Edward's Dangerous and I Don't Mind

 I want to make something clear before I go on with Twilight, because this comes up over and over again. People yell about Bella being "stupid" for wanting Edward, since he is deadly dangerous and has to fight down the urge to kill her. The fact that Edward is deadly and has cravings to kill Bella does not bother me, nor do I think she is stupid for wanting to be with him. In fact, if this book were well-written, I would enjoy this relationship dynamic.

Twilight is a romantic fantasy. Many women, self included, like to fantasize about dangerous men. I don't worry that girls are going to read Twilight and think they should seek out men who want to harm them. I'm someone who likes dangerous men in fantasy and I have never been drawn to abusive men in real life. 

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Rochester Is Apparently the Slums of Detroit

 I've been reading gossip columns lately (what can I say, I'm bored), and often when they mention Madonna, they say she's admirable for working her way out of Detroit.

Okay, first of all, Detroit itself isn't the horrible scary slum hole that it's portrayed as in mass media. It's a mess, and it has its own unique problems, but it's a modern city in America, with all that entails. 

Second: Madonna is not from Detroit. She went to school with my mom's family in Rochester, which is a 45 minute drive from Detroit. Madonna was good friends with one of my uncles. My mom's dad was a tenured professor. These days, Rochester is a wealthy (and mostly white) suburb. Back then, it wasn't quite as wealthy, but it was even more white, and it was solidly middle class. The schools were good middle class schools, the town was very safe, and kids ran around its meadows until dark.

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