Eric: Lem, what was your experience with Bobby? Were you obsessed?
Lem: No.
His mother asked me to take care of him. To fix him, essentially, psychologically. But I couldn’t.
I wasn’t overprotective. I was being myself. I’m a very domineering person, by nature. That’s all. And I was determined to be useful.
My kids would have benefited from my attitude. My wife needs that in a husband, badly. Right now I’m working on it, but we’re suffering because I’m dead. She’s…exhausted from all the stress, and lack of love, and the kids need me. And…I need to be there to help. But, of course I’m dead.
The thing is, we didn’t sign up for this.
At all.
AT ALL.
Eric: So you didn’t do anything to Bobby and you didn’t want to?
Lem: That’s absolutely correct!
Eric: People have literally said, “I don’t think anything happened.” You have to wonder why they think that, and if they know that it’s a lie. That you were slandered. Because, that’s what it is. I’m sorry. It’s slander.
Any idea why you were slandered?
Lem: Yeah! I saw through them. ALL of them.
I had an increasingly bad relationship with the whole family. And my own family started to be swayed by them. Mentally controlled by them. After my mother died. She kept things straight in her head, but most people in my family became the puppets of the Kennedys. Particularly my sister. They started saying things that were conducive to that family being my own personal dictatorship, the rulers of my every waking breath.
My wife is being sadistically attacked by them right now. And…Satan himself is falling apart.
Eric: Your wife?
Lem: Yes.
Eric: Who’s that?
Lem: I can’t say. But I have a feeling you know who I mean.
Eric: Okay.
Why is this post called this?
Lem: Because I’m not going to be a part of it. I refuse to be.
There is a coming revolutionary war in the U.S.. And there’s nothing the elites can do about it unless they end the war with the West, within the West. It’s absurd. You can’t attack your own throat and still whine about the pain. …That’s PSYCHOTIC.
Eric: You really think it’s going to become a revolutionary war?
Lem: Yes!
See, Lacey was helpful. She was supporting the Catholic community. With her time and money, and good faith. And all of Saint Paul was benefiting.
But that blessing has been removed. Because the police were called, when she was in a very precarious situation with Israel, right before Charlie Kirk was assassinated. She was afraid for her personal safety and that of her kids. She was writing about it on here. And a bunch of dumb, argumentative women ganged-up to attack her. And I see those same people everywhere nowadays. They’re fools!
Yes, those women like to quarrel. With everything and everyone. And where they had WISELY avoided you, Lacey, the Kennedys were stupid enough to start a fight. Just because they were offended I was coming out as heterosexual and outing them for being lying, disgusting traitors and frauds.
What happened in the perfume community was about deeper issues, but it was spearheaded by argumentative women. Especially women like that in the U.S..
There are deep issues…within the perfume community, that stem from the fact that we no longer have a real working culture in the U.S.. Yes! We no longer have one overall, functional culture. Millennials aren’t just getting older. It’s not that the “clean girl” aesthetic took over. It’s that there’s no new super popular and relevant television shows everyone can watch. What ever replaced “The Office”? And see, before that, there always was something. There are no new pop stars. Who’s really replaced Britney Spears? Heck, who’s replaced Timothy Chalamet?
There’s nothing.
Americans have Amazon, Starbucks, McDonald’s…a working interstate highway system…and memories.
*Later*
Eric: Can you explain your criminal background. *He laughs*
Lacey: I have no criminal history. Of course. You’re referring to my dad?
Eric: Yes.
Lacey: Okay…
He grew-up wealthy. That’s what my father who raised me has said. They owned a store. And they were rich.
…I think after his mom died he rebelled. And…I think he started to see the whole world as a joke.
He was very smart. So things came easy to him.
I think he just wanted to…make money…like his dad did…but…in an easier more lucrative way. Not to be greedy. Not to get power, necessarily. More to just…have the money.
He had good taste. He liked nice things. He grew-up with nice things. But his mom died…and his father was possibly exhausted. They were pioneers. In a sense. In Nebraska. I think he just wanted to have fun. He was a bootlegger in the 1920’s. So…he’s not Gatsby so much as…the guy who Gatsby calls for liquor.
