#randolph macon

[libraryofva]

Recent Acquisition - Ephemera Collection

Woodberry vs. Randolph-Macon Academy, Hanes Field, 2:00 PM, Oct 27, 1956

#football #sports #school #VA #Virginia #Randolph Macon #1950s #program

[vintagepipemen]

Professor Leon Salomon, Randolph Macon College, 1973. 

#randolph macon

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

In 2008, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas decided to send his teenage grandnephew to Hidden Lake Academy, a private boarding school in the foothills of northern Georgia. The boy, Mark Martin, was far from home. For the previous decade, he had lived with the Justice and his wife in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. Thomas had taken legal custody of Martin when he was 6 years old and had recently told an interviewer he was “raising him as a son.”

Tuition at the boarding school ran more than $6,000 a month. But Thomas did not cover the bill. A bank statement for the school from July 2009, buried in unrelated court filings, shows the source of Martin’s tuition payment for that month: the company of billionaire real estate magnate Harlan Crow.

The payments extended beyond that month, according to Christopher Grimwood, a former administrator at the school. Crow paid Martin’s tuition the entire time he was a student there, which was about a year, Grimwood told ProPublica.

“Harlan picked up the tab,” said Grimwood, who got to know Crow and the Thomases and had access to school financial information through his work as an administrator.

Before and after his time at Hidden Lake, Martin attended a second boarding school, Randolph-Macon Academy in Virginia. “Harlan said he was paying for the tuition at Randolph-Macon Academy as well,” Grimwood said, recalling a conversation he had with Crow during a visit to the billionaire’s Adirondacks estate.

ProPublica interviewed Martin, his former classmates and former staff at both schools. The exact total Crow paid for Martin’s education over the years remains unclear. If he paid for all four years at the two schools, the price tag could have exceeded $150,000, according to public records of tuition rates at the schools.

Thomas did not report the tuition payments from Crow on his annual financial disclosures. Several years earlier, Thomas disclosed a gift of $5,000 for Martin’s education from another friend. It is not clear why he reported that payment but not Crow’s.

The tuition payments add to the picture of how the Republican megadonor has helped fund the lives of Thomas and his family.

“You can’t be having secret financial arrangements,” said Mark W. Bennett, a retired federal judge appointed by President Bill Clinton. Bennett said he was friendly with Thomas and declined to comment for the record about the specifics of Thomas’ actions. But he said that when he was on the bench, he wouldn’t let his lawyer friends buy him lunch.

Thomas did not respond to questions. In response to previous ProPublica reporting on gifts of luxury travel, he said that the Crows “are among our dearest friends” and that he understood he didn’t have to disclose the trips.

ProPublica sent Crow a detailed list of questions and his office responded with a statement that did not dispute the facts presented in this story.

“Harlan Crow has long been passionate about the importance of quality education and giving back to those less fortunate, especially at-risk youth,” the statement said. “It’s disappointing that those with partisan political interests would try to turn helping at-risk youth with tuition assistance into something nefarious or political.” The statement added that Crow and his wife have “supported many young Americans” at a “variety of schools, including his alma mater.” Crow went to Randolph-Macon Academy.

GET IN TOUCH ProPublica plans to continue reporting on the Supreme Court. If you have information we should know, please get in touch. Josh Kaplan can be reached by email at [email protected] and by Signal or WhatsApp at 734-834-9383. Justin Elliott can be reached by email at [email protected] or by Signal or WhatsApp at 774-826-6240.

Crow did not address a question about how much he paid in total for Martin’s tuition. Asked if Thomas had requested the support for either school, Crow’s office responded, “No.”

Last month, ProPublica reported that Thomas accepted luxury travel from Crow virtually every year for decades, including international superyacht cruises and private jet flights around the world. Crow also paid money to Thomas and his relatives in an undisclosed real estate deal, ProPublica found. After he purchased the house where Thomas’ mother lives, Crow poured tens of thousands of dollars into improving the property. And roughly 15 years ago, Crow donated much of the budget of a political group founded by Thomas’ wife, which paid her a $120,000 salary.

“This is way outside the norm. This is way in excess of anything I’ve seen,” said Richard Painter, former chief White House ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush, referring to the cascade of gifts over the years.

Painter said that when he was at the White House, an official who’d taken what Thomas had would have been fired: “This amount of undisclosed gifts? You’d want to get them out of the government.”

A federal law passed after Watergate requires Justices and other officials to publicly report most gifts. Ethics law experts told ProPublica they believed Thomas was required by law to disclose the tuition payments because they appear to be a gift to him.

Justices also must report many gifts to their spouses and dependent children. The law’s definition of dependent child is narrow, however, and likely would not apply to Martin since Thomas was his legal guardian, not his parent. The best case for not disclosing Crow’s tuition payments would be to argue the gifts were to Martin, not Thomas, experts said.

But that argument was far-fetched, experts said, because minor children rarely pay their own tuition. Typically, the legal guardian is responsible for the child’s education.

“The most reasonable interpretation of the statute is that this was a gift to Thomas and thus had to be reported. It’s common sense,” said Kathleen Clark, an ethics law expert at Washington University in St. Louis. “It’s all to the financial benefit of Clarence Thomas.”

Martin, now in his 30s, told ProPublica he was not aware that Crow paid his tuition. But he defended Thomas and Crow, saying he believed there was no ulterior motive behind the real estate magnate’s largesse over the decades. “I think his intentions behind everything is just a friend and just a good person,” Martin said.

Crow has long been an influential figure in pro-business conservative politics. He has given millions to efforts to move the law and the judiciary to the right and serves on the boards of think tanks that publish scholarship advancing conservative legal theories.

Crow has denied trying to influence the Justice but has said he extended hospitality to him just as he has to other dear friends. From the start, their relationship has intertwined expensive gifts and conservative politics. In a recent interview with The Dallas Morning News, Crow recounted how he first met Thomas. In 1996, the Justice was scheduled to give a speech in Dallas for an anti-regulation think tank. Crow offered to fly him there on his private jet. “During that flight, we found out we were kind of simpatico,” the billionaire said.

The following year, the Thomases began to discuss taking custody of Martin. His father, Thomas’ nephew, had been imprisoned in connection with a drug case. Thomas has written that Martin’s situation held deep resonance for him because his own father was absent and his grandparents had taken him in “under very similar circumstances.”

Thomas had an adult son from a previous marriage, but he and wife, Ginni, didn’t have children of their own. They pitched Martin’s parents on taking the boy in.

“Thomas explained that the boy would have the best of everything — his own room, a private school education, lots of extracurricular activities,” journalists Kevin Merida and Michael Fletcher reported in their biography of Thomas.

Thomas gained legal custody of Martin and became his legal guardian around January 1998, according to court records.

Martin, who had been living in Georgia with his mother and siblings, moved to Virginia, where he lived with the Justice from the ages of 6 to 19, he said.

Living with the Thomases came with an unusual perk: lavish travel with Crow and his family. Martin told ProPublica that he and Thomas vacationed with the Crows “at least once a year” throughout his childhood.

That included visits to Camp Topridge, Crow’s private resort in the Adirondacks, and two cruises on Crow’s superyacht, Martin said. On a trip in the Caribbean, Martin recalled riding jet skis off the side of the billionaire’s yacht.

Roughly 20 years ago, Martin, Thomas and the Crows went on a cruise on the yacht in Russia and the Baltics, according to Martin and two other people familiar with the trip. The group toured St. Petersburg in a rented helicopter and visited the Yusupov Palace, the site of Rasputin’s murder, said one of the people. They were joined by Chris DeMuth, then the president of the conservative think tank the American Enterprise Institute. (Thomas’ trips with Crow to the Baltics and the Caribbean have not previously been reported.)

Thomas reconfigured his life to balance the demands of raising a child with serving on the high court. He began going to the Supreme Court before 6 a.m. so he could leave in time to pick Martin up after class and help him with his homework. By 2001, the justice had moved Martin to private school out of frustration with the Fairfax County public school system’s lax schedule, The American Lawyer magazine reported.

