May 23, 2001

may 23, [quincy freak, "funky noise"] tonight was just awsome,

we i left here like 3 somethihng and went to xaks where we waited for mandy

and julian to show up, then we went and got angie, and then wanered round

ankeny. then we decided to go on a road trip, so yeah we tried going to sulfur

springs or something like that, but we never made it. it was totally cool

though. good times. we never made it to that place, but we went to carroll

and saw my grandma and went to wal mart, cute guys, hehe, but yeah, it was

soo cool. people are coming over for lunch today, i’m going to cook tacos.

yeah. it’s going to be good. i should be going cause i should like clean some,

cause yeah, my familys a bunch of pig. oh but before i go, yeah ya know i

talked about having feelings for someone in the group up there some where.

well since i know they know who they are, yeah. tonight it was just like,

cool. but it was just there, but he talked about it some, which made me kinda

sad. so yeah. i’m taken already any how, and all that shit. so ok i feel really

stupid now. i’m going to shut up.

May 22, 2001

may 22 [foo fighters, ‘learn to fly"] well i dunno, last night sucked.

i wrote the letter to my pu’s last night. here it is:

I want to share something about my life that is important because I love you.

I am gay. I have only known this about myself since I was 14. In the years

that have passed since then, keeping this a secret from you has become more

and more of a burden. It has also placed an invisible wall between us in that

I can not share with you much of what goes on in my life, something that straight

children take for granted. I could not share the excitement of dating somebody

new nor the pain when things didn’t work out. I have spent many nights crying

with a broken heart, alone, unable to call you or talk to you for support.

I know that you may be feeling shocked, confused, angry, and sad; and perhaps

you might feel that, somewhere along the way, you have failed as parents.

From what I have read, these are common reactions. You have not failed as

parents; you have both been wonderful. Nobody chooses to be gay and I accept

myself and am happy with who I am. My friends have known for some time and

they accept me as well. I hope that you will be happy for me. Part of me thinks

that you might have suspected for some time that I am gay since I never brought

home girls while in school and I never talk about dating or women now. On

the other hand, my being gay may have come as a complete surprise to you and

you may need to take some time to get used to the idea. Hopefully, a few years

from now, our relationship will be closer than it has been in the past. This

is part of the reason I am coming out to you: to tear down the wall between

us. When we talk and you ask me what is going on in my life and I say, “Nothing,”

I have been lying. I haven’t been lying to deceive you, but because I could

not tell you the truth. This lying has been eating at me for some time now

and I’m tired of it. So this was the choice I had to make: either keep lying

and allow us to grow even farther apart from each other, or tell the truth

and hopefully have a better relationship in the long run. I know you have

always loved me very much. It was very hard to mail this letter for fear of

losing that love. I have cried several times while writing it. Although you

may not understand about being gay, I hope that you still love me now. Know

that I am the same person now as I was before you read this letter; you just

know one more thing about me. I am still “Chris Black” When you are ready,

you are welcome to call me so we can talk about this more. Sincerely, Chris

PS. I have mailed a book with this letter. I hope that you will take the time

to read it. I’m sure you’re also wondering about Scouts. I have decided that

after camp I will resign from all my positions. i dunno. i think it

works. i have a book called "Straight Parents, Gay Children" so

i’m going to send that with it. i’m thinking i might send it like the second

week of camp. so that way they get it after they’ve been to camp, and also

it gives them a while to get used to the idea. i prob wouldn’t go home the

weekend after that, that way it’ll give them 2 weeks for it to sink in. i

dunno, i have to tell them, and it has to be soon. this is just really tearing

me apart. it really is.