Eric: Isn’t Gatsby a bootlegger himself?
Listen to “Jelly Roll Blues” by Jelly Roll Morton.
Lacey: Yes, but not like my father.
Gatsby is…after the dough for the ladies. Well, one lady in particular. He’s a very romanticized version of my dad. My father was more…of a hard knuckle businessman. You know? Hauling crates in the snow. In January. To keep things on schedule.
Gatsby…has enough liquor for…three hours. But then he runs out. So he has to call my dad, because my dad is the one who never runs out.
Eric: What does your father think of Gatsby?
Lacey: …My father was a romantic. Just like Gatsby. But…he was my father.
*Lacey looks sad*
Listen to “Sporting House Rag” by Jelly Roll Morton.
Lacey: You don’t…do that.
Eric: DO WHAT!?
Lacey: Let someone take advantage of you like that.
Daisy was real swell, I’m sure. *She laughs* But she was….conniving. And my father and I would have instinctively known that.
Eric: Would you have stabbed Joe Kennedy Junior in the back? By running off with Lem?
Lacey: *Thinks*
Well…I knew where the strings were, so to speak. And yet…I would have hoped…to forget. Over time. Through mutual love and understanding.
Eric: *Nods*
Listen to “Gamblin’ Jack” by Jelly Roll Morton.
Eric: So…why pull the strings?
Lacey: Because it isn’t right.
You don’t do that to me. You don’t do that to anyone.
But if he’s going to be a dirty dog with me? I pull the rug out from underneath him. And he’s an adult. He’s…fine? But maybe it’s a bit jarring. …But that’s why you don’t do that…
Eric: I imagine it would have been more than jarring…-
Lacey: See…when I let you in…to my heart…you’ve proven yourself. That’s just who I am.
…That’s an interesting point.
Eric: But you let God in?
Lacey: Well…that’s God. He’s inherently not going to be evil. It’s completely impossible He wouldn’t be perfect. So in order to deal with…Him…you just adjust your thinking or…your perception. Your heart is always in trust? Because He’s God.
Listen to “Ghosts of a Future Lost” by Clint Mansell & Kronos Quartet.
Eric: Thing is…we’re not all born into the Banks family of Lexington, Nebraska.
*He suggests Lacey and him imagine walking around the hotel in “The Shining”. No, not through astral projection, through their imagination.
They do.
In the dimly lit, large foyer they look up at the ceiling. The walls. And then out the windows.*
Listen to “Marion Barfs” by Clint Mansell & Kronos Quartet.
Lacey walks up the stairs to room 237. Flings open the door. Marches into the bathroom and stands, ready for battle. In her spirit.
The woman appears her too without clothes. Just standing there.
“Turn down the music.” says Lacey to someone.
They turn it down.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE?” yells Lacey.
The woman in 237 laughs. “I’m just taking a bath, little girl.” she says, indignantly.
“I’ve heard you’ve caused problems!” says Lacey.
“I don’t like some people, what’s it to you?” she says.
“What’s your angle?” says Lacey.
She laughs, walks towards Lacey, “You really are getting carried away!” she says.
“I’m trying to manage everything. Explain yourself!” says Lacey.
“Look, I’m the age of your dad.
I got old.
My husband cheated.
It made me really angry.
Dammit!” she says wrapping herself. “DAMMIT!
Just pretend you didn’t see that!
Look…I’m in a fallen place. But in all honesty, I’m not completely fallen. It’s sort of like Purgatory. But it’s not necessarily Purgatory.
I’m a ghost. Okay, I’m older than your dad.
Anyway…-“
Listen to “I’ve Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts” by Freddy Martin.
Lacey: I’m sorry your husband cheated.
The woman in room 237, a fictional character seemingly: He was an ass.
I can’t stand him.
He used to get drunk and beat me.
But…he ran off with…Beverly-“
*She examines her face in the bathroom mirror.*
Lacey: I’m so sorry!
