rlfj: Blog

Not too much to blog about, actually. More in the continuing adventures of Carling, as he takes Marilyn on another vacation. Chapter 40 simply looks at routine college life. Very little sex, but it’s at a level that’s comfortable to me. Some people want more and some people want less. I think it’s like politics - if nobody’s satisfied, you’ve probably got it right.

Here's a preemptive strike - In the last scene of chapter 37, some readers are going to protest Carl’s behavior. He should be a better person than he behaves. Well, maybe Carl’s human after all. Much gets resolved in 38 and future chapters.

Well, Chapter 34 turned out to be longer than I thought it would be. Maybe I should have split it into two or three chapters and heightened the anticipation. Or maybe not. Quite a few people seemed to like the longer format of the chapter. Starting with this chapter, we get to meet Marilyn’s family, a decided change from Carl’s, for good or for bad. Nothing is ever easy with this guy.

There was a question as to the named angels - Gabriel, Michael, and Raphael. It was suggested that I missed a few angels. However, in the recognized canonical Christian Bible, only the three mentioned are specifically named. Others, such as Uriel, Sariel, and others, are actually listed in various Apocrypha, such as the Book of Enoch. This is where the story of Lucifer, or Satan, as a fallen angel originates. Likewise, I am not including Moroni, named as an angel by the Mormons. Whether the Mormons are a cult or Christian is best left up to the Republican primary voters, since they seem to be the only ones overly worried about it. (My take - if they are a cult, they’re a pretty well-behaved cult. I’d rather put up with the Mormons than the Moonies!)

Don’t complain about what my thoughts are as to what caused all the sexual abuse problems in the Catholic church. I don’t think that we can argue that there is a problem. Likewise, I think it is a logical certainty that unless the church begins recruiting a lot more ‘normal’ priests, the problems will continue. The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over, and expect a different result. Unless they change their doctrine and recruitment practices, this problem ain’t going away!

Everybody seemed to like the warm reception back at the old homestead, and the brotherly affection shown to Hamilton by Carl. Now Hamilton disappears back into the woodwork for a while, gone but not forgotten, and his cheerful presence will be always be felt, much like herpes.

On the personal front, Carl finally gets around to, as Ricky would say, ‘drilling that well!’ The next few chapters will be getting a little steamy!

Technical note - There was a question about whether remote controls existed in the mid ‘70s. The answer is yes, but the equipment was limited. On televisions, it was limited to the big, expensive systems. They were common to cable modem boxes, which were becoming common in the affluent Baltimore suburbs at the time, and the Towson/Lutherville area was one of the most affluent.

They were even available in the late ‘60s & early ‘70s on very high-end cars as remote starters. When I was in my early teens (1969? 1970?) my Boy Scout troop had a car wash fundraiser at a local bank. A Cadillac pulled in, and the driver got out and let us start working on the thing. After a few minutes it started up all on its own! None of us had a clue and we all jumped back and stared, and it stopped. We looked over at the driver, but he wasn’t even looking at us. We just looked at each other and went back to work, and about two minutes later it happened again. This time we caught the driver grinning at us. He showed us the remote; none of us even knew things like that existed. One hell of a surprise!

Boy, was there an outcry about hazing in frat houses! While quite a few people have written about how it brought back old memories, a number of others have been vociferous in their denunciations of the antics. Many complained about the students joining. How could they be so stupid as to go along with the abuse? Why didn’t they complain? Why didn’t they go to the cops? Why didn’t they sue? They were being yelled at constantly!

It was obvious to me that quite a few readers, who had never been in a frat, had very different views about them. It is important to remember that Greek Life has been around for well over a century and is stronger today than ever before. It obviously has an appeal to major sections of the student body, both male and female. Here’s a response I sent to one of my readers, who complained about Hell Week:

“A couple of things go on in almost any situation like this. First, these guys have been hanging around the frat house for six months by this point. They have friends among the older brothers, they eat there, they party there, they have met girlfriends there. They may well spend more time there than at the dorm. They want to be part of this group.

Second, before Hell Week even starts, their big brother will probably have confided in him, ‘Listen, it's just a week. Keep your mouth shut and go along with it. Nobody will lay a hand on you in any case. If you have a problem, find me & talk to me.’

Finally, many aspects of it are a lot of fun. The crazy projects and stunts, the camaraderie with their classmates (and the older brothers, who are there with them all the time), the drunken parties during the week - there are a lot of enjoyable aspects to it. Don't ever forget the strength of the group dynamic. You aren't the single target; you're part of a group. Many of the hazing rituals are designed to reinforce the group strength, both of the pledge class & the brotherhood as a whole.”

Finally, for all the readers who can’t understand frats and would ban their children from joining a frat or a sorority, let me give a final comment. My son went to college and didn’t join a frat. He wanted nothing to do with the fraternities on campus. Instead he joined the Drama Club. Within a very short time, much to my wife’s and my amusement, it was obvious he had joined a non-fraternity fraternity. They had their own frat house (the college theater), they roomed together, they partied together, and they even slept together. A substantial number of them were gay, and while my son was straight, he ended up sleeping with and marrying a female member of the club. Most of his wedding party was in the club. They even had hazing; they just called it auditions. But don’t ever call it a fraternity!

There are fraternities all around us, even when they don’t have silly Greek names.

PS: My son is a dreadful actor but has gonads the size of bowling balls for his bravery in going on stage!

Quite a few people wrote me about the road trip chapter, in that it brought back old memories. Personally, I never did the cross-country trip, since I was chronically broke (funny how things never really change!) and needed to work summers. However, the stunts that they got into were reported to me by reliable, if not perfectly straight and sober, individuals. In particular, the jail scene is TRUE. If anything, I toned it down, since my friend ended up sitting on a bench next to a guy charged with 2nd degree murder, and it was in Daytona during spring break. Likewise, at least one reader wrote me about catching snakes in the swamps around NOLA.

Chapter 32 sees the triumphant return of Hamilton, in all his glory. There will be more about him in the future, too. He’s sort of like syphilis, the gift that keeps on giving!