Boyland Report

People have responded so much to the "Boyland" comments... I'm sorry I haven't had many of those to post recently.

A few more things I've noticed.
At breaktime, it is possible to sit quietly on the bench and not say anything...I notice I have an impulse to initiate small talk conversation b/c in Girlville it would be rude not to. But apparently in Boyland, if you don't have anything in particular to say, you just don't.

The younger denizens of Boyland seem to enjoy play-fighting, mock punching, and posturing. It seems that this is generally ignored by the older denizens of (this particular neighborhood of) Boyland. If it annoys them (as it does me), they do not say. The denizens of Boyland who are in-between younger and older seem to have trouble figuring out whether to align themselves with the younger or the older.

Despite the fact that my intention here is to be a participant-observer and to be as much a part of (this neighborhood of) Boyland as possible while I'm here, it is clear to me that my very presence has an impact on what some of them say and do... how they talk, etc. Also, a few of them continue to do well-intentioned things like hold the door for me or offer me particular encouragement. One guy even blushed when I commented on his guitar back. Clearly, my camouflage is inadequate. I'll have to work on that. *(-;