no matter which
holiday or holidays you observe and celebrate, we think you'll really
enjoy reading or re-reading Drake Hunter's "A Yule Tale" that is linked
from the green box on our Stories page. This is the fifth season for that
story, and it still draws many readers. Merry Christmas, Drake!
Another "as always" for us is that we're asking our parents to give us
less for Christmas and to donate instead to a local orphanage and to a
local shelter for the homeless. Please consider including charities in
your holiday giving, especially organizations that benefit youth.
Back in August, we thanked Jim, editor for a popular Internet author, for
sending us the LRF eBook files of Brew Maxwell's Foley-Mashburn
Saga and of Don Hanratty's Working It Out. Jim has now formatted
those works as PRC files, which we've added to the site and linked from
our PDF page. Thanks once more, Jim! The PRC eBook files can be
downloaded to and read by any device that supports the free
Mobipocket eBook Reader application, including PCs and various
PDAs, cell phones and eBook readers.
Hey, let's all be sure to stay above it during this busy season of fun
and parties, so we'll be here to make 2008 our best year yet.
December 14, 2007: Hey, hey, hey! We're still here. Thanks to all who
have expressed concern about us. It's just that the last few weeks have
been mainly consumed by term papers, research projects, preparing for
first-semester final exams, etc. Today was the end of finals week for
our college guys at both universities. Rain and his high school buddies
will have their finals the first three days of next week.
During our Christmas/holiday/winter break we'll be adding some new
links to other sites and revising the text on some of our pages, and
we'll catch up on our visits to other sites and forums. Also, Aaron will
finish the final edit of the next chapter of Ryan Keith's Kayden series.
Meanwhile, we hope you'll keep up with what's going on over at
Codey's World, and also check out Penguin Huggle, a cool site by
Mikie, a friend of Codey's World. At that site, in its Memorial Hall,
there's a tribute section devoted to memories of Codey.
November 22, 2007: Happy Thanksgiving to our friends here in
the USA and best wishes to our friends in other countries. Many of you
of our generation and of our parents' and grandparents' generations
have helped and encouraged us in various ways and at various times.
We are thankful for each and every one of you, and we hold you dear to
our hearts. Today, as we celebrate Thanksgiving with our families, we
are especially grateful for the blessing of your kindness.
Peace and love from our crew,
Aaron, Andy, Billy, Chris, David, Eric, Jon, Rain, Scot, Todd, Trey, Wade
November 4, 2007: With great sadness, we make the following
announcement: At 9:15 this morning, Codey, the founder of Codey's
World, passed away at the age of 17, five years after an auto accident
took his parents and brothers and left him with ongoing and eventually
overwhelming health problems. We shall always remember our brother-
in-spirit Codey, as we appreciate all that he accomplished through his
creative writing and his website, for the benefit of GLBT teens and folks
of all ages. We could never be more proud of anyone than we are of
Codey's partner, 16-year-old Tim, who was at Codey's side, holding his
hand, as Codey's brilliant, inimitable spirit left his impaired body, to fly
free. Free to dance with unicorns, if he chooses. Codey's World will
continue to grow, under the able direction of Tim, Ben, Colin and others.
October 31, 2007: We want to thank all of you who have responded so
kindly, whether by e-mail or simply in your thoughts and prayers, to our
Oct. 26 post about 17-year-old Codey. We want to share with you an
opinion expressed in a post to a forum thread about Codey's condition,
at Codey's World: "Caring for someone you don't personally know, and
from whom you have nothing to gain, is the purest form of love and
altruistic caring that a person can offer." Again, thank you, all of you.
Today's discouraging news is that Codey's failing kidneys haven't
restarted and that he has had dialysis. It is our understanding that he
is conscious but non-responsive to his surroundings. He will be taken
home tomorrow, according to his previously stated wishes. He has
known for some time that his time on Earth will be shorter than most of
ours, and has so bravely endured much pain and discomfort. His partner
Tim is and has been a true blessing to him, and Ben W. and Michael W.
have helped Codey realize his dreams for a website aimed at being a
safe place for teens of all orientations.
Our fervent hopes and prayers are for another comeback from the brink,
but we're trying to be prepared in case of dire news. We again ask for
your prayers and thoughts for Codey, his family and his partner Tim.
