How Long Has This Been Going On? Quotes

“...college wasn't more school, as Chris had anticipated. School was a normalization of the familiar. College was a penetration into the exotic.”
― Ethan Mordden, How Long Has This Been Going On?

“Walt, examining Chris’s record collection, said, “You have four different recordings of Carousel.” “It’s my favorite thing on earth.” “Is that because it says that people die but true love lasts forever?” “I … Maybe. I thought I just liked the music.” To Tom, behind Walt’s back, she mouthed, “How’d he get so smart?”
― Ethan Mordden, How Long Has This Been Going On: A Novel

“Sensible is a powerful notion to lay upon children. So much of the world does seem sensible, even when it may impede or even destroy our sense of self-esteem. Sensible looks easy because everyone claims to be doing it. But sensible, really, is some grown-up telling you that you can’t have what you want. So”
― Ethan Mordden, How Long Has This Been Going On: A Novel

“The problem with you middle-class gay guys is, you pass for white. You move to the metropolitan gay centres, and you're more or less closeted--"private", you'd call it--when you step outside the ghetto. You assimilate yourselves, and suddenly you've got property to protect and money invested. I ask you, what impelled the militants of the civil rights movement of the sixties? You know what impelled them? They had nothing to lose. That's how they could brave the police dogs and the fire hoses. Even torture and death. Could you have done that?”
― Ethan Mordden, How Long Has This Been Going On?

“The Parade is not diplomacy,” Chris pointed out. “It’s celebration.”
― Ethan Mordden, How Long Has This Been Going On: A Novel