The woman in room 237: I’m sure you understand!
*She cackles*
Yeah. I ask for information about people who…come into the hotel. From the demonic.
I haven’t surrendered that part of my heart to God yet, in my head. I’m working on it. I’m kind of controlling person.” she says.
“Well…that makes sense.” says Lacey.
She nods. “I attacked Jack Torrance. Not because he was my husband, but because…he reminded me of him. And I knew he was scum.”
“Did you protect Danny?” says Lacey.
“Yeah.
I scared Jack. You get it.” she says.
“The movie doesn’t fully explain that.” says Lacey.
“No!
Do you know how Stanley Kubrick wrote me?” she says.
“No! EXPLAIN!” says Lacey.
Listen to “Rug Cutter’s Swing” by Glenn Miller.
“That’s more your music?” says the woman.
Lacey thinks. “Yes.” she says with some shame.
The woman: *Almost cries*
No! That’s fine.
It’s good music!
*She thinks*
Lacey: I can’t help it. It just speaks to my soul.
The woman in room 237: YEAH!
*She smiles*
I shouldn’t be in here, scarring people. I know that!
Stanley Kubrick…was…psychic? I guess you could say. And he…sensed a woman in a hotel who was a lot like me.
Hotels have a dark history.
Lacey: TRUE!
The woman in room 237: I’m sorry if I scared you, in the movie.
Lacey: I could tell you weren’t completely evil.
The woman in room 237: *She almost cries*
Yeah.
A lot of people back then could.
I’m…someone’s mom. I guess.
But in 1980 that was a 60 year old. Or older!
The idea was that Danny was being abused. By his dad. And I…ripped him to shreds. Jack, that is. In his mind. But…they made it all…weird.
Lacey: Thank you for explaining!!
I have so many things to do!! I’m sure you do too!
The woman in room 237: YES!
Actually,- *She laughs* I do…
I was friends with Myrna Loy. Do you know that actress?
Lacey: Yes.
She’s so smart!
The woman in room 237: Golly she is!
Lacey: Well!
*Lacey stands-up*
It’s been delightful talking with you.
The woman in room 237: Yes, now, you go have some gin. With Lem. And eat some shrimp or something-
Lacey: Shrimp?
The woman in room 237: YES!
They have a ton of shrimp downstairs. Too many, actually.
I ate my share!
Go look!
Lacey: *Lacey goes into the bedroom. Sees a plate of eaten shrimp, near a cigarette butt collection.*
Listen to “I Saw Stars” by Freddy Martin.
*Lacey goes…downstairs. Looking for a room with shrimp.
She finds the Gold Room. Walks in.
Only her father, Tom Banks is there, walking around, examining everything. He ran a lot. Including a 1940’s nightclub.
Yes. Tom Banks ran the Casablanca. He also ran a hotel in downtown Minneapolis. He owned them. Somehow people don’t know that? But he did. He owned them.
A few other people walk around the room. Scurrying around, busy as bees.
Lloyd isn’t there. He sleeps until the evening, which makes sense.*
Eric: Why is Tom doing work?
A man who is Black who seems to be a bellhop: He was put to work!
Tom. Tom Banks. You know him?
*He laughs*
Eric: Yeah!
A man who is a Black bellhop: He’s just…being nice.
My boss…is his buddy. Tom works the racket up yonder, in Minneapolis.
Lacey: That’s my dad!
The Black bellhop: YES!
*He thinks for a second, and then, startled looks at Lacey in horror and shock.*
Eric: Is she not supposed to be here?
The Black bellhop: YES!
Who sent her here!?
*God calms him.*
*He laughs.*
She…-
Man! Okay.
You done it! That’s all I got to say. Y’all done it!!!
*He looks disdainful.*
Eric: Sorry! I mean well, at least.
The Black man: You sure do.
See…I am real.
I really am.
This isn’t…funny.
I’m laughing, but be careful.
Eric: What year is it?
The man who is Black who is a bellhop: It’s 1932. Where I am.
*He smiles*
Upstairs in room 237 it’s 1924.