Almost two years ago, during one of Codey's hospital stays, in a state
of semi-consciousness he had a vision of dancing with unicorns. Upon
regaining full awareness, he asked Tim for pen and paper, to write of
what he had seen. The result was one of the most moving and beautiful
poems we have ever read, especially knowing the circumstances of its
creation. This is a link to the poem I Danced With Unicorns, and here
is a sample verse:
I felt the pounding of our hearts
and heard the screaming of our souls,
at the death and rebirth of all that we are,
at the pain of being made whole.
As we moved in frenzied circles,
my soul became entranced.
My heart slowly filled with joy and love,
as I, with the unicorns, danced.
May God bless you and keep you, Codey.
October 27, 2007: Our youngest crew member is turning 17 today, but
he still looks like he's about 14. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RAIN!!! Rain
is a great asset to our crew. He's a good organizer and a very talented
editor. He's recently been working with some younger high school
students who will be joining our crew and taking over some of the
duties that are still being handled by our original crew members. We
love you, Rain, and we're proud to have you as a crew member and an
honorary brother.
Everyone, have a good and safe weekend!
October 26, 2007: Our friend Codey's partner Tim has told us that
Codey was hospitalized at 2:00 this morning, in critical condition. This
latest event is another complication from a car accident several years
ago that left Codey with major, continuing health problems. We hope to
see Codey back at Codey's World soon. He is, and will continue to be,
in our thoughts and especially in our prayers. Please keep Codey, his
family, and his partner Tim in your thoughts and prayers.
October 8, 2007: Happy Thanksgiving Day to all of our Canadian
friends. We hope you're enjoying your long holiday weekend.
Many of you are familiar with the Rainbow trilogy (Rainbow Boys,
Rainbow High, and Rainbow Road) by Lambda Literary Award-winning
author Alex Sanchez, as well as his So Hard to Say and Getting It. Mr.
Sanchez' latest novel is now available, and we've already ordered some
copies. The official release date for The God Box is tomorrow. The Most
Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop and Primate of the
Episcopal Church, has said of The God Box: "Alex Sanchez evokes the
crucifying experience of adolescents wrestling with their sexual identity
as Christians. He does a remarkably faithful job of opening up long-
abused biblical passages often used as proof texts to denigrate
homosexuality. This book is a gift not just to teenagers, but to those
who love and work with them." We're stoked about the publication of
The God Box and we hope you'll check out excerpts and more reviews
at the Alex Sanchez website.
It's happening this Thursday, October 11. Yep, it's that time of year
again. National Coming Out Day. Twenty years ago, on October 11,
1987, the original National AIDS Quilt was unfurled in Washington, DC,
during a half-million-strong equality march and rally. That event has
since been observed each year on October 11.
Again this year students are asking for our advice and opinions about
the day "when closeted gay and transgender people are encouraged to
stop living a lie and instead be true to themselves and others." This
year, the Internet-based challenges aimed at GLBT people also include
the encouragement to "live open, genuine, authentic lives." That's so
tempting as to make you want even more to come out, but be cautious.
We embrace unity and a sense of community among GLBT people, and
we believe that as members of our generation quietly and peacefully
find our places within that community, we will help to weaken the
stereotypes that make people reluctant to come out, even to
themselves.
For teens, we strongly advise that if you're not out at home, don't come
out at school just to please people who are promoting NCOD. If you
come out at school, your parents will find out. You know your family
situation and you have a good idea of what will happen. If you're sure
you're ready to come out to your family (please read this first), do that
before October 11 and then get their input on your coming out at
school, on National Coming Out Day or any other day. Please show your
parents our For Parents page.
Some new authors and their stories, novels and poems have been
added to Codey's World and some at AwesomeDude. Audio versions
of some works have been posted at Codey's and more are to follow.
Some audio files are also at Dude's. If you don't feel safe reading gay-
friendly stories on the shared family computer, you can save the MP3s
for private use, or put something school-related on the screen and
listen to the stories with your earbuds or phones, as if you're listening
to tunes while doing homework. Cool!
Aaron has done the editing of the next chapter of Ryan Keith's "Zac and
Kayden" and it's with Ryan now for final alterations and additions.
We're hoping to get that one posted within just a few days.
Make it a great week!!!
October 3, 2007: HAPPY BIRTHDAY to AARON!! Okay, this is
where we would typically insert some nice words about Aaron, one of
the founding members of our crew and of this website, but he wants to
make a little birthday speech, so here he is:
October 3, 2002. That was the day of my 14th birthday, and I fully
intended it to be my last day on Earth. Had it all planned. A simple
plan, really. Just wait until evening and take the whole new refill batch
of anti-depressant tablets that I'd been given the day before.
