Charlie

I give regularly to the FIND (Food In Need of Distribution) Food Bank in Palm Springs, and to the Coachella Valley Rescue Mission, which does a better job of providing food and shelter to the needy than local gov't organizations do.

I never argued that serious accusations were not willfully ignored or fended off with money--in fact, my initial posts in this thread made exactly that point about the Met's behavior.

Tough crowd here. Most people are remembered as human beings who were morally flawed in some way. That may temper their reputation--and should: I don't believe in hagiography--but whether the flaw should be considered more important than the accomplishment is always a matter of opinion. I know that MLK, Jr., plagiarized his doctoral dissertation (in theology, of all things) and cheated on his wife, but that is not what I remember him for.

Worst manual shift story: on our 1972 Renault 12, the entire floor stick came off in my spouse's hand as he started to downshift at a light.

It depends on the bed.

"That other thing" was a REALLY BIG thing, not to mention a unique event in American political history, that will always overshadow anything else he did as President. Nevertheless, with the passage of time, the opening to China has loomed more and more important in many serious appraisals of Nixon.

I am well aware that my own reactions at 17 were my own, and not necessarily typical, but I suspect that some of the teenage boys whom Levine approached were not sensitive flowers who took monetary compensation from Levine and/or the Met because they felt emotionally violated.

His ultimate reputation will depend not on his personal life but on the enormous body of work, all of which is available because of modern technology. People will watch and listen to performances over and over; they will not read the recent newspaper articles about his sexual activities over and over. He is personally tainted, just as von Karayan and Flagstad were personally tainted by their Nazi connections during WWII, but that is not what they or he will be remembered for.

When I drive in England or Australia, I find it harder to stay on the correct side of the road when I am driving an automatic. Somehow, shifting gears with my left hand helps me stay properly oriented.

I learned how to drive on my father's 1952 Pontiac, with HydraMatic. However, my college graduation present was a 1961 VW bug, and in those days no VWs had automatics, so I had to learn how to shift gears. In the early 1970s I had Renaults, which also had only floor shifts. Since 1975 I have owned only automatics, but I can still drive a stick, though I have done so only when renting cars in Europe.

It is difficult to make unerring generalizations about how any individual teenage male reacts to this kind of situation. I was technically a minor (17) when I first started to have sex with men, and it was always with adults, mostly in their 20s or 30s, but sometimes a lot older. A few were men who had palpable power, including celebrity. Sometimes I felt coerced or forced into doing things I didn't want to do sexually. But I never perceived it as abuse, merely an education in the ways of the world. Other youths obviously react differently, and some are damaged psychologically by the experience. Many years later, it is hard to tell who was scarred by the encounter with Levine, whose current state really reflects previous or subsequent experiences, and who is just being opportunistic at this point.

The Met has always been willing to overlook unsavory behavior if they thought someone was a great artist, as they did after WWII for those who had had questionable connections with the Nazis. What disgusts me is their cowardice in refusing to acknowledge their principle, instead pretending that they never knew anything about about Levine's behavior nor tried to protect him from the consequences. I suppose they are just following their lawyers" advice.

The hypocrisy of the Met administration, which has known about Levine's sexual escapades and protected him for years, is more appalling than his actions.

On the other hand, when he was 18, my best friend told his 15 year old sister that he was gay, with full details (he even introduced her to people he was sleeping with), and she kept the secret from the family and her friends until he was involuntarily outed by military police several years later.

I had sex with another man for the first time when I was 17, and came out to my best friend a few days later; in return, he informed me that he slept with men, too. I came out to my parents at 19, because I wanted them to understand who I was. I have always lived with a male partner since I was 22, and have been married to one of them since same sex marriage became legal. I was active in gay rights groups from the time I was 21 till I was middle-aged, and carried the rainbow flag at the head of a Gay Pride parade (covered by local news media) when I was 33. My friends at the school where I taught were always aware that I was gay, and I came out completely in 1976 when I designed and taught a Gay Literature course; no one in the administration seemed at all surprised. I worked on an AIDS information hotline for four years in the 1980s, and was elected to the board of the local gay health organization. I lived for 40 years in sophisticated major world cities, and I have lived in Palm Springs since 2004. I have always had the appearance of a somewhat conservative middle-class male, but I have rarely felt any need to announce that I am gay, since anyone who can't figure it out from my history must be pretty dense. Why have I always been out, even when being gay was not so socially acceptable? Because I found it much more psychologically comfortable to live honestly, even if it limited some of my options in life.

Insiders at the Met have gossiped for years about the number of times Levine had to be bailed out of trouble for approaching black teenagers in men's rooms. Since he is pretty much retired at this point in his life, this story is not likely to have much effect on his ultimate reputation.

I thought you were going to make this rhyme by calling him Prince Andy.

Alabama doesn't have a lot of Norwegian bachelor farmers.

The list of interests that the escorts post on the right is rent.men boilerplate that many of them check off without thinking. What he writes in his own ad is more relevant.

Unfortunately, as the piling on grows, I fear that the accusations will be taken less seriously, especially if a few turn out to be obviously fake or exaggerated. It will actually help voters justify their support for Moore, because, "Well, everyone does it, even the liberals, but at least he is against abortion and gay marriage, which are the real dangers."

These are all examples of good civilized behavior, but they are not exactly the same as hiring a professional to perform a specific service. I have received thank you notes from my dentist after a long, expensive elective procedure, and from my lawyer for a similar situation, but I never thought it was necessary for me to send them a thank you note for doing what I had paid them to do, unless they did something extra or unexpectedly well. I generally see escorts as professionals who are doing the same sort of service I receive from my physical therapist, to whom I don't send a thank you note after a session, unless he does something that brings a remarkable improvement in my condition. Only on the handful of occasions that an escort has performed a similar miracle, have I contacted him afterwards to thank him. If he sends me a thank you note, I consider it simply a courteous business practice, like the car salesman who hopes that I will use the dealership for future servicing.

I'm curious: do y'all send thank you notes to your doctors/dentists/lawyers/therapists after an appointment? Do y'all expect to receive them? I realize we don't all have the same understanding of the nature of client/escort relationships, but I tend to think of them as professional visits, so I never automatically send thank you notes or expect to receive them, unless I would like the relationship to develop into a different kind of friendship.

For those who may be confused, the tattoo on his back is an outline of the UP in Michigan. He certainly is--how shall I say it?--a bit different from the usual escort on rent.men.

My partner says he'd rather stay demented.

Most straight guys are willing to be oral passive (especially if they can close their eyes or look at straight porn). "Anal" is the only thing on the list that most of them would find uncomfortable. Most of the things on the list ("socks," "latex," "toys", etc.), don't require any sexual arousal on his part.