Dre the Champion of Romance!!

Have you ever read an article and paper/ anything that states an opinion and while reading it you are formulating the counter argument?

this is an assigned reading I had for my Storytelling class this week. let me tell you--the first article "Explorations and Formulas" was too much for me to not write about. The weekly discussion topic had nothing (and I mean NOTHING) to do with this essay--rather it was the role of the women in the two following stories. However, this essay was too much for me to NOT mention something.

My mom runs a blog that reviews various romance novels so--I would say that while I am no expert I feel experienced enough to look at this and want to argue against it--

so here's what I wrote--

"Before I delve into the women characters that were portrayed in both stories .I’d wanted to talk about this formula fiction essay; specifically the formula fiction that was portrayed for romance novels. As someone who reads both classics and the romance novels published today—what I feel the writer of “Explorations and Formulas” did not realize is that there are always exceptions to the rules that the tip sheet formulated. My mother is a part of a romance novel community as a reviewer for various authors—the “Do not interject murder, extortion, international intrigue, horror or the supernatural elements in the plot” was the most shocking “rule” that I saw. Especially because some of the best sellers of romance are in fact ones that have the murder, or intrigue…so on and so forth—It is what keeps the book moving. While I understand that, yes,—some women are looking for the quick read (boy meets girl, girl leaves boy to sacrifice herself, boy saves girl, and they live happily ever after) however a lot of the authors that are popular or seen as “classics” or “must reads” in the romance fandom are actually stories that do have a plot that drives the romance forward. There are whole series of romance novels solely dedicated into creating a fantastical universe of political intrigue and great action scenes.

I’ll use one of my favorites for an example, J.R Ward has written multiple books based of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, these are books that you will find in the romance section, one of her most recent books ended with the heroine actually dying. It was with the hero’s mother’s great sacrifice that the heroine still exists as a mere ghost/projection. This is not the “and everyone lives happily ever after” ending—even in following books the guilt that the hero feels in failing his “beloved” is an ongoing theme in the next few books. Or another is the Historical romances Diana Gibaldon spends 3-4 books where everything is not “hunky dory-press-the-female-character-against-studly-scots-chest”. There is sacrifice, death and even some really great historical facts.

True there are many authors of books that do follow the formula to satisfy their readers—however on the flip side, I feel that there is an equal amount of authors who don’t care what their readers want—they are going to write whatever they feel is best for their characters or their story lines. As a writer I don’t want to take into account what someone else wants in my stories—I’m writing as an art form. No one ever told Picasso—“hey, why don’t you make Guernica look a bit more realistic.”

Katie MacAlister, a romance best seller, writes as Katie Maxwell for her Young Adult books and as Katie Marsh when writing mysteries—something that many romance authors have to do since being a “romance author” has become synonymous with poor literature.

Now that I’ve proclaimed myself the champion of Romance novels—let’s move on to the actual stories that we covered."

(from here I talked about the actual assignment--I totally had to get this off my chest and post it on my classes discussion board.)

SIMPLIFY IS GIVING AWAY A QUILT!

Thanks to my T-brenda, I have been getting into looking at designers of quilts--I'm now moving into "designers in general". One of my favorite quilt designers is Camille Roskelley from Thimble Blossoms.  On her Blog Simplify she is giving away a quilt of your choosing. :) pretty awesome huh?

This post get's me 3 more entries!! :D

--signing off

dre

VOTE!

This is  your friendly Dre-approved reminder to VOTE TOMORROW!!!

This year there has been an outpouring of registrants to get to the polls on November 4th. For what some people are saying is one of the most important elections in our history. However statistically speaking, according to historical data, only 40-60% of Americans who register to vote indeed vote. 

Do you know how many people in Iraq voted? 100% of the population able to vote in Iraq did. 

People always complain about the lines and "how long it takes". Women in a country where their children can be a casualty of war just by going to school one day, in a country that doesn't view them as equals came out and stood in lines that took hours--not minutes--HOURS! 

So everyone who has registered to vote--I'm telling you a day in advance so you can mark it in your schedule!!!--VOTE!

RECAP! :)

Isn't he so handsome? lol. So since the last time I've posted my mom has visited, I had the weekend of insanity that included Nova Academy, 2 banquets, an E-board meeting and a business meeting, and last week where I traversed back to New England for the scenery, my aunt's trip to Keene's Pumpkin Festival and My best friend/sister's 21st birthday.

While mom was here we sought out some colorful foliage (Texas doesn't get the shiny colored trees we get up here). Alas--this is what we got instead. It was great to show my mom around campus and introduce her to people and places that I have familiarized myself with since she last came (Brickcity--my Freshman year).

I also had the dreaded "Parent's Dinner" with Ryan and his folks. It went painless. We ate at Edoya--yummy! and for dessert sent the men folk out for something tasty--AKA Wegman's fruit tart pastry (note to self--get one for myself at a later date).

The picture at the top is one from Phi Sigma Pi's Banquet--it was our 10th Year aniversary so people went all out! We had delicious cake from Jon John's, a local rochester bakery that makes delicious goodies, and champagne during the toast. It was a great success and I commend our Alumni Committee and Social Committee for getting this all set up. (it was great guys!)
Here's a picture of my family line. :)The Day after PSP's Banquet I had the Orientation Assistants Reunion Banquet and got my 3 years of service pin. (GO ME!)

After a hellish weekend composed of 3 tests (uuuuuuggghhhh). I left for New England.

I went to Keene Pumpkin festival with both my Aunts, cousin and grandmother and saw these cool pumpkins!!!!

So after fabulous Pumpkin viewing these AWESOME pumpkins I traversed for an celebratory 21st drink at Midnight with Jessie.

(Happy Birthday girlie!)

--signing off for now
dre

CUPCAKES!!!

