I sometimes wonder if what I consider “romance” might be dying out — <i>l’amour fou</i>, crazy love, destructive passion, crippling jealousy, extreme… - Edmund White

If the baron is a masochist himself, then why would he attract another masochist? I suppose he wants someone cute to attract other sadists.

It was a grungy, dangerous, bankrupt city without normal services most of the time. The garbage piled up and stank during long strikes of the sanitation workers. A major blackout led to days and days of looting. We gay guys wore whistles around our necks so we could summon help from other gay men when we were attacked on the streets by gangs living in the projects between Greenwich Village and the West Side leather bars...The upside was that the city was inexpensive…

When I grew up I would always be frank, loving and generous.