For high school, Thomas sent Martin to Randolph-Macon Academy, a military boarding school 75 miles west of Washington, D.C., where he was in the class of 2010. The school, which sits on a 135-acre campus in the Shenandoah Valley, charged between $25,000 to $30,000 a year. Martin played football and basketball, and the Justice sometimes visited for games.

Randolph-Macon was also Crow’s alma mater. Thomas and Crow visited the campus in April 2007 for the dedication of an imposing bronze sculpture of the Air Force Honor Guard, according to the school magazine. Crow donated the piece to Randolph-Macon, where it is a short walk from Crow Hall, a classroom building named after the Dallas billionaire’s family.

Martin sometimes chafed at the strictures of military school, according to people at Randolph-Macon at the time, and he spent his junior year at Hidden Lake Academy, a therapeutic boarding school in Georgia. Hidden Lake boasted one teacher for every 10 students and activities ranging from horseback riding to canoeing. Those services came at an added cost. At the time, a year of tuition was roughly $73,000, plus fees.

The July 2009 bank statement from Hidden Lake was filed in a bankruptcy case for the school, which later went under. The document shows that Crow Holdings LLC wired $6,200 to the school that month, the exact cost of the month’s tuition. The wire is marked “Mark Martin” in the ledger.

Crow’s office said in its statement that Crow’s funding of students’ tuition has “always been paid solely from personal funds, sometimes held at and paid through the family business.”

Grimwood, the administrator at Hidden Lake, told ProPublica that Crow wired the school money once a month to pay Martin’s tuition fees. Grimwood had multiple roles on the campus, including overseeing an affiliated wilderness program. He said he was speaking about the payments because he felt the public should know about outside financial support for Supreme Court Justices. Martin returned to Randolph-Macon his senior year.

Thomas has long been one of the less wealthy members of the Supreme Court. Still, when Martin was in high school, he and Ginni Thomas had income that put them comfortably in the top echelon of Americans.

In 2006 for example, the Thomases brought in more than $500,000 in income. The following year, they made more than $850,000 from Clarence Thomas’ salary from the Court, Ginni Thomas’ pay from the Heritage Foundation and book payments for the Justice’s memoir.

It appears that at some point in Martin’s childhood, Thomas was paying for private school himself. Martin told ProPublica that Thomas sold his Corvette — “his most prized car” — to pay for a year of tuition, although he didn’t remember when that occurred.

In 2002, a friend of Thomas’ from the RV community who owned a Florida pest control company, Earl Dixon, offered Thomas $5,000 to help defray the costs of Martin’s education. Thomas’ disclosure of that earlier gift, several experts said, could be viewed as evidence that the Justice himself understood he was required to report tuition aid from friends.

“At first, Thomas was worried about the propriety of the donation,” Thomas biographers Merida and Fletcher recounted. “He agreed to accept it if the contribution was deposited directly into a special trust for Mark.” In his annual filing, Thomas reported the money as an “education gift to Mark Martin.”

Do you have any tips on the Supreme Court or the judiciary? Josh Kaplan can be reached by email at [email protected] and by Signal or WhatsApp at 734-834-9383. Justin Elliott can be reached by email at [email protected] or by Signal or WhatsApp at 774-826-6240.

#us politics #news #ProPublica #2023 #us supreme court #ethics rules #ethics violations #supreme court ethics violations #scotus #justice clarence thomas #ginni thomas #harlan crow #Mark Martin #Christopher Grimwood #Randolph-Macon Academy #Hidden Lake Academy #Mark W. Bennett #Richard Painter #Kathleen Clark #The Dallas Morning News #Kevin Merida #Michael Fletcher #Camp Topridge #Adirondacks #superyacht #russia #Chris DeMuth #The American Lawyer #Crow Holdings LLC #heritage foundation

[smallcollegebasketball]

Small College Basketball Tidbits

As we approach Christmas, I simply wanted to jot down some interesting observations and notes from the first several weeks of the season.  In no particular order, here goes:

-  Langston is a remarkable story.  Last year, the Lions went 1-27. After the season, Coach Chris Wright was hired as the new Head Coach, after leading Talladega to the NAIA National Championship game.  Langston overhauled the roster, and is now 13-0 on the season.  Just incredible!

-  After Emporia State knocked off #1 ranked Northwest Missouri State, the Hornets have now defeated NW MO State in three consecutive games.  Last year - in a season when NW MO State won their record-setting 3rd consecutive NCAA Division II National Championship, Emporia State swept the Bearcats in two regular season games.  Congratulations to Coach Craig Doty, who has won two NJCAA National Championships and an NAIA National Championship in his young career.

-  Last season, Young Harris was 6-21.  Thus far this season, the Mountain Lions are 10-0 thus far.  Congratulations to Coach Jeremy Currier and the Young Harris team.

-  The University of St. Joseph is an incredible story in NCAA Division III basketball.  In only their fourth year as a basketball program - started by Coach Jim Calhoun - the Blue Jays are now the #1 ranked team in NCAA Division III basketball.  Now led by Coach Glen Miller, St. Joseph is now 9-0.  Coach Glen Miller has the unique distinction of leading two different NCAA Division III teams to the #1 ranking in Division III basketball (he also lead Connecticut College to the top spot during the 1988-89 season.  Coach Miller has also been the Head Coach at two different Ivy League schools: Penn & Brown.

-  Randolph-Macon, who won the 2022 NCAA Division III National Championship, has now won a remarkable 53 straight home games.  Incredible!

#Randolph-Macon #University of St. Joseph #Young Harris #Emporia State #Langston #Chris Wright #Jeremy Currier

[apod]

2024 February 20

AM1054: Stars Form as Galaxies Collide Image Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI; Processing: J. English (U. Manitoba); Science: M. Rodruck (Penn State U. & Randolph-Macon C.) et al.; Text: Jayanne English (U. Manitoba).

Explanation: When galaxies collide, how many stars are born? For AM1054-325, featured here in a recently released image by the Hubble Space Telescope, the answer is millions. Instead of stars being destroyed as galaxy AM1054-325 and a nearby galaxy circle each other, their gravity and motion has ignited stellar creation. Star formation occurs rapidly in the gaseous debris stretching from AM1054-325’s yellowish body due to the other galaxy’s gravitational pull. Hydrogen gas surrounding newborn stars glows pink. Bright infant stars shine blue and cluster together in compact nurseries of thousands to millions of stars. AM1054-325 possesses over 100 of these intense-blue, dot-like star clusters, some appearing like a string of pearls. Analyzing ultraviolet light helped determine that most of these stars are less than 10 million years old: stellar babies. Many of these nurseries may grow up to be globular star clusters, while the bundle of young stars at the bottom tip may even detach and form a small galaxy.

∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240220.html

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Hubble detects celestial 'string of pearls' star clusters in galaxy collisions

When spectacular cosmic events such as galaxy collisions occur, it sets off a reaction to form new stars, and possibly new planets that otherwise would not have formed. The gravitational pull that forces the collisions between these galaxies creates tidal tails—the long thin region of stars and interstellar gas.

The Hubble Space Telescope's vision is so sharp that it can see clusters of newborn stars strung along these tidal tails. They form when knots of gas gravitationally collapse to create about 1 million newborn stars per cluster.

Specifically, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has homed in on 12 interacting galaxies that have long, tadpole-like tidal tails of gas, dust and a plethora of stars. Hubble's exquisite sharpness and sensitivity to ultraviolet light have uncovered 425 clusters of newborn stars along these tails, looking like strings of holiday lights.

Each cluster contains as many as 1 million blue, newborn stars.

Clusters in tidal tails have been known about for decades. When galaxies interact, gravitational tidal forces pull out long streamers of gas and dust. Two popular examples are the Antennae and Mice galaxies with their long, narrow, finger-like projections.

