Comments on Some of Nothing: Why Fight Twilight?

GG: Comics can be really well-written as can fashi...

2008-12-08T09:31:00.000-08:00

GG: Comics can be really well-written as can fashion mags. But you're right, adequate grammar is a start.

My dad and his sibs subscibed to at ton of "fu...

2008-12-04T16:32:00.000-08:00

My dad and his sibs subscibed to at **ton** of "funny" (i.e. non-superhero) comic books as kids -- so, whenever we went to my (paternal) grandparents, we'd raid the upstairs dresser drawers where they were kept and read a foot or two of comics.

My (paternal) grandpa was of the opinion that all reading was pretty much good reading -- because at least it gave you practice in reading and interpreting the written word, which would then be helpful in school (i.e. reading textbooks). (He didn't say it like that -- but that was the gist of it.)

Likewise, my youngest sister never read much. To encourage **any** sort of reading, my folks get her a subscription to Cosmo. or Glamour, or some-such -- just so she'd at least be reading **something**. Same reasoning.

I'd say that reading cheezy stuff is a "gateway drug" to reading the "quality" stuff: if people aren't reading much, getting to read **something** at least puts them on the road.

And, even the cheezy stuff tends to have adequate grammar: so there's at least a moderate amount of modeling going on.

--GG

Cativer: sounds like a feline-related profession. ("What do you do for a living?" "Oh, I'm a cativer.")

G: I do hear what you're saying and it is definite...

2008-12-03T11:11:00.000-08:00

G: I do hear what you're saying and it is definitely the prevailing viewpoint. Just sometimes, as a public school kid who has been exposed to all manner of low rent cultural byproducts throughout my formative years, I wonder whether or not the hermetically sealed environs of upperclass private schools provide kids with more than just access to the "hard stuff" by way of educational tools. I think that really getting a good education might also involve limiting access to the "soft stuff". That said, you and MFP do make excellent points and since you use yourselves as examples of excellence, I definitely find it hard to argue against you.

And drug metaphors are always welcome.

When Mama G was a little mama she read biographies...

2008-12-02T16:54:00.000-08:00

When Mama G was a little mama she read biographies. She loved them. She liked novels and did well in Language Arts classes, but she really loved biographies. She still has a huge one of Lincoln. There were always huge tomes by her bed. Now I don't know when, I think it was when I was small, but at some point she just got tired. She didn't feel like thinking anymore when she read, she just wanted to be entertained. So now she won't read anything more taxing than a romance novel.
She still loves to read but her tastes have changed.
I guess the point I'm rambling towards is that I don't see anything wrong with your young friend reading Twilight...or even Sweet Valley High. I think it's great that she's so excited about a book, or series of books and it creates a chance for you to open her up to Literature (with a capital L).
I did read all those young adult novels when I was younger. I also read everything else under the sun, because books have always been my heroin. So if Twilight is what it takes to get your friend hooked...maybe you should just be there to help steer her towards the hard stuff.

wow.
that was a really bad drug metaphor on SO many levels.

Comments on Some of Nothing: Why Fight Twilight?

GG: Comics can be really well-written as can fashi...

My dad and his sibs subscibed to at **ton** of "fu...

G: I do hear what you're saying and it is definite...

When Mama G was a little mama she read biographies...

My dad and his sibs subscibed to at ton of "fu...