I was out to my parents and they hadn't disowned me, but I felt that
they merely tolerated me, as did my (then 25-year-old) brother.
Just before lunch that day, I found a letter in my locker. Trey and Eric
had stuffed an anonymous note through one of the vent slots. They
didn't know it was my birthday, but they knew that I was sometimes
verbally abused at school and they thought I always looked sad. Their
brief letter really brightened my day and, as explained on our How It
Started page, that letter actually saved my life. I soon quit the anti-
depressant, and haven't taken it since. Shortly after that, studies began
surfacing which suggest that certain anti-depressants can contribute to
teen suicidal tendencies. Please do research on and question the doctor
about any medication prescribed for you.
October 3, 2007. It's now five years later, it's my 19th birthday, and I'm
still alive! Five years! Half a decade! It's been a wonderful five years,
and life just keeps getting better. I'm so thankful for all of the friends
I've made during all this time, and for the opportunity I've had to try
and help other GLBT teens to accept themselves and to know that there
are so many wonderful reasons for living.
As I begin my 20th year of life, I want to thank my honorary brothers of
The Mail Crew -- and all of you who visit our site -- who have been so
kind me. I want to thank my parents and my brother for accepting me
now, not just tolerating me. And of course, I thank my partner Billy for
everything he is and does. In a little over three more months it'll be five
years that we've been together, and we plan to stay together. Life is
grand! ^-^ I'm a happy birthday boy.
Thanks for your time and attention. Be safe and be well, my friends.
Sept. 29, 2007: That Back to School anthology mentioned last time is
now up at Codey's World. Check it out.
We're a couple of days late with this, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Dewey
of DeweyWriter , one of the best story sites.
It's been a while since we've mentioned Graeme's Heart of The Tree,
which is hosted at several sites, including Dewey's. It's a great story
that's nearing completion, so why not go ahead and get started reading
it? Twenty-eight of an expected thirty-two chapters have been posted.
Our Aaron is the editor of that brilliant novel.
Lots of new additions today at AwesomeDude, always a great place to
visit.
This was a Saturday of major upsets in college football. Even so, we
still think Tebow rules.
Sept. 25, 2007: We've been given a sneak preview of the Back to
School Collection that will appear at Codey's World on the 29th. Six
authors have contributed five stories and one poem to the anthology.
It's all good. Expect it on the 29th, Saturday.
Halo 3 is finally here. We must be outgrowing such things, as there's
not been much excitement among our crew about H3. Some of the
limited edition sets have disks that have been scratched by their metal
cases.
At Stories by Driver, "A Summer Story" is expanding, with the fifth
chapter posted today. At Sequoyah's Place, Saga of the Elizabethton
Tarheels has new chapters, total of 30 so far.
Sept. 16, 2007: This has been a great weekend for football, especially
at the college level. Tim Tebow rocks and rules! Go Gators!
Some recent news articles site studies that claim that as time spent
online increases, a person's number of real friends decreases, as does
his/her frequency of having sex. Hmmm. Too much tubing and spacing?
Sept. 9, 2007: HAPPY GRANDPARENTS DAY to our grandparents and
to all grandparents. You're all very special to us, and we love you!
August 31, 2007: Whoa! Long time since the last entry here. We've all
settled in to the new semester's schedules and routines, and we're
enjoying working with all of you new e-mail group leaders. Yep, we
know that your local, school-specific e-mail groups are competing with
all of the social networking, video clip and online RPG sites, and even
the teen version of Second Life, that are eating more and more teen
time and keeping teens way out there in cyberspace. But you know
you're making a positive difference locally, even against such odds. ^-^
Thanks to Jim, editor for a popular Internet author, we now have LRF
files of the complete Working It Out by Don Hanratty and The Foley-
Mashburn Saga by Brew Maxwell. These LRF files are eBooks that can
be downloaded to the free CONNECT Reader and then transferred to
the portable Sony PRS500 Reader or to the older Sony Librie 1000. The
LRF file links are now on our PDF Page and here: F-M Saga -
Working It Out
On our Stories page, we've added a link to Codey's novel From the
Heart. We had permission to host the novel here at TMC, but instead,
since our guys Scot and Todd were limited by our website software and
couldn't duplicate the brilliant artwork, colors and layout done by good
ol' Blue over there at Codey's World, we've linked to it.
Codey's World has excellent new additions, including work by EleCivil,
Graeme, DesDownUnder, Rick, and Harrod200 of Orbital One.