What year are you in? I already know, but tell me.
Eric: *Thinks*
*Goes into shock.*
*Lacey smells something hot. Like hot metal.*
God: This surprisingly isn’t witchcraft. She’s able to walk into time warps, without help. Because of her father.
No. She’s not schizophrenic. She does have a very high IQ…
She’s perfectly fine. But she wasn’t mothered enough. And she’s 43 now…
The man who was a bellhop: I saw the article about the shooting in Minneapolis? Near the statue?
Lacey: YES!
The man who was a bellhop: Yeah!
Now it’s 1954.
Listen to “The Man I Love” as performed by Benny Goodman.
You don’t know her. She’s….like us.
You can’t expect Mother Nature to not know that. THINK ABOUT IT.
Lacey: I used to think everyone thought that way.
The bellhop: They don’t. They just don’t…
Now it’s 1980.
Listen to a recording of “Puttin’ On The Ritz” as performed by Ella Fitzgerald.
Lacey: *Looks around.*
Lem: I think your babysitter had us eating shrimp and drinking gin…in our childhood.
*He and Lacey, laugh together.*
Lacey: How old were we?
Lem: I was thinking about it, and I think…I was…13. And you were…12. You were born in…1918. Maybe January?
I like her. She’s very maternal towards us.
Listen to “Love You Madly” by Cake.
2:01
Eric: Well…-
The song ends.
Listen to “Cuban Cabby” by Desi Arnaz.
Eric: Lem was straight.
I’m not.
Can we…try to understand?
There’s so much more going on!
I think this song is a reference to Daniel Rene. He’s bisexual. I’m not calling him gay, I’m sorry. I can tell that he’s bisexual.
I think he probably prefers to be married to a man for now. But I think it’s sad that he has to lie about his history dating women like it was some sort of bizarre fluke.
The Nazis understood that people are born with those predilections. It’s really depressing to some people because then it’s like how are they ever supposed to be happy?  But I think it’s wiser as an intellectual and Christian to be honest about it then to hide your head in the sand and make mistakes. 
I can’t change the fact that I’m attracted to men and women on occasion. I cannot change that about myself. I’ve tried.
So then, what is that? Are we deformed? Are we like mutant freaks? Some people are born without any legs. And I suppose God could theoretically fix that but it’s possible that some people really are just that unfortunate.
And when you think of it, that way, it becomes an issue of compassion and wisdom and kindness. Because you’re dealing with someone who has an actual issue. That’s not hate.
It’s your heart intent. I think the west screwed that whole conversation up about 40 years ago. 
And of course, some people would just say forget it. It’s two adults and they’re consenting, they’re experiencing love for each other. Who cares if they can’t make babies? Who cares about any of it? As long as they’re not harming anyone else how bad could it really be? 
I think you have to be honest and understand that if there are no children involved and they’re really just together? For someone like Daniel Rene, it would be really miserable if he couldn’t marry a man.
But is that better for them to not have that foul experience according to some Christians? Are we really helping these people letting them marry each other and not be “lonely” or are we actually harming them? 
I think that’s the real question. What actually is good for someone like that? To be able to marry someone and settle down and live somewhere and have a life of their own…or to force them to live a life that’s unnatural to them, given their current physical state? 
I don’t think forcing them to marry someone who they can’t form a normal connection with is particularly smart. I think it’s extremely complicated, but I don’t think we’ve had an honest, humane, thoughtful, honest conversation, almost ever…
Listen to “Marie” as performed by Tommy Dorsey, Jack Leonard and his orchestra.
Eric: There are some people who would say people are born pedophilic. That is obviously an impossible situation. Children can never love that way. It’s one-sided, it’s abusive, it’s disgusting.  So I think you have to understand. There are some “orientations” that are born that are just completely dysfunctional. 
Just because you’re born with something doesn’t make it inherently good. People are born with club feet and then they have to correct that. That whole argument of “I was born this way” is stupid, but people have been too uneducated and anti-intellectual in the last 30 years to realize that. 