May 21, 2001

may 21, #2 [foreigner, "hot blooded"] hmm, that songs kinda an

odd thing to come up just as i was starting this, lol. i just got done talking

to this really cool guy (hope he doesn’t

mind his pic being there, lol, if he does just talk to me, i’ll take it down.)

that’s from isu, to bad he’s in nm for the summer, but he’s pretty cool. ya

know it’s kinda weird how people just relaly open up to each other when they

talk on here. sometimes i talk to people about things that i would never talk

to them about in person. lol. i also sent my couisn a big old long e-mail

about what’s going on in my life, here it is, cause it’s just easier to copy

and paste then to summerize: ahhhhhhhh, i just want to

shoot my parents right now. i really do. they are driving me crazy, today

we got the phone bill from my dorm room. it was $85. my dad’s all pissed off

about it and he says that he told me not to talk so long when he got the $40

bill. but he never said anything about it. he’s now saying that i have to

pay this bill, which i think is unfair cause, 1) they never gave me any limits

to the phone bills, 2) they said they would pay the phone bills. i mean comon,

i DON’T have that kind of money, right now i have like 20 in my account, they

are being such assholes. they really are, ever since i got home all he’s done

is yell at me about shit, little fucking things too. i’m getting really sick

of it. i mean i worked my ass off durning high school, by the time i was andy’s

age i was working 30 hours a week, and how many hours is andy working? none.

how much does he get to go out? when ever he wants. it’s realy damn unfair.

i had to pay for like everything when i was in hs and they just give him what

ever he wants. and you know when they moved me out of my room and let him

in it, that just really pissed me off. i don’t care if i’m not home anymore,

it’s still _MY_ room. they lost alot of my stuff when they moved it too. plus

they’ve been yelling at me lately for going into andys room and taking my

stuff back, but how often do they yell at him for stealing it from me? NEVER.

one of these days i’m just going to fucking blow and start screaming at them.

damnit. i really am. or i might just call you from philly sometime. i’ve been

thinking about telling my mom about me. i mean i think that would take alot

of the tension out of here. i really do. but i mean, if they are going to

be such assholes about a damn phone bill what are they going to do if i tell

them it’s my bf that i’ve been calling? i can’t stand to live in this house

much longer. i really can’t. it’s just ripping me apart from the inside and

now getting ready to leave for work is just piling more shit on top of it.

and ya know they are just such damn pigs, it really annoys me. and my brother,

everything with him is just perfect. but with me. grr. like you know, if he

gets a damn D it’s “GOOD job andy” and shit like that, but we got my final

grades today from DSU, i got all B’s and do yohink they even said anything

to me about them, nope, not a damn word. not a goddamn fucking word. that

really pisses me off. and also like my b-day, what did they do for that? they

sent me a bunch of crap, it was all crap. they don’t give a fuck, they really

don’t. i’m surpriced they’re still paying for college, they haven’t found

a way to cut me out of that yet. another thing, i went and got contacts, they

cost about the same as a piar of glasses, cause they were on sale, but do

you think they’ll reimburse me for it? nope. cause they’re contacts, not glasses?what’s teh difference? i don’t really know. they bought andy new glasses,

my dad got new glasses, but i can’t get new contacts? hmm, it appears not.

so now i have to find a way to pay for those too. i hvae no money left, none

at all. they were supposed to have paid for a bunch of shit that i’m now having

to pay, so i’m left with nothing to spend. i’m sure they’ll find some way

for me to have to spend all my money i make at camp too, they’ll probobly

tell me that i have to pay for my apartment or something. i dunno. it’s really

pissing me off. damnit. ok i guess i’ve bitched enough, i’ll talk to you laters.

and here’s her respnce, again it’s easier to copy and paste then it

is to summerize:So it’s not a sunshiny day then? You can

call anytime-call collect if you need to-I have no life-I’m always home. You

can also come out here anytime-you don’t have to plan it out for weeks-just

call and say I’m on the way. I know that won’t be feasible 99% of the time

but if it ever is you’re always welcome. Are you coming back this weekend

for GG’s party? Hope so. It’s hard enough living with your parents but after

having 9 months away from them probably makes it even harder. When I came

back from boot camp my mom and I fought all the time. She still wanted to

treat me like I was in HS and I didn’t want anything to do with it. My mom

doesn’t even reach near the irritation factor your PU’s do though so I can

only imagine. I don’t know what it is with your parents and your brother but

it’s really bizarre-even grandma’s said stuff about it before and you know

how clueless she is! Why did they have to move your room-it’s not like your

room is obscenely bigger or different or anything. Andy just has to have everything-God

forbid he doesn’t get his way. The twisted thing is he’s the one who needs

to be yelled at-I mean come on have they looked at him lately-he acts like

he’s 8. Ok and about college-I have 3rd hand gossip that my mom heard from

grandma-so I’m repeating it but I don’t know how warped it’s gotten in the

process. My mom said grandma mentioned talking to your dad and him saying

you might have to pay for part of your college b/c they couldn’t afford it.

