dittolist

Julian was the boy next door. My brother's best friend, he fit with my family in ways I never could. While he and Rhett went on to play house, I left the only life I knew, desperate for a fresh start. Until everything changed. Heartache came along, and the aftermath of my brother's death was here to stay. I was now face to face with Julian more than I ever wanted to be. Being around him brought up all my insecurities, forced me to deal with hard truths, and conjured up feelings I had no business entertaining. He wasn't the man I thought I knew.

College sophomore Ethan Follett never says what's on his mind and never wants to rock the boat. Out in the open, things couldn't be better, but secretly Ethan yearns for some real excitement in his life. He finds it in cocky frat boy Greg Sanderson, who challenges every rigid, preconceived notion Ethan lives by. Soon, their sparring relationship turns sexual, and these enemies-with-benefits "get their freak on" all over campus. Yet the more Ethan comes out of his shell, the more Greg retreats into his, working overtime to keep his ladies' man public persona intact.

Finn is smart, adorkable, and his shyness pushes all my buttons. The problem? My interest in him quickly shifts from friendship to something less than platonic. Feelings I’ve been pushing down for years bubble up to the surface, and I find myself unable to see him as just a friend or keep my hands to myself. When a night out leads to some extracurricular fun, Finn and I decide to have a no-strings-attached fling. He’s the perfect person to explore my bisexuality with, and our chemistry is off the charts.

There’s a pattern to racial politics in America: We move two steps forward, and then one - even two - steps back. Why is it so hard for us, as a society, to embrace the egalitarian and compassionate aspects of our nature? The answer lies in the intricate links between race, politics, and policy that form what we’ve come to call “structural racism”, a concept that has played out in various domains in the decades since 1968 - in housing and education, in wealth and debt, and in policing and immigration.