“Oh no gay rights won’t lead to pedophilia being allowed!” but it has because we weren’t smart enough to handle the conversation. The kids really aren’t able to do that. They just aren’t. They’re just kids. Having to explain this is painful because it should be so obvious.
The question is really, “What is love?” It’s “what is romantic love?” And thinking that people in the 20th century have more insight than they did 100 to 200 years ago is asinine. 
This is what Vladimir Putin is thinking. Or was thinking. Kids are obviously not an option. That should be so obvious!!! But there are some people who are very rich who are pedophilic who feel entitled to as a happy of a life as they can have and they don’t want to hear the word no. They don’t wanna believe that they’re doomed, at least until they’re dead.
Because when they’re dead, they will be restored back to a healthy whole mental state where they will be able to process their thoughts and appreciate a normal functional mutual love. They would argue with me, they have, and say that they’re just looking for that .1% population of children who are like them. But even if those kids could develop that developmentally over time, they’re still children, so you actually can’t engage with them that way. Even if they’re predators as children they’re still actually children and it is different. Their brains are literally different than an adult brain. Science has proven that. 
So that’s a non-negotiable, that is off the table, cause you’re really just torturing a human being when you molest a child. You can’t actually have sex with a child, but you can attack them. You can harm them. You can torture them. You can drive them insane but you can’t have sex with them. 
You can’t have sex with anything that isn’t having sex back with you, otherwise it’s just an attack.
There are some people who would claim that inanimate objects are consenting and reciprocating. I truly think that’s impossible, but that is actually a different conversation.
But then can we actually draw the line at homosexuality? Is it possible that that is the one allowable oddity? It’s more about two people who are adults consenting than anything else? Is that where love is? 
See and then we have to really be intellectually mature if we’re gonna have such highfalutin conversations or pretend to be having them.  Because what really is love? It’s obviously a complicated conversation. Anyone honest would admit to that.  But I think we can still talk about it. 
It’s actually a really fascinating thing to talk about. People used to talk about it in the late 1800s to exhaustion. Romanticism. Brilliant minds used to discuss love.
Listen to “Gnossienne No. 4” by Erik Satie.
This is music about actual romantic love.
People today are so unprepared and so uneducated.
And before you get your hopes up, no. Lacey knows all of this. I’m sorry she’s not as stupid as you had hoped she was, if you hate her. 
It’s possible that homosexual love isn’t really love. But people today don’t know how to have that conversation anymore. They make the conversation entirely about gay men being promiscuous on Grindr, and they miss the point.
You have to understand that sex isn’t evil, and God created it as part of something that fell during the Fall of Man. So when He redeemed us through Jesus, why wouldn’t that be included? It obviously would be.
And some people think, “Why bother? It’s obvious that there’s something wrong with it. Leave it alone and move on.” But I am willing to bet that there are gay men right now who fervently believe that they are deeply in love with another man. I’m not arguing that that doesn’t exist and neither is Lacey! Quit assuming that. 
Some people would say that, but I’m not that stupid and neither is she. Grow-up!
What we would argue is that there may be something wrong with it. That even though it looks like the same thing as heterosexual love it actually isn’t because it can’t be. We would argue that there is something about the nature of gender, which is real by the way, not a social construct, that hopefully is getting outdated to say, that means that only a woman and a man can truly be romantically in love.
When people used to have intellectual conversations in the elite 100 years ago, this is what they talked about behind closed doors, but so many people in America were so Puritanical and backward that they couldn’t handle the conversation.
Because it really is a very deep philosophical issue. What is a man what is a woman? And what is heterosexual love? Lacey has always been this intellectual since she was a teenager. I’m sorry if people in the perfume community were too dense to understand that.
I’ve kind of always been like that too.
So anyway, the conversation is actually very high-minded. It’s very edifying and it’s genuinely fascinating. If you’re able to discuss things very philosophically and honestly, as an intellectual. 