(again-this is second hand gossip) But if it’s true that’s just crap-I mean

come on-with as much money as your parents make if they haven’t been saving

for your education they’re just fucking stupid (your parents compel me to

use that word) Andy needs a reality check-I’ve never known anyone so materialistic

in my life, it’s insane. My mother would have killed me if I’d acted like

that. Your PU’s would have killed you for acting like that-yet he gets away

with it! GRRRR! I don’t want to sound like a pep talk here b/c those are just

damned annoying, but hang in there man. Soon you won’t have to be around them

night and day. (of course you get to spend the whole summer in the closet

so it’s a small consolation but go with it, cling to the hope) I know that

doesn’t get you through right now though. Your parents are probably sitting

around hoping maybe you just forgot about that little gay thing. That would

be like them, state of denial. Christopher can’t be gay-then our family won’t

be perfect. They missed the All-American family mark when Andy came out a

boy so that’s shot anyway. They are giant looooosers. If I didn’t have to

see them all the time I would have told them off years ago. I came really

close at Thanksgiving last year when I got that whole “bad influence” shit

again. It’s amazing especially seeing Andy) that two people that screwed up

ever produced som! eone as normal and sane as you. I thing you were switched

at the hospital and there baby went home with some one else. Nice fantasy

huh?! Don’t kill them between now and the next time we e. Try to have a little

fun! i have such a cool cousin, i wish the rest of the family was like

that. but ya know if my pu’s make me pay for college i’m going to be really

fucking pissed, like she said, with as much as they make if they haven’t been

saving for my college they’re just stupid. and plus it’s thier own damn fault

we didn’t get any financial aide. they didn’t fill out the forms and they

wouldn’t tell me what i needed to know to fill them out myself, so yeah fuck

them. bastards. i really can’t wait for camp toi start, but at the same time,

i don’t want to go.

May 21, 2001

may 21, [billy joel, "great wall of china"] damn today sucks too.

we got my final phone bill from college today, it was eighty some bucks and

my dad refuses to pay for it, he says "you can talk to someone else for

7 hours, but you can’t talk to me for 2 minutes" hell no i can’t talk

to him for 2 minutes cause all e does is yell at me. and blow everything out

of porportion, and again today, i got my grades, got B’s in every class, do

you think he said a thing about that, nope all he could do was bitch about

the phone bill. he also caught me talking to danny last night. and he’s been

bitching about that all day. he also said somethign to the effect of "you

need to figure out what’s going on in your life" i know what’s going

on in my life, he’s the one that’s in the dark. maybe if he wouldn’t be such

an ass hole. you know this whole phone bill thing really pisses me off to

cause they said they would pay for my phone bill. and here he is again going

back on his word. the stupid bastard. he also clams that he told me to "take

care of the problem" when he got the $40 bill, he didn’t say anything

about not talking so much. the asshole. i’m temped to just up and leave here

real soon. i mean real soon. i thought about it the other night, i can pack

in about 5 mintues. i have _NO_ money left, how the hell am i going to pay

this bill? damnit i hate him so fucking much. i worked my god damn ass off

in high school damnit. i paid for all my shit when i was in hs. now they can’t

even pay a fucking phone bill which they said they would take care of. i’m

really getting pissed at these assholes. really getting pissed.

May 20, 2001

may 20, [fuel, "bad day"] hmm, well this song pretty much says

it all. it’s been a bad day. sometimes i just wish i could slap my brother.

lol, yep. i used to have this great compass, it was cool. but my stupid brother

lost it, so i was yelling at him alot about that. and yeah. there’s alot to

say, but i don’t really want to say much right now, maybe later.