Still departing from my usual blogs, I know! I promise I have something really good up my sleeve! In the mean time it is SNOWING here again. Imagine that, two times and it's not even April yet. Not even my birthday yet, which is Tuesday BTW. Which is also Mardi Gras. Really want some King's Cake. Yummers! Any way, this is the Valentine's Day article I wrote today. Of course it is the first draft. I am thinking that I will also submit some of my poetry/ song lyrics next week. Especially if I could find "This Winter's Our Discontent". I love that poem/ song. Anybody know of any one who wants a song writer? SOME people don't like to mix business with pleasure and A.) refuse my song lyrics and B.) refuse my awesome band names (No Not Chubby Bunny). Any who, here is my V-Day article. Hope everyone has a great V-Day, President's Day, and enjoys the first few days of the Winter Olympics!
The history of Valentine’s Day is steeped in mystery. Some say Valentine performed secret marriages after Emperor Claudius II outlawed marriage to make “better soldiers”. Others claim that Valentine’s Day started when Valentine fell in love with his jailer’s daughter and sent her a letter signed “your Valentine”. Still others claim that Valentine’s Day came about in an attempt to Christianize the pagan holiday of Lupercalia, celebrated to honor the Roman god of fertility and to honor the birth of Roman founders Romulus and Remus on February 15. What is it about this mysterious day in the middle of February that makes people buy candy and flowers, propose to their beloved, and even choose this most romantic of days to married their loved one?
Newlywed Melissa McClain, of Villa Rica, GA, says, “I think that, in our busy lives, we often lose sight of what means the most to us. So Valentine's Day, for all its commercially marketed chocolates and flowers, forces us to at least slow down for one day out of the year to really appreciate our spouse and loved ones.” According to a study done by WRAL in Raleigh, North Carolina, two-thirds of people asked said they would like to have a longer day, so they could accomplish more. Most would prefer an extra six hours in a day to do additional activities such as volunteer work or take care of children at home. The University of Pennsylvania informs their International students in it’s International Student Handbook, “Americans tend to organize their activities by means of schedules. As a result, they may seem hurried, running from one thing to the next, unable to relax and enjoy themselves. The pace of life may seem very rushed at first. “
Slowing down to appreciate your loved ones on Valentine’s Day is a time honored tradition dating back to the Middle Ages. Americans began exchanging hand-made Valentines in the 1700’s. With cheaper postage rates and improved technology in printing, Valentine’s Day really exploded in the 1840’s, when Ester Howland first began to sell commercially produced Valentine’s Day cards with ribbons and lace. According to the Greeting Card Association, over one Valentine’s cards are sold each year. Women account for 85% of the Valentine’s Day merchandise sold annually. According to fifteen year old Rebecca Turner of Newnan, Georgia, “I made lots of cards for people!” Teachers are the most popular targets for cards, followed by children and mothers. Three percent of Americans will give their pets a Valentine’s Day card.
Going out to dinner remains a popular Valentine’s Day option. Full-service restaurants, who have been hit hard by the recession, saw sales hit 139.4 billion in 2009, down 6% from 2008. Restaurateurs are optimistic about 2010, though. Annika Stensson, a spokeswoman for The National Restaurant Association, said the weekend is shaping up to be a good one. An informal survey taken of Orange County dining spots show that most are booked for Valentine's Day weekend, with most of the reservations actually booked for Saturday, the day before Valentine‘s Day.
Flowers and candy are also popular gift ideas for Valentine’s Day. The per capita consumption of candy for Americans is 23.8 pounds. The combined wholesale value of domestically produced cut flowers in 2008 was $403 million for all flower-producing operations with $100,000 or more in sales. Fifteen percent of women send themselves flowers on Valentine’s Day, just to make themselves feel better or to appear that they are in a relationship. Combined, men spend an average of $130 on Valentine’s Day dates, with flowers, candy, cards, dinner, and jewelry. This is double what women spend. Matt Partain, 28, of Franklin, Georgia, states, “Its a sweet holiday meant for your loved one but like most other holidays it is all about the money and corporations market it as such.” Considering that consumers spend almost $450 billion on Valentines Day each year in total, it’s no wonder that many people share Matt’s opinion.