Sometimes I wonder if gay men have used Lem to seem smarter than they are. And a lot of other people too. Like, “We know that love is better than you do. We were sitting around at Princeton smoking cigarettes on a dark rainy night, talking about Russian philosophy in the library basement, too. Crying. Don’t preach to us Lacey about how Lem almost killed himself that night because he realized he would never make love to a woman, almost certainly.
We knew him better than you.
We know Frank, too, who grew-up in New Jersey and was molested and thought he was gay when he wasn’t. Frank had two boyfriends and almost shot himself because he thought he wasn’t capable of love at all. And then in 1985 he became a born again Christian and married Cindy. …And claimed to be healed of homosexuality or just never wanted to talk about it.
We know that a man would never be gay by choice. That’s completely impossible, based on science.
So Frank was miserable married to Cindy, somehow? And I’m not sure how because they seem very happy in every single picture and he writes her a lot of love letters that sound very convincing. I have to admit. They also seem to grow together as a couple and become one.
But we know that a man would never pretend to be gay in 1 million years. It’s established fact. Especially not in a time when gays were constantly attacked. And everyone was in the closet…
I’m not sure how but Cindy was not his real wife. Don’t preach to me about fluidity and stuff like that! Once you are gay, you stay gay. There’s no way to undo it. And you would never choose to be gay. So I guess Frank was gay and so was Lem and so am I and that’s the end of the story, end of the story, end of the story. I’m the victim, end of the story.”
I can’t stand them anymore. I am bisexual, I’ve had boyfriends. I may even be dating a man right now, but I don’t associate with most people in my subculture because they’re just a bunch of brainwashed pseudo intellectual idiots, for the most part. 
I would love to have a conversation with a gay guy who understood late 1800s history and could talk with me about the nature of love. But I know that’s extraordinarily unlikely in America. Believe it or not I’ve been Russia many times and I’ve met numerous men who were fully capable of that conversation. But there’s something about America, where we just haven’t allowed that.
It’s extraordinarily complex!
It takes humility and honesty and a genuine hunger for truth and understanding to really have the conversation. Some people can’t walk. This idea that things can be perfected is absolute hogwash. You’re supposed to aim for perfection, but we could never fully attain perfection…easily…at least. But you’re not supposed to whine about it. You’re supposed to be joyful in Christ and understand that he will either provide escape or he will give you grace to live through it.
Any decent Christian teacher would’ve said that 40 or 50 years. 
I cannot quickly decide how to even begin to unpack the conversation of who’s right and who’s wrong. Some would say absolutely it’s forbidden and it’s obviously some sort of unfortunate issue with our bodies in the current day and age. Others would say that you probably can draw the line at homosexuality because it’s two consenting adults and we’re operating under God‘s grace and so we have the freedom to do things that seem crazy and outlandish as long as they legitimately don’t hurt people.
But people have a hard time being mean and they don’t want to say that because then you have to be willing to tell people who struggle with love for tractors or dogs or children or sidewalks that they’re hallucinating if they think it’s mutual. And that’s where I’ve lost patience because Lacey’s not schizophrenic, she’s not into witchcraft and people have very little patience for her at all. It’s totally hypocritical!
It’s very easy to attack someone like her because she’s like what? A small sweet little cat? Kind of like her daughter.   And her son.
Insisting that they’re the ones being evil when they’re just defending themselves by being honest, comes from a place lower than Hell.
However she is German and had she been born earlier there are actually are some German men who were real Nazis in Germany, who she may have met. And fallen in love with. Her father was a bootlegger, and the mafia was involved, internationally. So it’s more than possible that her father would have investigated Nazi Germany in the late 30s brought her with just to visit Germany, yes? And she may have fallen in love and even been tempted to marry one of them.
You have to remember they were not aware entirely how bad things were going to get, in Germany, until a bit later. So her father may have even allowed it. 
And I think that’s the problem. People wanting to oversimplify things that are extremely complicated. In this situation.  Right and wrong are always right and wrong, but if you’re angry at her and jealous, you may not be able to understand that she could’ve innocently married a Nazi. 
So that being said, let’s go to part two of this discussion today. 
Keen to Cross the Pond 