Most of the other sites linked from our Stories page have new material,
including CRVboy, which has frequent additions. Gabe Duncan has
posted to his blog at Lonely Ocean some impressive photos taken
during his recent trip to England. The awesome AwesomeDude
continues to post new additions. While you're there, check out
AwesomeDude Radio, which will be one year old tomorrow,
September 1. At Sequoyah's Place, Saga of the Elizabethton
Tarheels, one of our newer favorites, has grown to 26 chapters. Don't
forget to check in at The Story Lover's Home and DeweyWriter,
which have some additions, and revisit DaBeagle, just 'cause it's still
there and still good.
We hope all of you here in the U.S. have a fun-filled and safe Labor Day
weekend. We need that extra day, huh? Enjoy it!
August 15, 2007: The following was written two years ago by Aaron,
and I, Rain, reposted it last year and I'm doing it again this year
because it's so good and still so true. I'm altering it only to reflect the
fact that another year has passed:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TREY!! Today, the third of the three oldest
members of our original crew turns twenty-one. Trey, more than anyone,
has been the stone foundation of our group, from its beginning in 2002,
to the founding of the original e-mail group in January of 2003, and the
birth of this website in August of 2003. He steers us toward the right
decisions when the going gets tough and cheers with us when we reach
new milestones. Trey is a natural leader, and not just because he's a
bit over 6' 5" tall. He's big of heart, soul and spirit, and he always
stands up for what he believes to be right and just. He's become a role
model for many gay teens, but it's not easy to get him to acknowledge
that fact. Trey, we love and admire you more than you can grasp.
Believe it, big bro.
The mysterious illness mentioned last time has finally left us, after
almost two weeks of misery. Just in time for the start of the new school
year, and for Trey's birthday parties.
With the new year starting, if you'll be starting a new e-mail group in
your school, be sure to follow the suggestions on our How It Works
and Do/Don't pages, and contact us if you have problems or questions.
Your group is local, for your school only -- private and confidential.
Beware of involving your group in any of the social networking sites.
They can be fun and useful in a broader, global sense, but be very
careful what you make public there.
Let's make this the best school year yet!! Rain
August 7, 2007: We returned last week from a great trip through
several states and to some of the North Carolina and South Carolina
beaches. We want to thank everyone we met for being such great
people and for visiting our website.
Twelve of the sixteen of us who went on that trip got sick the day we
came home. So far, blood tests have not pinpointed the cause of the
chills, fever, and joint/muscle/bone pain. We have "infection and fever
of unknown origin". Scot and Chris were hospitalized for two days and
nights because their fevers were over 105, but the rest of us have
stayed at or under 103.
Adding to our problems, we had one group of networked computers
crash. Our website files and software were affected, and that has
delayed our formatting and posting of a remarkable short novel written
by Codey of Codey's World. If you haven't already found From the
Heart at Codey's World, here's a direct link. We're honored to have
been given permission to host the novel on our site, and we'll
accomplish that, but it's always available over at Codey's World,
complete with impressive artwork by Blue.
We're too far behind on our summer reading lists for fall classes.
Anyone else?
Have a safe and great last-of-the-summer vacation!!
July 18, 2007: HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY to Eric, one of our founding
crew members. There's just no way to express how amazing Eric is. He's
always been our biggest jokester/prankster/clown, but he's also the
"everyone's friend" type of guy. We love you, Eric!
We've received some enthusiastic recommendations for Cryptainer LE
and Cryptainer Mobile. If others have access to or use of your
computer, Cryptainer allows you to ensure your privacy by hiding
personal files, stories, or whatever in encrypted and password-protected
vaults on your hard drive or portable media. You can send encrypted e-
mail files with the intended recipient needing only a password to
decrypt them. It's free at Cypherix. (Windows only.)
Hey, we hope y'all are having a great summer and staying safe. It's
ripping by way too fast! We're glad to be hearing how lots of you are
adding new leaders to your e-mail groups to replace those who
graduated, getting those things worked out before the new school year
starts. Cheers!
July 4, 2007: We wish everyone in the U.S. a very happy and safe
Independence Day. Happy 231st Birthday to our nation!
Today we're celebrating another birthday, too. Trey's grandfather,
"Pops", who's like an extra grandpa to all of us, was born 66 years ago
today. He says that the huge annual July 4th barbecue and fireworks
display at his place are for celebrating the country's birthday, not his.
Whatever, it's always a big, fun-filled gathering of friends and family.
