Jesus said, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink . . .?” They replied, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “You shall drink indeed of my cup . . .”
And, again, you leave us on the edge of our seat! What a unique combination of the promise and torment of young love - particularly at a distance - along with Biblical interpretation. I, too, very much appreciate your honesty and insight of you as a young man finding your way. I am looking forward to your next installment.
Thank you Robin, I appreciate your comment. It was a confusing and harrowing period in my life, which I rarely think about. But on a recent trip to Sydney, Australia I unexpectedly found a file of some of Nicole's letters in an old filing cabinet and it all came flooding back . . .
Thanks so much for this Chris. I liked it a great deal and found what you had to say not only compelling but also honest. Just one observation - if I may. One of the themes in this and your preceding piece has been (as I understand it) attitudes towards the naked human body and, with growing maturity, the lack of shame we should feel for seeing it on display. In another sense, there is a second form of nakedness on display here - namely, you have exposed yourself to your readers. And that is what makes it compelling and honest to me.
…what an epic tale you continue to spin here man…looking forward to hearing more…my grade school crush offered to kiss and date me when i visited after moving away and i made us listen to aerosmith instead and pined over the mistake all summer…oh youth…
A moving, touching, and generous account of human love Chris. I marvel at the relaxed pace and depth of your essays. It seems to me this would require more courage than I have mustered. I appreciate the inspiration.
Thank you Ariel for your kind comments--given your insightful historical scholarship it's an honor to have you comment on my writing. Now that I've finished "Nicole's Voice" and have cleared my desk of a pile of re-written and over-written manuscript pages, I'm going to read your latest article about two perspectives on the Gunpowder plot. You and @librarianofcelaeno are both publishing terrific, deeply-researched articles with a zesty personal voice about arcane topics which offer your readers revelatory insights that are relevant to our contemporary world.
Thank you for making the connection between physical and psychological / emotional nakedness. For years, I have been reticent about being so open about my life because of my three children, who are in their late 20s and early 30s and who let me know they couldn't read my two novels because of the honest manner in which I depict sexual scenes and situations. Perhaps I was foolish to allow myself to be censored.
In any case, I was inspired by @marilynsimon who is a Shakespeare scholar and writes wonderfully about human emotions and sexuality with rare insight and honesty on her extraordinary Substack. Marilyn has two teenage daughters, and she hasn't allowed the possibility of their reactions to muzzle her, and her husband re-stacked her outstanding essay https://marilynsimon.substack.com/p/on-kneeling-towards-a-philosophy which was the first piece I read by Marilyn.
So I was encouraged by Marilyn's example to just tell the honest human truth about events in my life that have had enduring emotional meaning to me. I am really grateful to you for reading my work, and I very much appreciate you reaching out to let me know in your comment.
And, again, you leave us on the edge of our seat! What a unique combination of the promise and torment of young love - particularly at a distance - along with Biblical interpretation. I, too, very much appreciate your honesty and insight of you as a young man finding your way. I am looking forward to your next installment.
Thank you Robin, I appreciate your comment. It was a confusing and harrowing period in my life, which I rarely think about. But on a recent trip to Sydney, Australia I unexpectedly found a file of some of Nicole's letters in an old filing cabinet and it all came flooding back . . .
Thanks so much for this Chris. I liked it a great deal and found what you had to say not only compelling but also honest. Just one observation - if I may. One of the themes in this and your preceding piece has been (as I understand it) attitudes towards the naked human body and, with growing maturity, the lack of shame we should feel for seeing it on display. In another sense, there is a second form of nakedness on display here - namely, you have exposed yourself to your readers. And that is what makes it compelling and honest to me.
…what an epic tale you continue to spin here man…looking forward to hearing more…my grade school crush offered to kiss and date me when i visited after moving away and i made us listen to aerosmith instead and pined over the mistake all summer…oh youth…
"Oh youth" is right!!! So many problems that seemed absolutely intractable would have been so easily finessed with just a smidgen of experience.
Young love is best—a lesson often learned the hard way—lovely autobiography. The biblical references are rich with wisdom of age.
A moving, touching, and generous account of human love Chris. I marvel at the relaxed pace and depth of your essays. It seems to me this would require more courage than I have mustered. I appreciate the inspiration.
Thank you for your kind and generous comment Rick. I'm hoping to see your unpublished essays published soon--they sound terrific.
Thank you Ariel for your kind comments--given your insightful historical scholarship it's an honor to have you comment on my writing. Now that I've finished "Nicole's Voice" and have cleared my desk of a pile of re-written and over-written manuscript pages, I'm going to read your latest article about two perspectives on the Gunpowder plot. You and @librarianofcelaeno are both publishing terrific, deeply-researched articles with a zesty personal voice about arcane topics which offer your readers revelatory insights that are relevant to our contemporary world.
Thank you for making the connection between physical and psychological / emotional nakedness. For years, I have been reticent about being so open about my life because of my three children, who are in their late 20s and early 30s and who let me know they couldn't read my two novels because of the honest manner in which I depict sexual scenes and situations. Perhaps I was foolish to allow myself to be censored.
In any case, I was inspired by @marilynsimon who is a Shakespeare scholar and writes wonderfully about human emotions and sexuality with rare insight and honesty on her extraordinary Substack. Marilyn has two teenage daughters, and she hasn't allowed the possibility of their reactions to muzzle her, and her husband re-stacked her outstanding essay https://marilynsimon.substack.com/p/on-kneeling-towards-a-philosophy which was the first piece I read by Marilyn.
So I was encouraged by Marilyn's example to just tell the honest human truth about events in my life that have had enduring emotional meaning to me. I am really grateful to you for reading my work, and I very much appreciate you reaching out to let me know in your comment.
Thank you Jean—so true!