In a study recently published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society astronomers used the near-infrared capabilities of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to study tidal tail clusters and determine their ages and masses, along with properties of the merging galaxies.

Michael Rodruck of Randolph-Macon College is the lead author of this study with co-authors including Arizona State University scientists Sanchayeeta Borthakur and Karen Knierman of the School of Earth and Space Exploration.

A team of astronomers used a combination of new observations and archival data to get ages and masses of tidal tail star clusters. They found that these clusters are very young—only 10 million years old. And they seem to be forming at the same rate along tails stretching for thousands of light-years.

"These observations tell us how stars form and what regulates those processes. This knowledge is critical in understanding how stars in our own galaxy were formed," said Associate Professor Sanchayeeta Borthakur, who is an observational astronomer specializing in extragalactic astronomy at ASU's School of Earth and Space Exploration.

The tails look like they are taking a galaxy's spiral arm and stretching it out into space. The exterior part of the arm gets pulled like taffy from the gravitational tug-of-war between a pair of interacting galaxies.

Before the mergers, the galaxies were rich in dusty clouds of molecular hydrogen that simply may have remained inert. But the clouds got jostled and bumped into each other during the encounters. This compressed the hydrogen to the point where it precipitated a firestorm of star birth.

The fate of these strung-out star clusters is uncertain. They may stay gravitationally intact and evolve into globular star clusters—like those that orbit outside the plane of our Milky Way galaxy. Or they may disperse to form a halo of stars around their host galaxy, or get cast off to become wandering intergalactic stars.

"It's so exciting to present the culmination of over two decades of work on star clusters in tidal tails using data from different eras of Hubble together with that from other telescopes," Assistant Teaching Professor Karen Knierman said. "I started working on this project as an undergraduate at Penn State in 1999, and some of that same data and results are used here. We got additional data from a Hubble program I was (principal investigator) for when I came to ASU in 2007."

This string-of-pearls star formation may have been more common in the early universe when galaxies collided with each other more frequently. These nearby galaxies observed by Hubble are a proxy for what happened long ago, and therefore allow us to look into the distant past.

"It's a surprise to see lots of the young objects in the tails. It tells us a lot about cluster formation efficiency," Rodruck said. "With tidal tails, you will build up new generations of stars that otherwise might not have existed."

IMAGE....Galaxy AM 1054-325 has been distorted into an S-shape from a normal pancake-like spiral shape by the gravitational pull of a neighboring galaxy, seen in this Hubble Space Telescope image. A consequence of this is that newborn clusters of stars form along a stretched-out tidal tail for thousands of light-years, resembling a string of pearls. They form when knots of gas gravitationally collapse to create about 1 million newborn stars per cluster. Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, Jayanne English (University of Manitoba)

#science #space #astronomy #physics #news #astrophysics

[notasfilosoficas]

“Disfrutar con el trabajo es hallar la fuente de la juventud”

Pearl Buck

Pearl Comfort Sydenstricker Buck, fue una escritora y novelista estadounidense nacida en Hillsboro Virginia Occidental en junio de 1892. Fue la primer mujer en Estados Unidos en ganar el Premio Nobel de Literatura.

Como hija de misioneros presbiterianos en China, pasó la mayor parte de su vida antes de 1934 en Zhenjiang. Fue la cuarta de 7 hermanos.

Pearl se crió en un entorno bilingüe, con su madre aprendió en inglés y el dialecto local chino con sus compañeros juegos, con su nana y con el cocinero de la familia.

Posteriormente estudió el chino clásico con un erudito chino llamado Mr. Kung, quien la introdujo en los clásicos de la literatura china, las teorías de Confucio y la historia del país asiático.

En 1911, salió de China para asistir al Randolph-Macon Woman’s College en Lynchburg Virginia, años después contaría en su autobiografía; 

“Crecí entre dos mundos diferentes, uno corresponde al mundo de la visión estrecha y limpia de los norteamericanos; mientras que el otro corresponde a una visión de un mundo amplio, feliz, alegre y menos limpio de los chinos. Los dos mundos no se comunican”.

Estudio psicología en la Universidad de Virginia y en 1914 regresó a China para cuidar a su madre enferma, dando clases de inglés en diferentes escuelas.

Se casó en 1917 con un economista agrícola y vivieron en China en una ciudad situada junto al río Yangtsé en donde vivieron casi tres años.

Para finales de 1919 el matrimonio se mudó a Nankín, en donde ambos trabajaron como profesores en la Universidad y en donde Pearl escribiría la mayoría de sus obras.

Pearl tradujo por primera vez la obra “A la orilla del agua”, un clásico de la literatura china y en 1920, Pearl dió a luz a su primera hija quien nacería con una grave enfermedad mental.

Tras tener que superar las muertes de su padre y madre, y tras haberle detectado una enfermedad uterina que le provocaría una esterilidad permanente, los esposos decidieron trasladarse a los Estados Unidos en 1925 para regresar a China un año después.

En 1927, tras el “incidente de Nankín” en donde las tropas comunistas de Chiang Kai-Shek asesinaron a algunos ciudadanos occidentales, los Buck se trasladaron a Shangái para tomar camino a Japón con rumbo a los Estados Unidos, es a partir de allí en donde Pearl iniciaría su brillante carrera como novelista.

Su primera novela se publico en 1930 “Viento del este, viento del oeste” gracias a la ayuda del editor llamado John Day quien terminaría siendo su esposo 5 años mas tarde.

En el año de 1931, Pearl publica “La buena tierra” la cual se convertiría en la novela más vendida en ese año y el siguiente. Mas tarde al año siguiente seria la ganadora del Premio Pulitzer y asumió el cargo de presidenta de la Asociación de Autores de Estados Unidos.

En 1938, Pearl S. Buck ganó el premio Nobel de Literatura.

Pearl fue durante toda su vida una incansable activista por los derechos humanos. 

Tras la sangrienta masacre de civiles en la ciudad de Nankín, Pearl condenó los excesos del ejercito japonés, y recabó fondos para ayudar médicamente a la población China. 

En 1949 fundó la Welcome House, la primera agencia de adopción para niños asiáticos y de otras razas y años después la fundación Pearl S. Buck de atencion a niños asiáticos-estadounidenses.

Pearl nunca mas regresaría a China, mucho después de terminar la Segunda Guerra Mundial, Pearl solicitó a diversos dirigentes del partido comunista chino le permitieran visitar el país cosa que le negaron y en 1972 con la visita del presidente Richard Nixon al país, solicitó ser aceptada como acompañante, siendo negada su visa.

Pearl murió en marzo de 1973 a consecuencia de un cáncer de pulmón, a la edad de 81 años.

Fuentes: Wikipedia, historia.nationalgeographic.com.es

#frases #frases de escritores #novelistas #pearl s. buck #citas de escritores #citas de motivación #frases de reflexion #frases de la vida #notas del alma #PREMIO NOBEL

[allcatsconstitutethesamefamily]

From Randolph-Macon Woman's College's 1917 yearbook.

Spotty: my modest collection of vintage leopards.

Wondering about this post?  Wait for the dissertation (TBA). For now:  Weblog ◆ Books ◆ Videos ◆ Music ◆ Etsy

#leopard #vintage yearbook #vintage illustration #yearbook

[short-hot-stories]

Ethical Carnal Duties: Part 1

Valentines Day Letdowns

By regularguy13 – listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories.

Aunt regrets stealing his virginity. She makes it right

Thursday night, Feb 13th

Harvey Fielding, the aged patriarch of the family stood and looked out with pride at the group sitting around the dinner table. Three generations were present. With him, were his daughter, daughter-In-law, and their remaining families. Harvey's wife was not with them. Unfortunately, she had passed away. So had his son, Harvey junior.

They were at his daughter-in-law’s house in Richmond, Virginia. Meadow was a widowed woman with a single child. Her daughter, Wendy, was twenty and a sophomore at Randolph-Macon College. Meadow was an only child of two deceased parents. She was raising Wendy, the patriarch’s beloved granddaughter.

