I Found a Treasure in the Blogosphere: Boyonboys.com Must Be Read By All

So, earlier this week I was checking my twitter account, and I saw that I had just been followed by boyonboys.com…Being new to the whole twitterage thing I went over to this Boy’s profile thingy. I saw a cute little pic of the top of a head with spiky hair and hot pink sunglasses that immediately made me smile, and think of John Hughes films. Then I saw that his profile said “I am a boy who writes about boys”…Well…shit, it might as well have said “Hey Laura! Someone’s writing a blog just for you. You should go read it!”…And so I did.

How do I say this without sounding like I’m exaggerating? For starters, it’s one of the best things I’ve read from a blog, EVER. I read every single word that is on there, which I have never done before. I get bored easily, and hate reading on my computer or phone, but I was enthralled and I read the WHOLE DAMN THING.

Ok, so this is the deal. This blog is written by a Boy, this Boy is in his early twenties. He is a New Yorker who has moved to L.A. to try and make it as a writer in Hollywood, he blogs about his experiences living in L.A. primarily in the gay community, and more specifically his experiences with other boys.

The format of the posts are written like a journal, so there is an arc, the Boy lets us into his world, his impressions of the gay community in L.A. (which are frankly brilliant, and so poignant and insightful, it’s worth reading if only for that), the men he meets, his feelings about mostly everything, the contrast of being gay in L.A. to being gay in NYC, a big part of it is about his relationship with a man he calls “The Writer”. It is a hard relationship and it cuts this Boy to shreds constantly, but he wants it so badly.

This Boy’s writing is BRILLIANT. One of the most moving things I have read in a long time. The writing is so raw, honest and soooo on point. Funny, smart, witty, abrasive, a little arrogant but frank, subdued and humble when it counts…Simply put, there is good writing, and then there is pure talent. This falls in the second category.

Reading this blog I went to many places, thought of authors I love and why I love them, sat in wonder that something this fucking good isn’t on TV or being sold in bookstores. I thought of authors like Candace Bushnell, and how much “Sex and the City” impacted women and how we saw sex, dating, men and other women…I didn’t stop there, I thought of Edith Wharton, one of my favorite writers and certainly one of my favorite New Yorkers. I took the liberty of imagining Edith having a blog just like this one, bursting with brilliant, brutal honesty about people and their pettiness and of their goodness. I could see her, like this Boy saying it all bluntly, but from a private place.

This Boy writes about being young, his work, his desires, his friends, the places he goes, and how he takes us with him it’s just exquisite. As someone who pretty much can’t recall a time of life when I have NOT been reading something (I’ve consulted this with family and friends and they can’t remember either) I always look for a writer’s inspiration when I read. Good books are important to me, and I think to be a good writer a person needs to be reverent to what has come before. I always ask where is this writer getting inspiration from? What is he/she reading? This Boy at the top of every entry has quote that leads us into the topic of the post, that more than answered those questions.

Most of all, this story resonated with me deeply. This Boy is so SELF-AWARE, he understands the importance of this time of his life. That this youth he has must be LIVED. That this time is so full of moments that he will remember forever, moments of breathless beauty, of stupidity and pettiness, his as much as from others, of doubt, of need, of despair, of friendships that are so powerful that they feel like they will be there forever, of unspeakable heartache, of bone jarring pleasure...He knows that this time is THE TIME, so much so that even in the hurt he tries to see past it, and to understand what it means…Reading this blog, I saw myself at 23 coming straight from JFK International Arrivals, in the back of a cab on the 59^th Street bridge in NYC and thinking “I am a New Yorker now, I am a graduate student…The world is actually an oyster in my pocket (this might be incorrect but English IS my second language!)”.

This Boy he is a survivor, he is in love, he is funny, he is smart (and he knows it), he is beautiful, he is vulnerable and sometimes all of it is just too much. But he has a story to tell, and he tells it soooo sooooo well. This blog/journal/story is truly fantastic, and honest to Pete some of the best writing I’ve read in a very long time. It makes me feel greedy knowing this treasure is sitting on the internet waiting to be discovered.

I hope this Boy keeps living his life and writing about it, and I can only pray that he gets his Golden Ticket because talent like his deserves a much bigger stage. By the time I read the latest entry I was so invested that I was talking MYSELF off the ledge…”He’ll be OK…He’s stronger than this…He is so self-aware…Living through a toxic relationship like that in your twenties brings about a rebirth that lays out your priorities and builds character, We’ve all been through it…GOD I hope he’s OK…

And THAT Ladies and Gents is what brilliant writing is…We all have a story to tell, but very few of us can write in a way so that whoever reads it can make it a little bit theirs as well.

Boyonboys.com…It’s out there peeps…Take a chance on The Boy. You can thank me later.