17/03/02
MANIFEST
This website takes its title from a novel by the french writer Henry de Montherlant:
"THE CITY WHOSE PRINCE IS A CHILD"
In this book he tells of the friendship and love between two boys in a Catholic school, in the early 1900s. Their families, schools, and wider society try to break up the friends, and eventually succeed in separating them forever.
Even today there are boys suffering criticism, taunts, bullying, emotional abuse and physical violence simply because they are different inside, because their hearts hold feelings which society disapproves of. My website is for them.
It's a homage to their courage and willingness to fight-and sometimes win-against everything and everyone, to defend their feelings, their ideas and their dignity.
It's also a place to keep alive the memory those who lost the fight, taking their own lives because they saw no other option. In spite of our capacity to endure suffering, society can demand great sacrifices of us and exert tremendous pressure to conform. Sadly for some people, society's attempts to interfere with their love and their freedoms proved too great a strain.
This site is also in memory of Marc, a friend who was 15 when I was 20.
Unlike de Montherlant's story, they didn't manage to make us ashamed of ourselves, although they did succeed in separating us forever.
In spite of the all time that has passed, I still think about him. In fact, I've thought about him every single day for the last 20 years. I know he is no longer the handsome youth I used to know, and I'm no longer the young student he fell in love with.
But I still do miss him and, and now that I have turned 40, I am sorry that I cannot see him or be with him even as two old friends; I am sorry because I can't take his hands in mine and look into his eyes to show him how much I love him.
This website is your city, young prince, and I want you to feel at home here.
I would like it to be a shelter for when you feel sad and lonely.
If you need someone to talk to about your situation, don't hesitate to contact me.
You can help me improve it too. If you don't like the way it is, if you have an idea to make it more interesting, or if you want to help develop it
E-mail me!