Sitting across from them was his daughter, Breeze, and her family: her husband, Bill and their son, Arlo.

The group had enjoyed a good meal.

Harvey Fielding said, "I stand here a proud and happy man. These get-togethers are too short and too infrequent."

His family murmured their agreement.

He continued, "Congratulations Meadow, on being recognized by the National Association of Women Lawyers for the mentoring program you run for high school girls." My departed wife and son, God rest their souls; would be so proud, as would your own departed parents.  You are truly a daughter to me.

Everyone raised their glass and congratulated her. Then Harvey said, "Congratulations to Arlo for his scholarship to my favorite school, Randolph-Macon College. If I say so myself, it is an excellent institution of higher learning. I am pleased that you're planning to major in my favorite field; Philosophy and Ethics."

Breeze laughed and said good-naturedly, "Father, it looks like you won. Arlo has your temperament. I tried to develop his artistic side, but he has not found his creative art talents yet."  With a mentor like you, he will go far in his studies.

"Wendy caught that bug," Meadow said with a laugh. "Maybe you and I were supposed to trade kids."

Breeze was a talented artist. She inherited that skill from her mother & father. Like her mother, Breeze could draw, paint and sculpt. She and Bill earned their living selling the art they produced.

Harvey dramatically lowered his voice and said, "Arlo, happy as I am that you'll be joining your cousin Wendy at R-MC, unfortunately, I have to report that the quality of the teaching staff there has diminished significantly recently."

He was kidding and everyone knew it. They all laughed. He had retired from the college last year after thirty years of teaching philosophy and ethics. Meadow met Harvey junior as college students. Meadow had been a great student in Professor Fielding’s classes. She still credit’s her philosophy & ethics training for making her a more forceful and persuasive courtroom litigator.

He waited for the laughter to die and then said, "And lastly, let us say bon voyage to our travelers. Breeze and Bill are off tomorrow for a well-deserved, ten-day vacation to St. Bart's. While they are having fun in the sun, the rest of us will be suffering through a cold and dreary Virginia February."

Breeze said, "I'll send you all photos from the warm and sunny Caribbean."

"No thanks," Harvey chirped. "I don't need to see pictures of you two, naked."

The family laughed. Bill and Breeze were artists, but they weren't free spirits. Everyone knew them to be serious, shy, quiet souls. They would never frolic naked on a beach or anywhere else for that matter.

Harvey waited until he had everyone's attention and then he said, "I will close the night with a quote from a brilliant philosopher." He raised his glass and said, "To alcohol: the cause of, and solution to all the world's problems. At least so says Homer Simpson."

Cheers and laughter broke out. Everyone raised their glass and drank.

After the meal, Bill and Breeze said their goodbyes. They had to catch an early flight out of Baltimore-Washington Airport and they were spending the night at a hotel near the airport.

Breeze hugged her boy and said, "Enjoy the tour of the campus and sitting in on some classes. Promise me you will talk to the other students." She looked concerned.

"Ah Mom," Arlo whined.

Arlo took after his parents. He too was a shy person. He was naturally quiet, but it was more than that, he was awkward around people and uncomfortable to engage with them. He was not a "people person" and had never had a lot of friends.

His behavior was partly due to his timid nature. His upbringing also contributed to his demeanor. When he was young, he only had limited opportunities to interact with other children. He hadn't attended regular school. He was home schooled.

His parents taught him what they thought was necessary, and let classic books supplement their efforts. He became a big reader and gravitated to ethics because it was a field of study that suited his nature. He could read and think and pursue it alone.

Arlo's opportunity to connect with other kids was hurt by his family's nomadic lifestyle. The family was forced to move to follow artistic projects. He was always the new kid in town and he often moved before anyone got to know him or he got to know them.

His parents prayed he would outgrow his shyness. They hoped that college would be that time.

Wendy was the next person to say her goodbyes. She was returning to school.

"Bye Mom," Wendy said. "My sorority is having an event."

Meadow knew that was code for ‘I have a party to go to’. She was fine with that. Wendy was a good girl and she kept her grades up. However, she felt they should give her nephew an opportunity to attend the party.

She said, "Wendy, why don't you take Arlo with you?"

Wendy was planning to hook up with her boyfriend. She didn't want to be stuck with her nerdy cousin. However, she knew she couldn't object outright. She decided to roll the dice and invite him. She was betting his shy nature would cause him to decline.

"Arlo," Wendy asked brightly. "Would you like to go? There's a party tonight. Lots of people will be there."

Arlo started to sweat. Crowds and parties scared him. He stammered as he responded, "Ah. Ah. No, thank you. Gramps and I were planning to discuss ethics."

Wendy smiled. She was happy her plan had worked and she when off to the party unencumbered.

Meadow cleaned up and headed off to bed. It had been a long day for her.

Harvey and Arlo had an enjoyable time discussing philosophy and ethics. Harvey played the role of Socratic professor. During their conversation, he asked,

"Arlo, what does it mean to be good."

Arlo spoke clearly. “First one must settle his convictions of what ‘good’ is.” He was comfortable talking to his grandfather and very comfort talking about ethics. He gave the textbook answer. "To be honest, courageous, respectful and concerned about others. To be a good citizen. Obey just laws, protect what is under your care, be informed and be involved with society."

"Why should we strive to live by these standards?" the old professor asked.

"Our world would be unpleasant and chaotic if we didn't. We'd be miserable if everyone lied and cheated and was mean to each another. If people acted on their baser instincts of greed and self-interest, we couldn't build a functioning society. It is noble to sacrifice for the greater good of others"

"Do you believe the goals of humans are joy, happiness, and contentment and the best way to achieve these goals is ethical behavior?"

Arlo nodded.

"I agree also," Harvey said. "Now, how do we get there?"

They discussed different versions of ethical theory. Arlo was a proponent of one theory. His Grandfather favored another.

Harvey summed up his argument this way. He said, "As you know, in consequential ethics, the outcome determines the morality of the act."

Arlo interjected, "For you, the end justifies the mean. Do you really believe there are no standards of behavior that should be upheld?"

"Yes and no," Harvey conceded. "The thing that makes an action right or wrong is the consequences of the action. Being truthful is a noble goal, but I believe it is okay to lie sometimes."

"But a lie is a lie," Arlo stated. For him, everything was black or white; idealistic.

"Yes, a lie is a lie," Harvey agreed. "But a lie can be a good thing. Consider this scenario, an overweight wife asks her husband if her butt is too big. Which is the better choice? If he's truthful and says "Yes, dear. You're fat." He hurt her feelings. If he lies and says, "No. You look fine." She is happy and believe me, it increases the husband's happiness too."

"That's an innocent lie," Arlo pointed out. "You need to be truthful about significant things."

"Like life or death issues?"

"Certainly."

Harvey said, "What would you do in this circumstance? A criminal breaks into your home. He demands to know if anyone else in the house?. You know your mother is upstairs. Do you tell him? Or do you attempt to protect her and say 'I'm the only one here.'"

"I lie to protect my mother," Arlo answered.

"Exactly," Harvey said. "It is acceptable, I would argue necessary at times, to break the moral code to be moral. The essence of morality is determined by the outcome of the act. One cannot blindly follow a set of precepts and expect to achieve good results."

Arlo said, "You make a good argument for your system, but I still have problems with it. Many people believe in God and follow the Ten Commandments. That is a good thing for them and society. They would say you are replacing God's law with man's judgment. Religious people won't like that. And considering the nature of man, won't a man always find a way to justify his behavior?

"And isn't it a better, simpler and faster method of moral behavior to have standards and to live by them? I can see the world grinding to a halt as we all say 'Time out. I need to do a moral calculation of all my possible actions to see which is best for the greatest number of people.'"

Harvey laughed and said, "This is exactly why I find ethics so fascinating. Lying is bad. You should strive to always tell the truth unless the situation dictates that a lie is the better choice. You should follow God's laws except when you know better. The end justifies the mean except when it causes you to break some moral code."