So I have a tendency to love all things crafty--perchance I get it from my mom and aunt--right? I found this little do dad in search of a new blog to check out. This is from the blog Portabello Pixie--check out the cool stuff she has!!! :)

Ok--now I'm gonna get all my pictures off my camera from the past 3 weeks--wish me luck!!! >.<

I've been tagged!!!! :D

So I just got back from an IRG (International Resource Group) Luncheon, where I gave a small presentation with 3 other College of Business Students about studying abroad. It was pretty great!

I'll post a blog later today about my weekend and what I have been up to since my last post. My mom reviews books on her blog. I was catching up with her when I realized that she "tagged" me to write 7 random things about myself. So, here it goes.

1. I am an introvert. I know that for someone that is so involved in the school community this sounds insane but after a long day of E-board meetings, classes, project meetings and networking I'm exhausted to the core of my being. I don't get energy from a group of people. I love meeting people and putting myself out there--but If you gave me the choice to spend a weekend alone reading good books with no human interaction or a weekend filled with friends parties and events--I'd go for the book reading in solitude. It's probably why my best friend and I get along so well.

2. While I love anime and going to conventions--I hate the fans. I realize that I was one of those people when I first got into anime but my tastes matured and so did the way I show my enjoyment. I go to anime cons in cosplay (damn good ones too!), but I'm not running around like a 2 year old on a bag of pixie sticks. And I am most definately not asking dumb questions to voice actors as if they were the legit 2D character. >.< I can not STAND some of the people that go to anime con who are older than me but act like 6 year old, "Oh my god! like, you like (insert pairing here) well I like (insert inverse pairing here) I totally hate you and, like, we can't be friends."

3. I love to write. Limericks help me pass the time. If you look at my note books or napkins you can discern how bored I was by the quantity of limericks or poems that are written there (You should look a handout my Japanese Culture teacher gave me in Japan--the popor thing never had a chance). Now I said I love writing--not that I was good at it. My writing is pretty raw and unrefined--I think it and I write it. I refuse to go back and fix anything. On this train of though it leads to my next one...

4. I'm doing NaNoWriMo in November. Wish me luck!!! :)

5. I will listen to anything--any genre of music has a good chance of being on my Ipod. I have filled my whole entire 16gig Ipod with audio books, rap, country, wizard rock, j-pop, j-rock, emo, hard rock, classic rock...and it goes on, and on.

6. I hibernate. While I'm sure many of you thought that this was only done by bears and other wildlife--I also participate in this. I hate hate HATE the cold. This is pretty weird since I lived in New England for most of my life, and I go to school in Rochester, NY (where hell has legitimately frozen over). I will disappear off the face of the social scene starting winter quarter and not ending till the middle of spring quarter. I show up for classes, and the occasional meeting--but if it involves me walking in cold temperatures I have a tendency to skip it.

7. I have never attended a wedding, or at least I don't remember attending one (I was told that I attended my uncle's 2nd wedding). This is funnier even now because I'm engaged and besides some basic knowledge that you learn from TLC's bridezillas and A wedding story--I don't know where to start. Last year Jessie and Eleanor walked me through the whole "wedding dates" and my head spun. @.@

That's it!!!

Request for "7 random things" is to Jessie's blog (Dazed and Confused) and Eleanor (Dammit Universe)


That's it!!

: D

So this is my with my boyfriend about 2 years ago at a friend's Christmas Party.

This is the beginning of Ryan and my fourth year of dating. We met on our dorm floor freshman year and since then we've been entertaining our near and dear ones with our banter. :)

Ryan and I are pretty much the opposite in every sense of the word. But for some reason we have always been able to get along really well.

Since I'm graduating this year-- and Ryan is a five year major. We've been discussing what to do. Never in these conversations was there a hint of engagements or getting married. It was more like--if I go to school here we could drive back and forth. Or--I'm in a semester system so I can visit during my breaks.

So imagine my surprise when Ryan and I made dinner Saturday evening and over dinner Ryan pulled this out. \/



Needless to say, I really couldn't think of a reason to say no.







Ryan despite his rough exterior--is really sweet with me (as my roommate/best friend/sister said to me once). And honestly--there was no one else I could imagine spending the rest of my life with. :)

I ,of course, had to get over the initial shock before Ryan asked if it was a yes. For the rest of the evening I spent my time staring at the ring and looking back at Ryan and going "Are you sure?" "Do you really know what this means?" "Are you crazy?" "You're crazy."

The rest of the evening was me telling my roommate/bestfriend/sister the news. I have never heard the phrase "Oh my gawd" used so repeatedly in a half hour.

The next day in celebration, Ryan and I went with some friends to Darien Lake Amusement Park.

It was Fright Fest so there was a Halloween theme to the whole place. (Did I mention Halloween is my favorite holiday?) After watching everyone go on The Predator (Rollercoasters aren't my thing) while everyone else went on the Ride of Steel(no way) Ryan took me to the pumpkin patch for some pumpkin painting. Guess which one belongs to me. :)

So after fun pumpkin painting and one of our friends loosing her cell to the Ride of Steel's pond. We continued through other rides. Now, I'm pretty much a wreck whenever I think about getting on a roller coaster. I'm always jealous of people who can get on them without having a panic attack in the line. I decided I'd try this roller coaster think one more time. So I found the tamest rollercoaster in the park. Called the Motocoaster (check it out here). I got on and now have a T-shirt. I'm still scared of rollercoasters--but I found one that I'm not THAT scared of. :) we played some games, got some tasty funnel cake (yum) and then for the closing events got to watch a great "Laser Spooktacular". It was a great ending to a pretty awesome weekend.

Next weekend is promising to be just as cool too! My mom is coming up for Brickcity Homecoming. WooHoo!!!

--extatic and signing off for now
dre :)