The Reading Corner.

[E_T]

You have to realize, that the Books are really his Journals that he writes sometime in the future (like the Journals that McCoy would be leaving him).

[Unorthodox]

You have to realize, that the Books are really his Journals that he writes sometime in the future (like the Journals that McCoy would be leaving him).

That's just it, they don't feel that way any more. 

Skin Game does NOT feel like a journal.  He's supposed to be writing it as a journal, after the fact, yes. 

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the whole rewind back to the start [nonsense] where the entire setup was hidden from the reader.  This is NOT journal writing anymore, it's cliche heist movie stuff.  It works and is kinda funny, and is somewhat interesting on a re-read as you can see the entire hidden conversations, but it's no longer a journal format

Similarly Battleground.  The one thing good about Peace Talks was that it felt that same way again, if it was only half the story, and perhaps it's the splitting up that hurts Battle Ground, but the latter feels again more like a standard book than a journal. 

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the whole thing with the knife.  At several points he's all 'just not going to think about it' telling the readers he's got a secret wink nod nudge, but not letting us in.  Even if he'd dropped bits about it's reasoning along the way before stopping his thoughts it would have been better.  This is standard macguffin movie BS and less journal writing. 

 

[E_T]

That or his recollections of events (as well as his thinking and knowledge at the time of the events) as he is setting them down into the journals...

[Dio]

Content Warning: Book topic on stigmatized behaviors of men's sexuality in prisons and other sexually segregated institutions.

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I have read Not Gay: Sex Between Straight White Men by Jane Ward as a source for a research paper on men's sexual behaviors in segregated areas and institutions in contemporary America. The behaviors illustrated of American men in the military, prison, rural conservative areas, suburban conservative areas, and other male sexually segregated areas fascinated me with an often stigmatized and under reported behavior.

[Dio]

I recently read Geoffrey Greif's Buddy System: Understanding Male Friendships from 2009.  The book raised several interesting questions for me on the stunting of emotional disclosure in modern American men’s platonic friendships with other men.
Warning: This long post mentions homophobia and reflects my opinions on the destruction of emotional disclosure in modern American and European men's platonic friendships with other men.

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This book discussed male platonic friendships and the different levels of connection between men and other people. Male platonic friendships varied in distance from least to closest levels of social connection from "rust" friends, then "just" friends, and finally "must" friends. Greif's analysis of male platonic friendships in the book described the formation of close bonds between men and other men in platonic friendships through a joint participation in shared activities. Many men, according to Greif, rarely displayed or discussed emotions to other men, even in the closest "must" platonic friendships, because these men felt overt displays of emotion solved nothing. Although around seventy percent of men felt they had enough friends later in life, a majority of these men relied on a romantic partner or a women's social network for their emotional support . Absent emotional intimacy in men's platonic friendships with other men meant these men's platonic friendships lacked the emotional disclosure common in women's platonic friendships with other women and forced these men's reliance on female friends or a romantic partner for emotional support.

Reflection on this point raised questions on the effects of modern men's socialization with friends in American society. In particular, I asked, "Why do American men avoid emotional intimacy in close platonic friendships?" My potential answer to this question connected homophobia, the Red Scare, the Lavender Scare, and the resultant inhibition of emotional connections between men and other men in modern platonic friendships. I also wondered if male friendships with other men from other time periods in European and American history included men with platonic friendships for emotional disclosure to other men and where the modern disconnection developed in these relationships.

A portion of a book called Empire: The Rise and Fall of British World Order and Lessons for Global Power by Neill Ferguson noted the presence of some close male platonic friendships between British men produced from the British elite boarding schools during the nineteenth century. Ferguson's book also mentioned the conflation of homosexuality and heterosexual men with close platonic male friendships only appeared in the late 1800s with the start of sexuality research in 1881. Prior to the late 1860s, some men, like Abraham Lincoln and Joshua Speeds, developed close emotional platonic friendships with other men without the modern stigma from being labelled "gay" or other slurs. The disappearance of European and American men’s emotional closeness in platonic friendships with other men, based on Ferguson's statements, probably started in the late 1800s and accelerated under the Lavender Scare and Second Red Scare of the mid twentieth century. This homophobic destruction of men’s close platonic friendships with other men probably influenced men socialized from the period around 1900 through the 1980s. This same homophobia probably influenced the modern scholars' questioning of famous men's sexuality like William Shakespeare, Henry the Eighth, Alexander the Great, Abraham Lincoln, and Socrates and Crito.

The ultimate question to other people and me, "How can we remove the aftereffects of rampant homophobia from the Second Red Scare on American men's socialization and American men's emotional disclosure in platonic friendships with other men?"

[Dio]

I recently binge watched several series on historical social settings and read a few books on historical figures. The most accessible and free historical cookbook I perused is Amelia Simmon's American Cookery from 1796. This cookbook ignited the American culinary traditions.

https://www.google.com/books/edition/American_Cookery/_6CggcPs3iQC?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover

[Dio]

I have started reading George Hudson's 1883 The Marriage Guide for Young Men: A Manual of Courtship and Marriage. This book provides some useful and relevant insight into marriage and seeking out proper women. George Hudson covers courtship and possible arranged marriages for men. I agree with his allusions on how arranged marriages, in certain instances, possesses some benefits over more modern dating rituals. This book employs some overtly sexist and vulgar language, so you should read it at your own discretion.
https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Marriage_Guide_for_Young_Men/v0a4ZuBrZoMC?hl=en&gbpv=0

[Dio]

I encountered Mary Pride's The Way Home: Beyond Feminism Back to Reality for an exploratory topic on American conservatism in the 1970s and 1980s about two years ago. Mary Pride founded the modern homeschooling movement. This topic strikes a personal nerve for these people's abusive behavior.