Harvey smiled good-naturedly and said, "Another reason I find Ethics so fascinating is because it is the perfect excuse to argue and drink; two of my favorite things."

Harvey stood and finished his drink. He was impressed with his grandson's grasp of the subject and his intellect. He leaned in close so Meadow couldn’t hear from the other room. "Arlo, I'll leave you with one more question that may push you to my side. If the tip of your dick is resting on the labia of a beautiful and willing female, would you lie to her so both of you could enjoy out of this world sex?

"Let's say she pauses and asks if you love her. What are you going to say?

"In my scenario, you like her, but you aren't in love with her. If you are completely honest, you and she miss out on a wonderful experience. You deny each other the joy of great sex.” Arlo said with confidence. "Ethics is about good and evil, right and wrong. If the goal of your actions is the greatest good for the greatest number, then you must lie and fuck her. To needlessly uphold a rigid, abstract standard in this situation serves no purpose, correct?"

Harvey walked away. He grabbed his coat and returned to his house. Arlo went to bed. He laid on the floral sheets and pondered the last question his grandfather put to him. His dick was hard and thought the answer was obvious.

Friday, February 14th

Aunt Meadow and Arlo had breakfast together. She said, "Today's the big day. So, you're going to sit in on some classes?"

He nodded to avoid speaking.

They left at the same time. He went to the college to tour the campus and she went to prosecute a child molester.

Arlo returned to this Aunt's house late-afternoon. No one was there. He watched television.

"Indiana Jones, you rock," Arlo said.

He had just watched the movie "Raiders of the Lost Ark". It was his favorite movie. In his dreams, he was the handsome, swashbuckling hero. He won the girl and saved the day. In real life, he was a shy eighteen-year-old who was awkward around people and especially timid and nervous around females. Needless to say, he didn't date and he was a virgin.

He walked into the bathroom and said, "I love indoor plumbing."

He peed in the toilet, flushed and said, "Why do my parents put up with a smelly, camper toilet when if we lived like normal people we could all use this wonderful, hygienic device?"

Since his parents moved frequently to work on commissioned art project, they lived in a camper that they pulled by an SUV.

"How about a shower?" he asked rhetorically.

He answered himself continuing to talk out loud. "That sounds good. A nice, long, hot shower. Another marvelous experience denied to trailer people."

Arlo undressed. He dropped his clothes in a pile on the floor.

He said, "Oh. They have a hamper."

He left his clothes on the floor and went to the wicker container. He flipped open the top. He saw a sexy black, lacy bra and a pair of panties.

"Whoa!"

He picked up the bra. He had never seen something so beautiful, so sexy, and certainly never on a live girl. He was not the kind of guy who could seduce a woman.

None of his mother's bras were like this one. She was a petite woman with small breasts. She usually didn't bother with one because she didn't need to. If she wore one, they were soft, stretchy bandeau tube style bras. Functional. Not sexy.

"36C," he snickered as he read the label. "She certainly is the big aunt."

He examined the cups and fingered the lace. His dick got hard thinking about the soft flesh that filled them. Next, he picked up the underwear. It also had lace and was alluring. He studied it and did the unthinkable. He brought the crotch to his nose and sniffed.

"Oh! Um."

He was overwhelmed with the acrid, musky odor of a woman. His dick twitched and grew hard. He said, "Aunt Meadow wore these! This is her scent."

He held the panties to his nose with his left hand and stroked his dick with his right.

"Umm," he groaned breathing deeply.

He looked around for something to use as a lubricant. He spied hand lotion on the counter by the sink. He pumped a large amount on his hand and masturbated. He sniffed the panties, stroked his cock and kept thinking about how this article of clothing had been pressed up against a woman's cunt.

"Oh! Oh! God!" he called out as he came in the sink. He dropped the panties and gripped the counter for support as he jacked off into the basin.

"Oh! Fuck," he cried as the last of his spunk landed in the sink. His heart was pounding and his breathing was ragged. He rested a bit and then turned on the tap and cleaned up. He sent his cum down the drain.

He returned the sexy underwear to the dirty clothes hamper and hopped in the shower. He shampooed his hair and scrubbed his body hard. He was trying to wash away the sin of masturbation made worse by sniffing his Aunt's soiled underwear.

Hours later, Meadow shouted, "Hello, Arlo" as she entered her home.

Arlo had been reading a book. He stood and silently greeted his Aunt.

She came into the family room and asked, "Did you have a good day? Did you find a way to amuse yourself?" she asked with a warm smile.

Arlo blushed. Immediately, he thought, "Oh God! It's like she knows I beat off while sniffing her panties". He was embarrassed and stuttered as he answered her, "Ah. Ah. Yes."

He held up his book and said, "Um. I find a good book is always good company."

"Yes. We all would be better off if we read more."

She looked at her watch and said, "Oh. I have to hurry. I have a date tonight. It's Valentine's Day, but of course, you know that. Will you be okay on your own?"

"Yes. I'll order a pizza."

Meadow dashed off to shower and changed.

Meadow stood in front of the mirror and debated whether she should put on a bra. She wasn't wearing one under her favorite red slinky dress. Her hard nipples pressed obscenely against the clingy fabric. The contours of her areolas and her tight peaks were visible. She decided to be risqué tonight and let the girls be free.

"Good thing I have my cashmere wrap," she chuckled. She didn't mean her bare shoulders would need to be covered. She knew that without a bra and wearing this slinky dress, her nipples would be visible to everyone all night. She brought the warp in case she lost her nerve.

She slipped on her highest heels, threw the wrap over her arm and walked out of her bedroom. She encountered Arlo. His eyes grew wide as he viewed her. The dress was hot. Her braless breasts were lewd. The way her nipples were visible through the dress was scandalous. His eyes were riveted to her chest.

"Wow! That's some dress," he said.

"Too much?" she asked. Seeing his expression caused her to re-think her decision to forego the bra.

"No. Gorgeous. Beautiful. I was just thinking if you are going to wear that dress you should come with a warning label."

"Ahem," he cleared his throat and then did his best Bette Davis imitation, "Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night."

Meadow laughed and said, "Good. It's Valentine's Day. A time to be flirty and sexy. I loved your impression of Bette Davis! I'm surprised you'd know a line from a movie made before you were born."

"Um," he shyly admitted, "I don't have many friends. I spend a lot of time with classic movies and books."

"Oh." She felt sorry for him. The clock on the mantel chimed. She said, "I need to go."

She draped the wrap over her shoulders. Arlo helped her put on her coat and she left to meet her boyfriend for dinner.

She drove to the fancy restaurant where she and Ted had agreed to meet. She had a drink and then another while she waited. She called him numerous times and got no answered. She became worried. Ted was a responsible person, a wealthy, well-respected attorney. It was out of character for him to stand her up.

"Maybe some thing's happened," she told herself after waiting an hour.

She decided to go to his home. She pulled up to his house and walked to the front door.

"That's odd. The door is open," she said.

She let herself in. She heard noises coming from the den and headed that way. She entered the room and was shocked by what she saw. Her boyfriend was naked and stretched out on the sofa. There were two naked women in the room with him. Their appearance screamed crack whore.

The women were gaunt, bags of bones. Their sorry, empty tits sagged down their chest. Meadow looked at their unkempt hair and the dark circles under their eyes and wondered when was the last time they had combed their hair or slept.

One woman was snorting cocaine off the glass coffee table and the other was sucking on her boyfriend's dick.

"Ted!" Meadow shouted. "What's going on?"

"We, we're having a party," he slurred. "Help yourself to some blow."

"What?" Meadow screamed. She'd never seen her boyfriend do drugs and certainly not behave like this.

Ted laughed. "I got fired today. They discovered I was embezzling money from the firm. I bought some cocaine and decided to get high. I met these two ladies and we've been fucking and snorting for hours. Join us."