We love you, Pops, you old firecracker. Happy 66th!
June 28, 2007: Our oldest crew member turns 21 today, at 4:23 pm,
ET. That's 4:23. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAVID!!! He's now alcohol
legal. Gay bar legal. But he's straight. After Eric and Trey turn 21 in July
and August, they're going to take ol' David with them to a gay bar. Just
to see what's up. ^-^
David and his beautiful fiancé (yeah, they're engaged), Susan, are still
important here, as they help straight guys and girls deal when they find
out a sibling, cousin, other family member, or best friend is gay or
lesbian. Have a great birthday, David! We love you. Rain
June 17, 2007: Happy Father's Day to fathers everywhere, and
especially to ours. We're blessed with fathers who are our friends and
dads, not just our biological fathers. As usual, we also say "Happy
Father's Day, Pops" to Trey's grandfather, who has been Eric's
substitute dad for years, and who's an extra grandpa for all of us. Eric's
dad was killed by a drunk driver when Eric was a toddler.
We're getting comments about the YouTube clips of Davis Mallory that
we linked to on the 14th -- more favorable comments than unfavorable
ones. It's important to note again that in the second clip, Davis is
dealing with a man who was a member of a group of protesters, and
that is probably the reason that he seems a bit rattled and nervous at
that point. We admire his courage.
June 14, 2007: Hey, everyone. We hope the summer break is going
well for all of you. So far, we've been spending as much time outdoors
as possible, including a 10-day trip to Florida late last month.
Davis Mallory, one of the housemates of MTV's recently completed The
Real World 18: Denver, has linked to our site from his MySpace blog.
Thank you, Davis. Many of you are familiar with Davis's MTV
appearances, which include the currently-running series The Real
World/Road Rules Challenge: Inferno 3, with Davis still in the
competition as a member of the Good Guys team. Last semester, Davis
lectured on several college and university campuses across the country,
and plans to continue during the Fall '07 semester. His lecture topics
have included, among other things, alcohol abuse awareness, GLBT
issues, and some of his experiences as a gay Christian. Excerpts from
some of his lectures have been posted at YouTube. Whatever your
religious beliefs, you'll probably enjoy the following two clips from
Davis's appearance at Hastings College in Nebraska. The title of the
first one implies that Davis "twists scripture", but he disagrees with
that assessment. Davis Mallory Twists Scripture Questions for Davis
Mallory. Near the end of that second clip (the questions are from one of
the picketers who protested his appearance on campus), the loud
applause indicates that Davis was speaking to a very large group. We
too applaud you, Davis.
So, you have a summer reading list from school, right? It's good to take
a break from that stuff (uh oh, haven't started it yet?) and catch up
with the stories on the great sites linked from our Stories page. Always
something new popping up.
We send a special shout out to Codey of Codey's World, who's been a
bit under the weather lately. You're in our thoughts and prayers, buddy.
Codey's World is asking for input: "We at Codey's World want to
become barrier-free with website accessibility, regardless of visitors'
physical limitations. We would greatly appreciate your feedback in the
forum there. (Please register to reply.)" http://www.codeysworld.
com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=533 . Please take a look at that forum
thead and post anything that you think would be helpful in making the
site more accessible to those with handicaps.
To all you fans of Ryan Keith -- Aaron has begun the first round of
editing of Chapter 4 of Zac and Kayden. We're not predicting when
we'll have it posted, but soon, we hope. Those guys go through some
rewriting, re-editing, etc., before a new chapter hits the world. Takes a
while.
Are the Spurs gonna take that NBA championship with four straight
wins? We doubt it, but we'll find out tonight. ^-^
Be safe and be well.
May 28, 2007 -- Memorial Day
Today is Memorial Day in our country. We considered saying "Happy
Memorial Day". But then we discussed the fact that the day is set aside
as a time to honor those who have died in service to our country. Dying
in a war is not a happy event. More discussions revealed our belief that
those who have been lost would want us to be happy that their service
and sacrifices helped keep us free to enjoy this and other holidays.
Happy Memorial Day!
May 13, 2007: HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all of our moms and to all
moms who visit our site. We're very grateful that we've been blessed
with wonderful mothers who accept us as we are. You're the greatest,
and we love you very much!!
May 12, 2007: CONGRATULATIONS, GRADS! We congratulate all of
you who are Class of 2007 high school or college graduates. Our Andy
and Wade graduated from high school this week.
Todd, Scot, Jon, Chris, Billy and Aaron have successfully completed their
first year of college and Trey, Eric and David their second. Party Time!!
