Kirsty has been at her desk for what feels like an eternity.  She has listened to Street speakers, and feels she has a "handle" on the issues of the day...."

"Friends, I feel I have a "handle" on the issues of today, so I want to discuss them with you.  I'm going to give a preamble, and then pose the question.  Then it's up to you, the submissive but informed viewer, to form, and then share, an opinion.  Or give what you believe to be a fact.  In some, perhaps many, cases the facts won't be facts, but give them anyway, and at the very least, a decent amount of debate will follow.  I think I've identified the three main issues we are all concerned with today.  By today, I mean Zeitgeist, and by that, I mean to convey just how extensive my vocabulary can be at times.

Bloodlining and/or purging

Someone was talking about this on the Streets lately, and it's time we all decided on what is meant by it.  To me, purging means tracking someone's abilities, and then killing them because of what they could do, not what they are planning to do.  So, for example, I believe that one of the few people capable of creating a newspaper of the polished high standards of one of mine would be Zahara, or Shadow.  Or, potentially, ViNe.  So if I was to steal their reporter's notepads, break their pencils and then burn their printing presses, that would be "purging" - but if one of them opened a newspaper, and then I carried out these acts, it would not be purging.  And for bloodlining, it would be killing them because their parents had opened a newspaper.

So, then, my question is

WHAT IS THE EXACT DEFINITION OF BLOODLINING AND/OR PURGING?

Sensual depictions of masculine love in prison

Does this have a place in our society?  Should we be allowed to discuss what happens in prisons?  Can we allow that which happens in prison to become commonplace in our Streets?

SHOULD WE OPENLY DISCUSS LOVING, PHYSICAL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN MEN ASSOCIATED WITH THIS THING OF OURS?

The Made Man rank

This is an oldie, but a goodie.  What should the rank actually mean?  What ramifications should it have for the Made, and for the one who handed over the button?  What does it mean for rogueing?  For money?  For autonomy?  

WHAT SHOULD THE RANK OF MADE ACTUALLY MEAN?

Some good questions, Kirsty. I believe Charles_Barkley opened a pertinent discussion on the importance of achieving the rank of Made Man just down the street, actually. What really interested me was question 2, on the acceptance of loving, physical relationships between men in this things of ours. Many of us have significant experience behind bars; a felony charge or two isn't abnormal for a gangster. By that token, we all know what happens there, in the showers and the bunk beds after dark. It's not exactly unusual. But when we leave prison, and these men return to their wives and children, there tends to be a little discretion involved. Does that mean we can't be comfortable discussing it in our HQs and bars? 

Can we not sit together over a drink and ask, "Remember when Big Andy was throwing it into Patrick during their B&E stint?" 

A consensual, loving relationship is nothing to be ashamed about. 

This is the thing, Zapata - Big Andy and Patrick are treated almost as comical characters for taking their relationship to the next level - a strong percentage of us have been in loving relationships that have had a physical dimension.  Now, for the most part, this has been a man and a woman - and don't get me started on double standards that exist for women regarding the numbers of lovers procured - but, as you have said, it's obvious that many of us during our time in prison did our time as we did our time - playing chess, drinking pruno, and playing an active, or passive, role in insertive man-on-man love-making.

Now, let's talk about Big Andy and Patrick.  They worked together on the outside, they knew each other's wives and kids.  They sometimes broke into buildings and stole the contents - hey, we've all done it, right?  They appear in court, together, they get a few years in the Big House, together, and they do their time.  Together.

So they're in their cell.  They're missing their wives, and they get to talking.  We can almost imagine how it goes:

"I miss my wife, Patrick"

Me too, Big Andy.

"Say, Patrick, when you cuddle up with your wife, are you big spoon or little spoon?"

Well, Big Andy, as you know, my wife is taller and broader than me, so I'm little spoon

"Yeah, huh?  Say, Patrick, I know we aren't homosexuals, but I'd like us to spoon.  Would you like to spoon?"

You know, Big Andy, I'd really like that.  And you know something else, my wife sometimes does a bit of pegging with me.  We like to mess around with gender roles, and she wanted me to fully understand what it's like to physically entered.  She believed that it would make for a more rounded and equal sexual and romantic relationship. And it does.  Truth be told, it's one of my most favourite things ever, being pegged.  I even started my burglarising earlier in the day to be able to get home and catch my wife before  she fell asleep.  Sometimes she'd say "Patrick,why have you left my strap-on cock in the bed" and I'd pretend I hadn't.  I just wanted it nearby.  I wanted her to take the hint.

"Patrick, you know, I think I could help you re-live that special time with your wife.  And maybe it would bring us closer together.  Patrick, you come down to my bunk, and you slip your prison issue shorts off.  I'm gonna big spoon you, and we are gonna have ourselves an emotionally bonded time."

 Now, the scamps, and the naysayers, they'll snigger at Patrick for assuming the traditional feminine receptive position in this union, but what that say about them?  What, they hate women?

And it's obvious that Big Andy adores Patrick.

So what's the issue?

I suppose the last thing to ask, Zapata, is what we can do to transform this society into one where Big Andy and Patrick are celebrated for their bravery?