Meadow was shocked and disgusted. She turned around without saying another word and drove home.

The Refuge

"Keep the change," Arlo mumbled to the pizza delivery guy. He watched television as he ate his dinner. “9:00, let’s see if we can find a good movie, other than sappy chick-flicks”

Meadow burst through the door. Arlo went to investigate because he wasn't expecting anyone to come home at this hour.

"Oh. It's you, Aunt Meadow," he said. He saw that she'd been crying. A normal person would have asked, "Is everything okay?". Arlo wasn't normal. He didn't ask.

She ripped her coat off. The shawl came off with it. She said angrily, "Worse Valentine's Day ever."

She kicked off her shoes and bent over at the hips to pick them up. She leaned over so far that Arlo saw her big brown nipples. She showed no hint of caring that she'd flashed her tits to her nephew. She had too many other things on her mind. She marched off quickly to her bedroom.

"Whoa. Nipples," Arlo said to himself. That was a first for him. He'd seen pictures of women's breasts but never had he seen an actual one. It gave him a chubby.

When she returned. Meadow had a royal blue robe on over her flannel sleeping gown. Her feet were covered by slipper socks. The terry cloth material kept her feet warm and it had a rubber sole.

Her faced was scrubbed clean of makeup and her hair tied back into a ponytail. She ignored Arlo and headed straight to the kitchen. She mumbled, "I need a drink."

She fixed herself a stiff drink. She downed half of it and refilled her glass. She sat at the kitchen table and brooded about the evening. Arlo could see she was upset. He stayed away giving her a wide berth. Occasionally, he'd turn his head and check on her. When he glanced her way, he saw her sitting at the kitchen table talking to herself and drinking.

"Cocaine?" Meadow said. She was appalled by her boyfriend's drug use. Ex-boyfriend. She took a drink.

"I've never seen him take drugs," she mused and tossed down the glass and then re-filled it.

"Whores? Two prostitutes!" Meadow said. She was disgusted. She guzzled more alcohol.

"I gave him my body. I sucked his cock and he cheats on me with two crack whores," she lamented.

"He never called to cancel our date. Bastard." Meadow finished her drink and got another.

"The bum kept me sitting in the restaurant." She gulped a large amount.

"Everyone there knew I had been stood up." She sipped heartily on the whiskey.

"I felt like a fool." She drained the glass and got another.

"I cared for him!" she wailed.

She swallowed her drink. The alcohol burned her throat as it went down. Tears fell from her eyes.

Arlo heard his Aunt crying. He ignored her for a long time, but even he was moved by her sobbing. Finally, he went to her and asked, "Wha, what's the matter?"

"You mean besides wasting six months of my life dating an embezzler and drug user?" She reached for the bottle to top off her drink and knocked it over.

"Fuck!" she cried out and reached for the bottle. Arlo picked up the bottle. She wrenched it out of his hand. When she did, the bottle flew up and hit Arlo in the face.

"Ouch," he cried out.

He wrestled the bottle away from her. He set the bottle on the counter out of his Aunt's reach. His eye hurt. He rubbed it gently.

He said, "Aunt Meadow, don't you think you've had enough?"

"I'll be the judge of that," she slurred.

She stood and tried to go through Arlo to get to the liquor. She pummeled and scratched him. Arlo was only an average size guy, but he easily stopped her. She was drunk, unsteady and uncoordinated.

"Let me by!" she demanded.

Arlo stood his ground. Meadow tried to pass him on one side than the other. Then, she stopped. Arlo had been sliding left and right to block her. He hoped her lack of movement meant she'd given up.

Meadow looked up at him. She didn't look well. She wasn't well. She hurled. Vomit poured out of her. It splattered on Arlo's face and chest. Some went down his shirt and on his pants.

"Oh God!" Arlo cried as he was hit with puke.

The sight and putrid smell made him throw up. He raised his hands to block it. His vomit hit his hands and ricocheted onto his arms and shirt. It then dripped down on his pants and the floor. He was a smelly mess. He wanted to leave. He wanted to scream at his aunt, but just  then his own words, “It’s noble to sacrifice for the good of others” came back to him, along with the mental image of his grandfather’s approving, proud smile.

Miraculously, Aunt Meadow was unsoiled.

However, she was still drunk and still unsteady. She lost her balance and fell into Arlo. She hugged him to keep from falling over. It didn't work. They both ended up on the floor, rolling around and getting covered in the smelly, slimy puke.

Meadow freaked out. She shouted, "Take me to the bathroom! I have to get this off me!"

Arlo led the filthy, unsteady woman to the bathroom.

"Oh God! The smell!" Meadow complained.

She ripped off her robe. She stood there in her nightgown and slurred, "Ya. Y’alls a mess, too. We need tah get them dirty clothes offa ya."

She began undressing her nephew. Arlo agreed. The smell was sickening. She helped him remove his shirt and pants. They both tossed their stinky clothing into a the open hamper. He stripped until he was down to his underwear.

"Eya stinks. Eyes needs a shaw were," Meadow said.

She went to the shower and turned the water on. While she waited for the warm water, she pulled her gown over her head. She was too drunk to do this safely. The gown got stuck when it was half way off. She wasn't wearing anything underneath. Arlo stared at her bare ass.

She swayed as she struggled to escape the nightgown. Arlo moved in closed and held her hips. As he feared, she toppled over. He caught her and took a hard elbow to the body.

"Pull it off," Meadow demanded.

Arlo steadied her with one hand around her waist and used his other hand to pull the nightgown off. He tossed it aside. Meadow cared not a whit that she was naked. Her focus was on getting clean. She stepped into the shower, turning the water on and adjusted the water's temperature. Arlo was right behind her keeping her from falling.

Arlo said to himself, ‘Wow. She's naked. Her skin is so soft. I didn't expect a woman in her forties to be this attractive.

Meadow lost her balance again and Arlo had to catch her. He wrapped both arms around her to keep her upright. One arm met her breasts. She didn't notice or care. She said nothing about it.

Arlo was nervous and scared. He expected to be berated at any moment for touching her boobs. His face blushed bright red. His mind screamed, ‘You're so dead for touching her boobs. She's going to scream at you and tell Mom’.

She stood in the stream of warm water.

When she didn't say anything, Arlo allowed himself to think about her breasts. He thought, ‘Her boobs are awesome. So big. So soft. Her nipples are sticking out obscenely.’.

Her bare rump was pressed against his groin and his dick grew hard. She fidgeted and he had to adjust his grip on her nude body. A hand cupped her right breast. Her head turned to him and he expected the worst.

"I'm dirty. I ma need a shower," she said with the simplicity of a six-year-old.

Her words stunned him. It took a moment for him to respond. "Aunt Meadow, I'm worried you'll fall if I let go of you."

She looked down at the arms around her as if just noticing them; then looked back at him. He had vomit on him. She wrinkled her nose and said, "You smell bad."

She turned around and luxuriated in the spray and let the water beat down on her foggy skull. Arlo used this time to study and marvel at her body. This was the first nude woman he'd ever seen. His dick tented his wet shorts.

She rinsed all traces of the vomit off her body. Arlo stood behind her. He kept his hands on her to make sure she didn't fall.

What he saw astounded him. "She beautiful," he thought as he gazed at her. He loved everything about her. Her long, slender neck leading to her bare back fascinated him. He studied the soft curve of her shoulders and the indentation in the center of her back where her spinal column was.

He loved how her broad shoulders swept down to a narrow waist and delightfully flared out at the hips. She had a plump womanly ass.

Her back was tanned. Surprisingly, her bottom was too. ‘She suntans in the nude. Cool,’ Arlo thought.

He stepped back to get a complete view. She had firm thighs, slender calves, and small feet. Her dainty toenails were painted fire engine red. Beautiful.

Meadow grabbed the shampoo, squeezed some into her hand and turned about as she worked it into her hair.

"Oh!" Arlo gasped.