In fact, so many people fell this way that there is even an Anti-Valentine’s Day movement. And some singles feel so badly on Valentine’s Day that they have dubbed the holiday “Singles’ Awareness Day”. In 1969, Valentine’s Day was cancelled because it was viewed as an “orgy of consumerism”. As of 2002, 904 dating services were established nationwide, including internet dating services. These establishments employed nearly 4,300 people and pulled in $489 million in revenue. In 2008, EHarmony took a survey and discovered that 40% of the matches that had been made on their site around Valentine’s Day had broken up six months later. Up to 64% of men do not make plans with their sweethearts and, coincidentally, 53% of women in America would dump their boyfriend if they did not get them anything for Valentine’s Day. Still Valentine’s Day is one of the popular American holidays. Valentine’s Day is the third largest retail holiday. Says Thomasa Hickey, “There is a commercial on TV that I just love and laugh out loud when I see it every time. ... The one with the dog with false teeth. My Honey came home with flowers and a card with a picture on the front of a dog with false teeth! Its my favorite card ever because it tells me he does notice the things that make me happy!” And that’s what Valentine’s Day is really all about.
Whether you feel like Valentine’s Day is a cozy holiday to spend with your honey or a consumer nightmare, one thing is certain: Valentine’s Day is here to stay. Some gifts, no matter what day you receive them, are priceless. I think Shane Cammon put it best when he said, “I got the best Valentine's gift ever 3 years ago: a handsome baby boy!! Going forward I don't think I could ever top that feeling.”
Friday, February 12, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Uprising- The attraction Twilight to older women
Hello Everyone! I am departing from my usual blogs momentarily to post a draft of my article for Triond, AC, and the AP for all my friends to read since a lot of people contributed to this story. I still have a few quotes from sources that I have to gather together and flesh out in to the article, so this is incomplete, but it gives you an idea of the kind of stuff I work on all day! :)
Twilight has become a phenomena within a phenomena. When the movie version of New Moon was released in November, it raked in a record setting $140.7 million. People have already began counting down to the Eclipse premiere. Even Burger King has gotten in on the action with Team Edward and Team Jacob water bottles. At any given event where any of the stars of The Twilight Saga will be seen, you will see hundreds to thousands of screaming, crying fans holding signs that say things like, “Imprint on me!” and “TwiHard”. The amazing thing about this is that a great number of these fans are married women over the age of thirty who have children.
The first time I laid my hands on a copy of Twilight was when I read it with my “church mama”, my 67-year-old friend, who is the grandmother of several granddaughters. One of these granddaughters recommended it to her mother, who in turn recommended it to her mother, my “church mama”. She had just started Breaking Dawn during my stay with her and couldn’t seem to put it down. She would bookmark her page, go put the chicken in the oven, come back and read, bookmark her page, make the bed, come read again. I watched her do this as diligently as I watched Bill O’Reilly berate then President-elect Obama.
Why is the “TwiCrack” so addictive? “It’s the suspicion,” says Jennifer Carson, a 28 year old mother from Anderson, Indiana. “Its about adventure, and love, and makes you beg for more! Go Edward!”
Twilight certainly has the element of love involved, from the epic love triangle of Edward, Bella, and Jacob, to references to classic literature’s greatest loves stories like Romeo and Juliet and Wuthering Heights. Author Stephenie Meyer majored in English at Brigham Young University and is a happily married mother of three sons. Conceived of a dream she had one night, Twilight has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions and garnered several prestigious awards, including Publisher’s Weekly’s “Best Book of 2005”. Stephenie told Time magazine readers in a 2008 interview, “I didn't write these books specifically for the young-adult audience. I wrote them for me. I don't know why they span the ages so well, but I find it comforting that a lot of thirtysomethings with kids, like myself, respond to them as well--so I know that it's not just that I'm a 15-year-old on the inside!”
