sAMPLE SELECTIONS FROM THE BOOK
"I was fifteen years old when my mom let my sister and me throw a Halloween party at our house. “Would you dance with me?” I squeaked to this older neighborhood girl at the party.After giving me a withering stare, she said, “Ok, but only one.”As we danced a careful slow dance, I developed a painful and obvious erection that happened to brush against her. I blushed and pulled away apologizing.She stared at me as if seeing me for the first time, but said, “Don’t worry, let’s keep dancing.”We had a few more of those contacts that I’m not sure who started, but as that dance ended, she said, “Let’s do the next one too.” We danced a lot the rest of that evening.As people were leaving the party she said, “Why don’t you meet me tomorrow at the grocery store for a coke around noon?”
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"Finally, on March 20th, 2004, with more than a hundred of our friends around us, Father Bill led us through our vows again. This time the vows were even more emotionally powerful, and I was soon leaking tears of joy. It is a feeling I will not be able to put into words, but every woman who has married for love will understand."
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"My mother loved me. I learned from her by watching her actions towards me and towards the world. I saw that she treated our black nanny with courtesy and respect. I asked about this once and she taught me the word ‘egalitarian’ by way of explanation. Unlike my dad, mom never expressed prejudice and I learned from watching her preferentially."
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"The effect diethyl stilbesterol (DES) may have on a male baby in utero is unclear, but I suspect it could have changed some brain pathways in me and this is one reason I start this far back. The other likely modifier of my developing brain was the presence of my twin sister’s formative hormones coursing into me through my mother’s shared bloodstream. Perhaps I was mad about that as they told me I was trying to strangle Jenny as we were delivered by Cesarean section. For this reason, I was delivered first, and I have never let her forget that I’m one minute older than she."
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"Submarine sailors spend their lives well below any wave action and are never seasick. But we had never surfaced in anything like a typhoon. Submarines do not have an external keel, and so we anticipated a challenging time for seasickness. We had effective air recycling systems, but the smell of vomit was never considered in design. We could only issue trash bags to all watch stations along with the implied order that if you were seasick, bag it closed quickly and stay at your post. I dutifully taped my sick bag to the SPCP where I stood with my feet spread wide."