She kept her eyes closed while she worked the shampoo through her hair and thoroughly scrubbed. She didn't seem to care that he was seeing her naked. Arlo studied her front quickly in case this was his only chance. He checked her face to be sure her eyes were still closed. He noticed she had a round face, a thin nose, and full lips. Quickly his eyes stared at her breasts. They sagged. The nipples faced East and West, but he didn't care. They looked wonderful to him.

‘Fuck! This is unbelievable.’ Arlo thought. ‘Look at her big tits bounce and shake. She has huge, hard nipples’.

His internal conversation continued, ‘God! Look at her cunt. That hair is jet black. The hair on her head is brown. I can see her vulva!’

Streams of water ran down her fully tanned, fit body. The water cascaded over her breasts, across her stomach and flattened and separated her pubic hair as it ran down her body. Arlo could see her thick vaginal lips through the soaked, parted hair.

Arlo kept his hands on her hips as his eyes devoured her body. It was the first naked woman he'd seen in the flesh and it was as hot and exciting as he'd imagine.

Meadow washed and rinsed her hair and then casually washed her body. Arlo hard cock lurched when she soaped her breasts. He almost came when she touched her ass and cunt thoroughly swabbed her most intimate parts.

Meadow was in her own world as she scrubbed her body. After she rinsed off, she opened her eyes. They brightened in recognition that Arlo was in the shower too. She wasn't self-conscious about her nudity. In a matter of fact way, she said,

"Let's gets y’all cleaned too."

She reached out and began washing his upper body. She smirked when she noticed he was in the shower with his underwear on.

"This won't do," she said.

She pulled his shorts off and giggled when his erection popped into view. She grabbed it and began washing it.

"Someone's grown up," she purred.

"Ah. Ah," Arlo stammered. "You don't have to do that," he said embarrassed.

She grasped his dick, stroked him and asked, "Are you sure you want me to stop?"

Arlo was too scared and nervous to speak, but he prayed she'd ignore his protestations. She looked into his eyes and saw a pleading look.

"I thought not," she said with a knowing smile.

"Oh. Oh," Arlo moaned as she jacked him off.

He almost cried when she stopped. She handed him the soap and said, "Clean up."

He hurriedly washed the vomit off his body. She stood and smiled watching his erection bounce around.

When he was done, she held her hand out and said, "Give me the soap. Your back needs to get washed."

He did, then turned his back to her. Then, she soaped up his shoulders, back and under his arms. She set the soap on the dish and wrapped her sudsy hands around both sides of him, then back down to his stiff cock and said, "This needs a little more attention."

She soaped up his cock, dropped the soap and resumed beating him off. She pressed her tits into his back and breathed lustily into his ear as she stroked him. His eyes rolled back into his head and she held him steady as he moaned loudly, "Oh!"

He came. She held his cock like a hose and directed the blasts of cum against the tile walls of the shower. Meadow laughed and milked his cock until he'd finished.

“I gawda fire hose! Where’s the fire! Gawd I love my fire hose.” She giggled . “ Hey, who turned my hose off?” She stroked his some more, but then gave up a few seconds later. Then she got quiet and looked around. She turned them both around and rinsed Arlo off as if nothing unusual had happened.

Arlo stared at her plump rump and enjoyed the wonderful sensation of his very first handjob as he gasped for air.

Meadow, now clean, pushed open the shower door and stepped out. She immediately slipped and fell hard on her ass.

"Oh, my God! Are you okay?" Arlo called out. He was worried that she'd hurt herself. He quickly exited and went to her side.

She was still inebriated. She said simply, "My bum hurts."

To be continued.

By regularguy13 for Literotica

[uzaydanhaberler]

AM1054: Galaksiler Çarpıştıkça Yıldızlar Oluşuyor

Günün Astronomi Görseli 20 Şubat 2024 Görsel: NASA, ESA, STScI; Görüntü İşleme: J. English (U. Manitoba); Bilim: M. Rodruck (Penn State U. & Randolph-Macon C.) et al.; Metin: Jayanne English (U. Manitoba). Galaksiler çarpıştığında kaç yıldız doğar? Hubble Uzay Teleskobu tarafından yakın zamanda yayınlanan bu görüntüde yer alan AM1054-325 için cevap milyonlarca. AM1054-325 galaksisi ve yakındaki…

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#apod #astronomi #astronomy #bilim #gökyüzü #Nasa #repost #science #sky #space #uzay #uzaydanhaberler

[nebris]

"It's the birthday of novelist Pearl S. Buck, born in Hillsboro, West Virginia (1892). Her parents were Christian missionaries in China who returned to America for Pearl's birth. But when she was three months old, they headed back to China. Buck's father, Absalom, was a fundamentalist Presbyterian preacher — and a distant father. In many of the villages where he traveled, he was the first white person the villagers had ever seen, and they were put off by him. They were unimpressed by his fire-and-brimstone sermons, and he estimated that he converted about 10 people over the course of 10 years. Still, he kept trying.

Pearl's mother, Caroline, resented being so far from her home in West Virginia. She tried her best to keep the mud walls and floors of their hut clean, and she planted American flowers everywhere. Finally, when Pearl was four, she told her husband that they were moving to a city or she was going home. So they moved to the city of Zhenjiang, but all they could afford there were three crowded rooms in an apartment in one of the poorest sections of the city, a district full of prostitutes and drug addicts.

Absalom and Caroline receive a small stipend for their work as missionaries, but Absalom squandered much of the family's budget on his pet project: translating the New Testament into Chinese. He spent 30 years working on it. Buck wrote: "He printed edition after edition, revising each to make it more perfect, and all her life [my mother] went poorer because of the New Testament. It robbed her of the tiny margin between bitter poverty and small comfort."

Chinese was Buck's first language, and her nurse told her bedtime stories about dragons and tree spirits. As a young girl in the village, she wandered through the countryside. In the city, she and her brother explored the streets and markets, watching puppet shows and sampling food. She was embarrassed by her blue eyes and blond hair, but she didn't let it hold her back. She enthusiastically joined in local celebrations, big funerals and parties.

When Buck was a teenager, her parents sent her to an English-language school for foreign girls like her. She did not fit in and was lonely, but fascinated by Shanghai. As a pupil, she was required to teach a knitting class at the Door of Hope, a shelter for girls and women who had been forced into prostitution and sex slavery. Usually, the white students from Miss Jewell's did not speak Chinese, but since Buck did, the women there told her all their stories of rape, abuse, and violence.

After a year there, Buck went to Randolph-Macon Women's College in Lynchburg, Virginia. She arrived as a total misfit. A woman named Emma Edmunds, a rural girl who became one of Buck's best friends at college, said about that first day: "I saw this one girl and she looked even more countrified than me. Her dress was made of Chinese grass linen and nobody else had anything like that. It had a high neck and long sleeves, and her hair was in a braid turned under at the back." But she cut her hair and bought some American clothes, and she managed to fit in well enough.

After college, Buck went back to China, where she met an American agricultural economist and missionary named John Lossing Buck. They were married, and in 1921 she gave birth to a daughter, Carol. But things began to fall apart. Her mother died not long after Carol was born, and her father moved in with the young couple. Her father and husband disliked each other, and increasingly, she didn't like either of them very much. Her daughter, Carol, had a rare developmental disability. On top of everything, the political situation in China was so tense that at one point the Bucks had to hide in the basement of a peasant family's home to escape Nationalist soldiers, and they ended up fleeing to Japan as refugees.

In 1929, Buck took nine-year-old Carol to an institution in New Jersey, where she hoped she would receive better care than Buck could provide — she called it "the hardest thing I ever did." She didn't have enough money to pay for the expensive tuition, so she borrowed money from a member of the Mission Board. Her marriage fell apart, and she was even more desperate for money, so she started writing. Her first novel was called East Wind, West Wind (1930), and she hoped it would cover the school fees, but it didn't sell well. The following year she published The Good Earth (1931), chronicling the dramatic life of a Chinese peasant farmer named Wang Lung from his wedding day through his old age. The Good Earth was a huge best-seller, and Buck won the Pulitzer Prize and, a few years later, the Nobel Prize in literature.