Maybe that’s what really appeals to women of a certain age who go bizarro for bloodsuckers and wacky for wolves. In this day and age, youth is everything. There were over 10 million surgical and nonsurgical cosmetic procedures performed in the United States in 2008, as reported by the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS). Surgical procedures accounted for 17% of the total with nonsurgical procedures making up 83% of the total. Recently Heidi Montag nee Pratt of The Hills pseudo-fame revealed that she, at 23, had ten different procedures in one day to help with her career as a pop star. When I posed the question of why so many older women were attracted to the Twilight series on my Facebook page, one of my friends asked, “Who would admit to being an ‘older woman‘? Lol!”
While I know my friend was joking with me, there is much truth in jest. Part of the appeal in Twilight lies in the allure of eternal youth. Edward will never grow older than seventeen, Jacob stops aging until he no longer transforms into a wolf, and Bella is obsessed with her age. In chapter five of Eclipse, Bella says to Jacob, “Am I the only one who has to get old? I get older every stinking day! Damn it! What kind of world is this? Where’s the justice?”
There is also the cougar mentality that exists in our culture today thanks to the likes of Demi Moore, Sex and the City, and reality television. There are even terms like puma for late twentysomethings/ thirtysomethings who date younger men, artic fox (women who are post-menopausal), and manther, which is the male version of a cougar. What these Twilight fans are really experiencing is actually termed “pedophilia”, which is the attraction of older individuals to teenagers. Granted Robert Pattinson, who plays Edward Cullen in the big screen adaptations of the Twilight Saga, is a healthy 23 years old, but his character is forever seventeen.
Many of my friends argued that it is the romance of the books that draws them in. In fact every single person who posted to my Facebook page said that the aspect of true love conquering all was the main element that drew them to the series. “I love true and honest love. It took Edward years but he finally found it and then there is the unconditional love and Bella knowing the danger but like most people that find real, true love, you will do anything to hold on to it even if you die in the process,” states Rhiannon Chandler, 29 of Ephesus, Georgia. According to University Wire at Louisiana State University, 88 percent of American men and women between the ages of 20 and 29 believe that they have a soul mate who is waiting for them. According to The State of Our Unions 2005, a report issued by the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University, only 63% of American children grow up with both biological parents -- the lowest figure in the Western world. So of course people crave the idea that true love and pure romance and a relationship that will endure eternally can exist. Says Heather Duffey, 29, of Carrollton, Georgia, “Sometimes you just can't choose who you love and it is refreshing to see true/pure love conquer all.”
Maybe no one can ever really pinpoint the allure of the Twilight Saga. I think my friend Jessica Alford says it best when she says, “Because...it is an escape from reality at times”. And everybody, no matter what your age, needs that escape some times!
Twilight has become a phenomena within a phenomena. When the movie version of New Moon was released in November, it raked in a record setting $140.7 million. People have already began counting down to the Eclipse premiere. Even Burger King has gotten in on the action with Team Edward and Team Jacob water bottles. At any given event where any of the stars of The Twilight Saga will be seen, you will see hundreds to thousands of screaming, crying fans holding signs that say things like, “Imprint on me!” and “TwiHard”. The amazing thing about this is that a great number of these fans are married women over the age of thirty who have children.
The first time I laid my hands on a copy of Twilight was when I read it with my “church mama”, my 67-year-old friend, who is the grandmother of several granddaughters. One of these granddaughters recommended it to her mother, who in turn recommended it to her mother, my “church mama”. She had just started Breaking Dawn during my stay with her and couldn’t seem to put it down. She would bookmark her page, go put the chicken in the oven, come back and read, bookmark her page, make the bed, come read again. I watched her do this as diligently as I watched Bill O’Reilly berate then President-elect Obama.