Our transition to the new primary e-mail account is complete and the
new address is linked from our Contact US page. The old address will
remain active as a backup, but we ask that you update your address
books with our new, more reliable address.
Let's have the greatest summer yet!!! -- even if you're going to summer
sessions. Keep those e-mail groups alive and active by adding new
group leaders to replace those who are graduating.
Be sure to check the sites linked from our Stories page for updates.
Even DaBeagle has something new!
May 6, 2007: We're pleased to announce that we've posted a new
chapter from Ryan Keith. Chapter 3 - "Into the Light" - of Zac and
Kayden is now linked from here, the page dedicated to Ryan's stories.
April 26, 2007: Young author Josh Aterovis has revised his website
and dropped the Black Sheep Productions name. The site's name is now
simply Josh Aterovis. We've updated our Stories page with the change,
and you might want to bookmark that new address.
It's already been a whole year since we posted Codey's contribution to
our Authors Speak to Teens feature. We invite you to read or re-read
it here. And we encourage you to pay a visit to Codey's World.
The posting of Part 3 of Graeme's very popular Heart of The Tree has
begun, and Chapter 17 is now at the sites where you've been following
Graeme's work, including DeweyWriter. We especially recommend
Graeme's newest short-short, "Fund Raiser", which Rain of our crew
edited earlier this week.
We haven't mentioned CRVboy for a while. It's updated each week with
new stories and new chapters of ongoing stories. Cool site.
April 25, 2007: Due to a glitch that Scot and Todd have now repaired,
some of you have received odd messages that challenge emails you've
sent to us -- mostly random, older emails. Please ignore the messages,
which might mention mailfrontier, sonicWALL, Norton, and/or
ZoneAlarm, and be assured that they are totally harmless. We're sorry
for the annoyance.
April 19, 2007: HAPPY 18th BIRTHDAY to Andy. Parties this
weekend. Andy and his partner Wade are in their second year with our
crew, along with Rain. Andy and Wade are our fun-loving, lovable and
colorful "A & W" duo, and they'll be graduating from high school next
month.
Today's anti-gay Day of Truth is expected to draw little participation,
again this year. Its originators promote their mistaken "truth" that we
GLBT kids can change or ignore or reject our natural sexual orientation.
We've recently heard from a very interesting man named Randy, a
California cowboy whose nickname is Mule. Mule's Ride of Ages is a
"unique campfire theater on a trail through yesterday, today and
forever." Visit this site to read about Mule and his life and work.
We've mentioned Codey's short novel "From the Heart" previously,
and here we go again. It's getting rave reviews on several message
boards, so we again recommend it. LINK The Codey's World site is still
growing, and now includes the works of Graeme and other hosted
authors.
April 18, 2007: Today's National Day of Silence seems to have been a
huge success. Student groups from a record number (almost 5,000) high
schools and middle schools registered with GLSEN's dayofsilence.org
before participating, and students at many other schools unofficially
took part. There were isolated problems, such as at a midwestern high
school that went on lockdown after threats of violence against DOS
participants. Anti-GLBT protesters at another school were actually
suspended after refusing to remove t-shirts bearing anti-gay messages.
Our hearts and prayers go out to the families and friends of those who
lost their lives Monday at Virginia Tech, and indeed to all the students,
faculty and staff. We're thankful that none of our VT friends were direct
victims, but that entire student body was victimized.
The next chapter of Ryan Keith's "Zac and Kayden" is getting closer.
After Aaron edited it last month and sent it back to him with some of
our comments, Ryan rewrote almost the whole chapter. We got the new
version today, and after Aaron edits it and he and Ryan toss it back and
forth again, we'll post it. Soon, we hope.
April 11, 2007: HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Scot of our crew, who is 19
today. We love ya, bro. Scot and his partner Todd keep our network up
and running. Most of the time.
The 11th annual National Day of Silence is coming up on Wednesday,
April 18th. If you haven't already been there, the site for information
and ideas is this one. We know from experience that our modified
approach to NDoS works very well, with minimal backlash from anti-
GLBT forces. We encourage students to participate as usual in teacher-
led classroom discussions, but to remain silent otherwise. That
approach leads to more participation, because it alienates fewer
students and teachers. No matter how you and your friends and allies
approach the day, participation in the National Day of Silence is actually
very fulfilling.
