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