A friend suggested Tara Westover's Educated for people who know very little about the shady and abusive behaviors of many parents in the modern homeschooling movement. From a few cursory reviews on the book, Tara Westover's experience appeared extreme in certain elements. This book, however, illustrates the detrimental effects of poor education and minimal governmental oversight of homeschooling in over seventy five percent of American states. These children experience adverse outcomes in several different areas and the homeschooled children often possess minimal input on the matter.

[Dio]

I read Neil Gailman's Coraline about two years ago and continue reading about the commentary on the book. I enjoy the creepier themes in the book compared to the movie.

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I enjoy the Beldam's darker persona and allusions in the book because she never helps Coraline and threatens Coraline's life several times. The Beldam places Coraline in mortal danger during a dagger throwing performance with Miss Spink and Miss Forcible and orders the Other Father to ensnare Coraline. Furthermore, the rats in the book bleed real blood and threaten Coraline through various chants never heard in the movie.

[Unorthodox]

Have you read The Ocean at the End of the Lane? 

[Dio]

Have you read The Ocean at the End of the Lane?

I have not read The Ocean at the End of the Land. I will look at the book's synopsis and see if the book piques my interest. I always appreciate book references.

[Unorthodox]

I preferred it to Coraline and Neil Gaiman considers it the same universe. 

[Dio]

A few different sources of research articles and books exist for topics outside the realm of popular culture. The most accessible method consists of searching Google scholar for open access research articles and Google books for open access electronic books on a specific topic. The second most accessible method includes searching the nearest large metropolitan library website for electronic book access and then physical book access for a specific topic. Many universities and colleges in my area enable temporary guest access to electronic scholarly research databases for a set time with presentation of local identification. These scholarly resources exceed those available in the local libraries and through google resources, but this access requires a physical visit to the university or college campus. Additional options for finding information beyond google searches have served me well in my lifetime and provided a bounty of information on a diverse range of topics.

For example, I wrote a longish post in this thread on August 10, 2021 with some aggressively subversive facts attacking stereotypical perceptions on contemporary male social scripts for platonic same sex friendships. If you want access to the books and scholarly articles I read for writing parts of the post, then I have cited below some of the books and articles related to that post. However, the material all exists in research databases or in books, so you will need a combination of one or more of the above options for full access to the information. I cannot attach the articles due to copyright restrictions.

Works Cited

Greif, Geoffrey L. Buddy System Understanding Male Friendships. Oxford University Press, 2009.
Robinson, Stefan, et al. “The Bromance: Undergraduate Male Friendships and the Expansion of Contemporary Homosocial Boundaries.” Sex Roles, vol. 78, no. 1, Springer US, 2018, pp. 94–106, doi:10.1007/s11199-017-0768-5.
Robinson, Stefan, et al. “Privileging the Bromance: A Critical Appraisal of Romantic and Bromantic Relationships.” Men and Masculinities, vol. 22, no. 5, SAGE Publications, 2019, pp. 850–71, doi:10.1177/1097184X17730386.

[Unorthodox]

If you're serious into scholarly articles, I'd suggest a paid membership to be honest. 

JSTOR is a great resource for instance. 

https://www.jstor.org/?refreqid=search%3Afb57012ed9b2a0fde2db2d62045a6f3d

Even it's free section is pretty extensive. 

[Dio]

If you're serious into scholarly articles, I'd suggest a paid membership to be honest. 

JSTOR is a great resource for instance. 

https://www.jstor.org/?refreqid=search%3Afb57012ed9b2a0fde2db2d62045a6f3d

Even it's free section is pretty extensive. 

Thank you for the suggestion.

This next topic might trigger some people with healthcare trauma from violations of the human body. I read Natalia Molina's Fit to be citizens? Public Health and Race in Los Angeles, 1879-1939 for a high level course and research paper. 
Note: The liberal features of California only developed in the 1960s and 1970s, so California contained a history of violent racism and medical practices prior to this point.

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The book examined the racial history and racial exclusion of immigrants from Los Angeles and American culture through the political and medical establishment during these years. Molina covered topics on medical doctors' and regular citizens' beliefs in the necessity of White Anglo Saxon Protestant's moral uplift of the "Brown and Yellow" immigrants during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century in Los Angeles against the immigrants' perceived moral and social inferiority.  Some techniques involved in these racial exclusion tactics included the forcible removal of Hispanic women's uteruses because the doctors falsely claimed these women possessed cancer or another serious medical disease. The doctors also believed these Hispanic immigrants should receive care at facilities with subpar care and the immigrants possessed infant and child mortality rates at almost ten times the White infant mortality rates in Los Angeles. The medical establishment also proclaimed things how the Brown and Asian immigrants possessed a natural aversion to water and other facets of these people's perceived biological inferiority to the White race. The whole process culminated in the mass removal of around two million legal Hispanic citizens and illegal immigrants between 1924 and the 1930s.