April 8, 2007: HAPPY EASTER to all who celebrate this wonderful
occasion. We hope that all people of other faiths also have a wonderful
Sunday. This morning, all members of our crew will attend Easter
sunrise services at our churches, knowing in our hearts that God does
not hate us and that He loves us for accepting ourselves as He made us
and for not questioning His wisdom.
March 24, 2007: More e-mail problems! When our Insight e-mail
account was taken off the temporary server mentioned last time,
Insight messed up something that affected incoming mail. Between
approximately 7:00 am (EST) on 3/22 and 4:30 pm on 3/23 all incoming
mail was lost, and Insight has now told us that they can't retrieve it. If
you wrote during that time, we didn't and won't receive your e-mail, so
we have to ask you to re-send it. We apologize for the inconvenience.
March 17, 2007: Happy St. Patrick's Day!
E-mail Problems! We were unable to receive or send e-mail from our
regular Insight address for approximately 36 hours, from early on Friday
the 16th until this evening, the 17th. We received a large batch this
evening, and then we got a notice from Insight that some of their e-
mail servers are still down and that we're on a temporary server. It's
possible that we haven't received and won't receive all of the delayed e-
mails. We're in the process of catching up with the batch we got this
evening, but if you sent an e-mail yesterday or today that is not
answered by Monday night, please re-send it. Thanks! Rain
March 14, 2007: Hey again, from Rain. Today we say Happy 19th
Birthday to crewmember Todd, Scot's partner. Todd, Scot and all the
rest of our college boys are still at the beach, and they say they're
lovin' it.
Sequoyah's Saga of the Elizabethton Tarheels has grown to 15
chapters. It's another great one from the author of A Special Place and
other wonderful stories, all available at Sequoyah's Place, a member
of the AwesomeDude Family of Sites.
Keep those local e-mail groups going and growing! It's getting tougher
and tougher to bring it home, as the social networking and video-clip
sites consume more and more teen time. Rain
March 11, 2007: Hey, from Rain. Today we say Happy 18th
Birthday to crewmember Wade, Andy's partner. We had a brief, early
party for him yesterday, but we'll have a big combo bash for him and
another crew member whose birthday is coming up soon, after the
college guys in our crew get back from Spring break at the beach. They
left yesterday. Our high school break will be next month. All of our gang
have been busy with mid-term exams and school projects, but that's
life, right?
The story sites linked from our Stories page have lots of new stuff that
we haven't mentioned, so be sure to check those out. Codey's World is
still adding new authors and hosting guest authors. Colin, aka Colinian,
a high school senior from the west coast, is now an assistant
webmaster and editor at CW, and he'll be contributing some of his
stories to the site, too.
With Spring break already started for some and coming up soon for the
rest of us, we want to urge everyone to be safe and wise while having
the time of your lives. The older folks tell us these high school and
college years are the best years of our lives. Well, maybe. Let's just
make sure they're successful, useful, safe and fun years!
Fans of Ryan Keith's Kayden series are still awaiting new chapters.
Aaron finished editing one and sent it back to Ryan a couple of weeks
ago, so we're hoping we'll soon have a final version for posting. Seems
there's maybe going to be some combining of chapters, or something
like that. Whatever happens, it'll be worth the wait. We'll let ya know.
Happy Spring Break!! Rain
March 7, 2007: We mentioned last time that our friend J.L. would
undergo a cardiac procedure on Feb. 22. That was an angiogram, and it
showed some artery blockages, so on the 23rd he had double bypass
surgery. We wish him all the best during his recuperation and cardiac
rehab. Thanks to all who wrote to express concern.
On March 4, GayAuthors.org announced their 2006 Members' Choice
Awards. Two of our hosted authors received awards, and we
congratulate both the authors, Ryan Keith and Graeme, and their
editors -- our own Aaron and Rain.
Ryan received the Best Protagonist/Main Character in a Non-GA-
Hosted Story award for his Kayden and Zac character Kayden. Our
Aaron is the editor of the on-going Kayden series.
Graeme's New Brother received the Best Non-GA-Hosted Story of the
Year Award and also the Best Supporting Character from a Non-GA-
Hoted Story, for the New Brother character Adam. Aaron edited New
Brother for Graeme.
Graeme also received the award for Best Fall 2006 Anthology Entry,
for his "Trick or Treat?" Halloween story. Our Rain edited that story for
Graeme. It's not on our site, but here are direct links to it at four other
sites: GayAuthors, AwesomeDude, DeweyWriter, The Story Lover.