In her Nobel acceptance speech, she said: " My earliest knowledge of story, of how to tell and write stories, came to me in China. [...] Story belongs to the people. They are sounder judges of it than anyone else, for their senses are unspoiled and their emotions are free."

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.®"

Thanks to the 26 Jun 2012 edition of The Writer's Almanac.

[vintagepipemen]

Unidentified faculty, Randolph Macon College, 1972. 

#randolph macon

[stubobnumbers]

College Football By State - Virginia

FBS: James Madison Dukes - Harrisonburg, Virginia - They first played in 1972. They are in the Sun Belt Conference.

Liberty Flames - Lynchburg, Virginia - They first played in 1973. They are joining Conference USA.

Old Dominion Monarchs - Norfolk, Virginia - They first played in 2009. They are in the Sun Belt.

Virginia Cavaliers - Charlottesville, Virginia - They first played in 1888. They are in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).

Virginia Tech Hokies - Blacksburg, Virginia - They first played in 1892. They are in the ACC.

FCS: Hampton Pirates - Hampton, Virginia - Their program was established in 1902. They are in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA).

Norfolk State Spartans - Norfolk, Virginia - Their program was established in 1938. They are in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC).

Richmond Spiders - Richmond, Virginia - Their program was established in 1881. They are in the CAA.

VMI Keydets - Lexington, Virginia - Their program was established in 1873. They are in the Southern Conference.

William & Mary Tribe - Williamsburg, Virginia - Their program was established in 1893. They are in the CAA.

D2: Emory And Henry College Wasps - Emory, Virginia - They are in the South Atlantic Conference (SAC).

Virginia State Trojans - Ettrick, Virginia - They are in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA).

Virginia Union Panthers - Richmond, Virginia - They are in the CIAA.

University of Virginia - Wise Cavaliers - Wise, Virginia - They are in the SAC.

D3: Averett Cougars - Danville, Virginia - They first played in 2000. They are in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC).

Bridgewater Eagles - Bridgewater, Virginia - They first played in 1899. They are in the ODAC.

Christopher Newport Captains - Newport News, Virginia - They first played in 2001. They are in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC).

Ferrum Panthers - Ferrum, Virginia - They are in the ODAC.

Hampden-Sydney Tigers - Hampden Sydney, Virginia - They first played in 1892. They are in the ODAC.

Randolph-Macon Yellow Jackets - Ashland, Virginia - They first played in 1881. They are in the ODAC.

Shenandoah Hornets - Winchester, Virginia - They first played in 2000. They are in the ODAC.

Southern Virginia Knights - Buena Vista, Virginia - They first played in 2003. They are in the USA South.

Washington And Lee Generals - Lexington, Virginia - They first played in 1890. They are in the ODAC.

NAIA: Bluefield University Rams - Bluefield, Virginia. They are in the Appalachian Athletic Conference.

Awards: My favorite mascot – The Captains of Christopher Newport. From the lovely town name of Newport News. The "Endo-Skeletons Are Overrated" Award – Richmond Spiders, Emory and Henry Wasps, Randolph-Macon Yellow Jackets, and the Shenandoah Hornets.

I always figured there were numerous W.A.S.P.’s in Virginia.

#college football

[guywithbotheyes]

Thoma$ must go!

Justice Thomas and his wife made immeasurable personal and financial sacrifices and poured every ounce of their lives and hearts into giving their great nephew a chance to succeed. In the summer of 2006, the Thomases were struggling to find a school where they could send their great nephew. In discussing these challenges with their dear friends, Harlan and Kathy Crow, Harlan recommended that the Thomases consider one more option: sending their great nephew to Randolph Macon Academy. Harlan had attended Randolph Macon, and he thought the school would be a good fit.

[smallcollegebasketball]

The Bevo Francis Award Watch List of 25 Players Has Been Released

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 15, 2023 Media Contact: Matt Ankenbrandt Sports Information Director │ Small College Basketball 616.780.1335 www.smallcollegebasketball.com

2023 Bevo Francis Top 25 Watch List Announced

Kansas City, MO – Small College Basketball and the National Awards Committee are pleased to announce the Bevo Francis Top 25 Watch List for the 2022-23 season. The Top 25 Watch List consists of some of the top players from the NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, NAIA, USCAA and NCCAA. 

John McCarthy has this to say about this year’s Top 25 Watch List: “Congratulations to the 25 players selected for the Bevo Francis Award Watch List,” stated McCarthy. “There are approximately 13,000-16,000 players that play college basketball at the small college levels, and to be among the 25 players on this list, is obviously a very high honor. Based on our selection criteria, each of these players has earned their spot on this list, and they have had - or are still having - a phenomenal season. I am very grateful for the time and insight from our committee.”

The Clarence “Bevo” Francis Award is presented annually to the player who has had the finest overall season within Small College Basketball. Considerations will be season statistics and individual achievements, awards, personal character and team achievements. This is an incredibly prestigious award, as this award will only be given to one player within Small College Basketball per season. 2023 marks the seventh year of the Bevo Francis Award. Past winners include Dominez Burnett of Davenport University in 2016, Justin Pitts of Northwest Missouri State University in 2017, Emanuel Terry of Lincoln Memorial University in 2018, Aston Francis of Wheaton College in 2019, Kyle Mangas of Indiana Wesleyan University in 2020 and Trevor Hudgins of Northwest Missouri State University in 2022. The award was not presented during the 2021 season.

On April 1st, the finalists of this year’s award will be announced, followed by the Bevo Francis Award winner being crowned on April 3rd .

The Bevo Francis Awards Committee consists of the following coaches: Gary Stewart – Stevenson (MD), Chris Briggs – Georgetown College (KY), Bill Dreikosen – Rocky Mountain (MT), Mark Berokoff – Oklahoma City, Mike Donnelly – Florida Southern, Sam Hargraves – Olivet, Stephen Brennan – Babson, Richard Westerlund – Great Lakes Christian, Chase Teichmann – Florida College, Aaron Siebenthall – Ottawa (KS), Tae Norwood – Humboldt State, Mark Vanderslice – USC-Aiken, Grant Leep, Seattle Pacific, Matt O’Brien – Southwestern (KS), Chris Wright – Langston (OK), Nathan Champion – LeMoyne.

2022-23 Bevo Francis Award Top 25 Watch List

Kaden Anderson 6’8” Sr. Point Loma Nazarene Diego Bernard 6’0” Sr. NW MO State Jalen Brooks 6’5” Sr. LSU-Shreveport Bryce Butler 6’5” Jr. West Liberty Frank Champion 6’7” So. North Georgia Cevin Clark 5’11” Jr. Southwestern (KS) Tyshaun Crawford 7’1” Sr. Augusta Tyson Cruickshank 5’11” Sr. Wheaton (IL) Zach Goodline 6’1” Sr. Huntington Jeff Hunter 6’7” Sr. Keene State Josiah Johnson 6’1” Sr. Mary Hardin Baylor KJ Jones 6’6” Jr. Emmanuel (GA) Brandon Knapper 6’0” Sr. Cal State San Bernardino Akuel Kot 6’2” Jr. Fort Lewis Zach Laput 6’4” Jr. Bentley Jaden Lietzke 6’7” Jr. Oklahoma Wesleyan Miles Mallory 6’5” Jr. Randolph-Macon Sam Masten 6’2” Sr. Northern State Riley Minix 6’7” Sr. Southeastern (FL) Christian Parker 6’6” Jr. Mount Union Joel Scott 6’7” Sr. Black Hills State Matt Simpson 6’1” Sr. Florida College Alex Sobel 6’8” Sr. Middlebury RJ Sunahara 6’8” Jr. Nova Southeastern Mason Walters 6’9” Sr. Jamestown

#Bevo Francis Award

[1stchoicebhl]

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