Late 80′s/Early 90′s teen horror! (in all it’s wonderful campy glory). Before Goosebumps there was Fear Street, and I gobbled these books up in my middle school library, especially around Halloween.
Surely I’m not the only one who remembers these?
Me: Ah yes, I love slowburn
Me, reading a slowburn fic: JUST KISS ALREADY!!!!
Me: I love angst
Me, reading angst as I cry on the floor: Make the pain stop … please …!
Me: I love fluff!
Me, reading fluff: I LOVE FLUFF!
It always bugs me when people want more respect for “trash” literature. Don’t get me wrong, you shouldn’t bully people for their taste in books, but it’s one step too far when people demand that their beach read be treated like some Masterpiece of Literature.
If you want to read some cheap romance paperback that you bought in the grocery store, will speed through in one day and won’t remember one week after you finish it, then be my guest! Enjoy the books you enjoy! But don’t pretend that they’re deep. Here’s a good rule of thumb: Did you read a book because you wanted a deep, cultural experience? No? Then allow others to treat it likewise.
If you treat a novel you read as a forgettable piece of fluff then stop complaining when us “culture snobs” do the same. Don’t demand that books like “My Secret Love Affair With the Duke” and “Captured By the Pirate” be treated as Great Literature when you clearly don’t regard them that way either.
(And just to be clear: I read and enjoy stupid and violent comic books from the 90′s. They’re great fun! But I admit that they’re not actually well-made, art-wise OR writing-wise. I can enjoy them without pretending that they’ve got great cultural value.)
I think you’re taking your argument in a direction that no one else is and exaggerating what other people want, for what purpose I couldn’t say. There’s an ocean of difference between people wanting more respect for…
“trash” literature
beach reads
cheap romance paperbacks
books bought in the grocery store
books read in a day
forgettable pieces of fluff
… and treating such as a “Masterpiece of Literature.” Seems to me it’s perfectly valid to expect romance novels to be treated with more respect without thinking each individual book surpasses all other books. For example, there were many gothic novels written. Not all of them continue to be taught in colleges. Same for mystery novels. Same for Shakespeare’s plays.
But we still acknowledge that Shakespeare wrote a few decent plays and some nice sonnets, don’t we? That the masses rather liked, even. Some of them had happy endings, if I recall. You can even read them quickly! Interesting.
Even in the dregs of popular culture, where things can be enjoyed and forgotten, exists quality. Things that people will love and respect. Things that will stand the test of time. Yet not every piece of popular culture needs to be that in order to have value.
The thing I’m wondering if you’re overlooking is that you’re choosing a specific type of book (romance novels that focus on female experiences, written and read mostly by women) that doesn’t get respect to knock down and say, “It’s because it doesn’t deserve it.”
No one needs your help to disrespect romance. You’re standing in a crowd, sneering, pretending what you’re sneering at is profoundly different from what the guy next to you is sneering at.
But what you’re really saying is “This genre that doesn’t get respect because people say it doesn’t deserve respect doesn’t get respect because it doesn’t deserve respect.”
There’s still a chance to protect Dreamers. The power is now in Congress’ hands, which ultimately means the power is in YOUR hands!
Call your senators and representatives. Urge them to protect immigrant youth and young adults. So many senators and representatives’ seats are up for re-election in 2018, so trust me, they’re sweating over this issue.
Even if your senators and representative are in favor of DACA, call them anyway! Call them and let them know you’re counting on them to do all that they can to protect Dreamers. And yes, CALL them, because a phone call MEANS something to these people–emails can be dismissed, but phone calls cannot be ignored. And if you call and they don’t answer? Call again. If you get a voicemail, by all means LEAVE a voicemail (and then call again later and try to speak to an actual person). If you call and their mailbox is full, then call the next day, because THEY HAVE to check voicemails and empty their inboxes.
Not sure what to say? Not to worry, the Interfaith Immigration Coalition has produced this script for you:
“I’m your constituent from [City, State]. I support the Deferred
Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, and strongly oppose
President’s Trump’s announcement to end it. DACA has provided nearly
800,000 immigrant youth the opportunity to work, raise a family, and
pursue their dreams. I urge you to support a clean passage of the Dream
Act of 2017 (S.1615/H.R.3440) and do everything in your power to protect
immigrant youth.”
After you’ve made your phone call, by all means tweet your senators/representatives (and Trump). FOLLOW THE ABOVE LINK for social media graphics/sample posts that you can tweet, post on tumblr, facebook, and other platforms.
But please, above all else, CALL YOUR SENATORS/REPRESENTATIVES. It’s time to put your money where your mouth is. Reblogging posts like this is only half the battle.
Isn’t it interesting that when people say “Pray for Houston” or “Pray for the Islands” because of the recent hurricanes, you don’t hear a counter argument saying, “Pray for ALL places.” No, of course you don’t, because SANE PEOPLE understand that when you’re asking others to “pray for _____” you’re not saying “all other places don’t matter and don’t deserve prayers”; no, of course not. It’s understood that what you’re doing is saying, “hey, these present places are suffering due to terrible events; we need to do all that we can to help them.”
Now let’s take that same understanding and apply it to people saying “Black Lives Matter” or “Brown Lives Matter”. Just like with “pray for Houston”, no one is saying “the lives of people who aren’t black or brown don’t matter” (again, SANE PEOPLE understand this!), but just like with “pray for Houston”, it is an acknowledgement that “the lives of black and brown people are under threat (and have been under threat for far too long) due to racial injustice and ALL HUMAN BEINGS should be doing all that they can to help put a stop to it.”
It’s simple human decency. If you can donate money/supplies for hurricane relief to a place that’s on the other side of the country from you, a place you may have never visited and quite possibly may never visit, but for which you feel “these people need help, this is the right thing to do”….then you can (and SHOULD) take a stand for black and brown lives…because it’s the right thing to do.
Do not forget that Florida isn’t the only one getting hit by Irma. Puerto Rico and the other islands are going to be hit. This hurricane is huge. It is going to practically cover Puerto Rico. It’s bigger than Ohio.
Don’t be quiet about Puerto Rico and the other islands. These people will need help as well. Not a single part of Puerto Rico will be untouched from the hurricane.
Musings of a Yankee Countess 