Boys in Gilded Cages Read Online Free

attention
he has received. He has discouraged internet use among his
congregation, and the church distributes monthly newsletters
warning parents of the dangers of Hollywood influence, often
accusing celebrities of secret Satanism and homosexuality,
including Hawthorn native Brandon Bennett. The pamphlets are
written and designed tabloid-style, and they often have salacious
headlines with offensive, homophobic language. If the WBC published
a tabloid, it would look a lot like Hawthorn’s monthly
newsletter.
    Unlike the Westboro Baptist Church, America
still doesn’t know what to make of Hawthorn Baptist Church.
Hawthorn, at this point, seems more like a self-contained town
rather than a church inside of a town. Their protests are no less
spirited, but seem aimed at a more mainstream audience. Post-Lady
GaGa, there have been protests at local businesses run by open
homosexuals, Springfield’s Missouri State University, and,
interestingly, in lieu of protests of military funerals, they have
picketed outside the National Guard for their perceived
pro-homosexual policies. Though inflammatory and controversial,
Hawthorn Baptist Church toes the line behind WBC’s universal
maligning by following a simple rule of not offending funeral
mourners. America’s okay with moralist doomsaying, just not when
you’re fucking with our best and brightest, and especially not when
they’ve died in battle.
    So what’s the deal here? Is this a plot by
Westboro to creep into mainstream acceptance? No fucking way, says
Shirley Phelps, WBC’s spokeswoman. “Those signs you see? Those
signs you see that you spit on, they mean something,” Phelps told
us. “Your flag and your money are things that you worship. You also
worship the dead. Your flag and your money will be taken away from
you, just as the dead have been. Harold Redmond worships money, and
is unwilling to publicly spit on the American flag for fear of
retribution. But money is his goal. His unwillingness to walk the
walk makes him a fag-enabler. He is an abomination, just as you are
an abomination.” Thanks, Shirley. Pleasure as always.
    Hawthorn Baptist Church may make a lot of
money, and they may eventually “sell out” like a crossover pop
star, becoming a mega-church and gaining acceptance alongside
elderly hate-monger Pat Robertson, and that weird woman on TCT with
tall, pink hair.
    But like most religious
cons and cults, the more likely option is that it will eventually
self-destruct. It’s unclear what the goal of HBC is, but it’s most
certainly not spreading the word of Jesus. The 24-hour news
channels are salivating over HBC at this moment, and it will be
interesting to see how the reclusive Harold Redmond deals with the
exposure. If there’s anything capable of destruction of a human
entity, it’s nonstop television coverage. It will be fascinating to
watch it unfold. THE BALLAD OF MAR-SEE-YA, PART
ONE
    They came here from the Communist shit hole
of Cuba—Or at least her parents did. She comes from the Nouveau
Riche crater of St. Petersburg, Florida. She actually prefers St.
Petersburg. Not that she wasn’t happy to leave. Her behavior
required nothing short of moving, apparently, but I think her
parents are only punishing themselves by moving here. She will
adapt, but they won’t. They are far too old, far too elitist, far
too stupid, far too brown.
    This town sucks for sure, but at least it’s
quiet. She can sleep in a cocoon of homework and television, a new
privilege she’s just not used to yet. She never grew the legs for
softball or the tits for cheerleading and in the openness of a
field such as this town, there is nothing but space for thinking
and sleeping. Possibly going insane in the quiet of a church
sanctuary, all of them solemn and lonely like funeral parlors.
    She stares up at the evergreen steeple,
envisioning it getting sucked up into a cloud. This church looks
near-death. It sits on the brim of a collapse and even the pigeons
seem to feel