Feb. 22, 2007: A very special friend of The Mail Crew, J.L., whom we've
never met personally but who has given us encouragement since soon
after we started this web site, will undergo a cardiac procedure today
and we wish him well. Our hearts and prayers are with you, dear friend!
HAPPY 19th BIRTHDAY to Jon of our crew! We love you, bro. Jon
and his partner Chris, who turned 19 last month, were two of the
founders of our crew way back in 2003. They're still together and they're
still a joy to all of us.
Feb. 14, 2007: Happy Valentine's Day to all of you. Thank you for
being friends of The Mail Crew.
Grasshopper has written a new story! "Kinda Like Getting Cats to
Walk in a Parade" is a Valentine's Day special treat.
Feb. 12, 2007: A year ago today, we added to our Authors Speak to
Teens page an essay by Grasshopper. If you missed it or want to re-
read it, here's "My Name is Grasshopper and I'm Left-Handed". It's a
feel-good piece -- pure, wonderful Grasshopper; a teen speaking to
teens.
Approximately a year ago, the Codey's Place section was added to the
AwesomeDude site, featuring Codey's poems and stories. A little over
six months later, Codey's Place grew into Codey's World, a separate,
independent member of The AwesomeDude Family of Sites. Codey's
World is expanding rapidly and features stories, novels and poetry by a
growing number of authors. Codey's own wonderful and powerful novel
From the Heart has just been added, as well as a Valentine's Story
Collection that includes the works of several authors. It's all good!
Dewey has posted Chapter 24 of the popular Brian and Pete: The
Power Within at DeweyWriter.
Hey, don't forget that Valentine's Day is almost upon us!
Feb. 4, 2007: We congratulate the Indianapolis Colts on their 29-17
win over the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI, which turned out to be a
rainbowl. We also congratulate the Bears for winning their conference
championship and appearing in tonight's game. We admire Colts head
coach Tony Dungy’s courage and his conviction of faith in saying –
during the post game show on international television – that he and
Bears head coach Lovie Smith are not only the first African-American
head coaches to be in the Super Bowl, but also that they are both
Christians who are proud to have shown “that it can be done The Lord’s
way.” Outstanding! (Both coaches are known for never having adopted
the screaming, yelling, cursing, 'you'd-better-be-afraid-of-me' style of
coaching.)
Feb. 3, 2007: The e-mails we've gotten about No Name-Calling Week
show that it went well at most of the schools that participated. It
seems to us that middle school and high school students behaved much
better than Rosie, Barbara and The Donald.
We have all of our crew, including our college guys, together here at
headquarters for Super Bowl weekend. We'll be watching the Colts beat
the Bears tomorrow night. Go COLTS!!!
Most of the sites linked from our Stories page have new material. Check
out Gabe Duncan's new design for his Lonely Ocean site, with new
photography, poems, etc. CRVboy has added some new stories and
authors, as well as his usual timely additions of new story chapters.
Over at DeweyWriter, Dewey's "The Power Within" is up to Chapter
23, and there are three new story additions by Graeme, whose stories
are hosted at several sites.
Codey's World has new additions, including the hosting of additional
authors. We like the recently added Cartoon Mischief feature on the
home page. We're looking forward to new writings by Codey, coming
soon.
AwesomeDude Radio has returned to the AwesomeDude site, where
you'll find new poems, new stories, and updates to serialized stories.
The Dude is also the webmaster at Sequoyah's Place, where
Sequoyah's latest great story, Saga of the Elizabethton Tarheels has
grown to 12 chapters.
The Story Lover's Home will soon be two years old. Check it out for
added stories and some redesign and remodeling.
Mr. Don Hanratty, the award-winning author of Working it Out, has
added Chapter 27 to his fantastic Beloved, which you'll find here.
Enjoy the Super Bowl !!
Jan. 13, 2007: HAPPY 19TH BIRTHDAY to Chris of our crew!
Good ol' Chris is still calm and level-headed, helping keep us on track.
He's doing quite well in his first year of college. We have a long holiday
weekend for extra party time. ^-^
January 22 thru January 26 will be the fourth annual No Name-calling
Week. The project, inspired by James Howe's novel The Misfits, is a
joint effort of GLSEN and Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, along
with more than 40 national partner organizations. Originally aimed at
middle school students, the idea quickly spread to high schools as well.
We appreciate the contributions of all of you who are involved with the
project at your schools.
Jan. 1, 2007: HAPPY NEW YEAR!
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| Archived News/Updates: November '03 through April '05 May '05 through December '06 |