Why is the “TwiCrack” so addictive? “It’s the suspicion,” says Jennifer Carson, a 28 year old mother from Anderson, Indiana. “Its about adventure, and love, and makes you beg for more! Go Edward!”
Twilight certainly has the element of love involved, from the epic love triangle of Edward, Bella, and Jacob, to references to classic literature’s greatest loves stories like Romeo and Juliet and Wuthering Heights. Author Stephenie Meyer majored in English at Brigham Young University and is a happily married mother of three sons. Conceived of a dream she had one night, Twilight has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions and garnered several prestigious awards, including Publisher’s Weekly’s “Best Book of 2005”. Stephenie told Time magazine readers in a 2008 interview, “I didn't write these books specifically for the young-adult audience. I wrote them for me. I don't know why they span the ages so well, but I find it comforting that a lot of thirtysomethings with kids, like myself, respond to them as well--so I know that it's not just that I'm a 15-year-old on the inside!”
Maybe that’s what really appeals to women of a certain age who go bizarro for bloodsuckers and wacky for wolves. In this day and age, youth is everything. There were over 10 million surgical and nonsurgical cosmetic procedures performed in the United States in 2008, as reported by the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS). Surgical procedures accounted for 17% of the total with nonsurgical procedures making up 83% of the total. Recently Heidi Montag nee Pratt of The Hills pseudo-fame revealed that she, at 23, had ten different procedures in one day to help with her career as a pop star. When I posed the question of why so many older women were attracted to the Twilight series on my Facebook page, one of my friends asked, “Who would admit to being an ‘older woman‘? Lol!”
While I know my friend was joking with me, there is much truth in jest. Part of the appeal in Twilight lies in the allure of eternal youth. Edward will never grow older than seventeen, Jacob stops aging until he no longer transforms into a wolf, and Bella is obsessed with her age. In chapter five of Eclipse, Bella says to Jacob, “Am I the only one who has to get old? I get older every stinking day! Damn it! What kind of world is this? Where’s the justice?”
There is also the cougar mentality that exists in our culture today thanks to the likes of Demi Moore, Sex and the City, and reality television. There are even terms like puma for late twentysomethings/ thirtysomethings who date younger men, artic fox (women who are post-menopausal), and manther, which is the male version of a cougar. What these Twilight fans are really experiencing is actually termed “pedophilia”, which is the attraction of older individuals to teenagers. Granted Robert Pattinson, who plays Edward Cullen in the big screen adaptations of the Twilight Saga, is a healthy 23 years old, but his character is forever seventeen.
Many of my friends argued that it is the romance of the books that draws them in. In fact every single person who posted to my Facebook page said that the aspect of true love conquering all was the main element that drew them to the series. “I love true and honest love. It took Edward years but he finally found it and then there is the unconditional love and Bella knowing the danger but like most people that find real, true love, you will do anything to hold on to it even if you die in the process,” states Rhiannon Chandler, 29 of Ephesus, Georgia. According to University Wire at Louisiana State University, 88 percent of American men and women between the ages of 20 and 29 believe that they have a soul mate who is waiting for them. According to The State of Our Unions 2005, a report issued by the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University, only 63% of American children grow up with both biological parents -- the lowest figure in the Western world. So of course people crave the idea that true love and pure romance and a relationship that will endure eternally can exist. Says Heather Duffey, 29, of Carrollton, Georgia, “Sometimes you just can't choose who you love and it is refreshing to see true/pure love conquer all.”
Maybe no one can ever really pinpoint the allure of the Twilight Saga. I think my friend Jessica Alford says it best when she says, “Because...it is an escape from reality at times”. And everybody, no matter what your age, needs that escape some times!
Monday, February 1, 2010
Wagon wheel...
The reason that I first became ordained as a minister was to perform weddings. I got the idea from "Friends", when Joey was ordained to perform Monica and Chandler's wedding. Religion has always been an educational persuit for me. I sit in church on Sunday mornings and take more notes than I did in any of my classes in college. (Except maybe abnormal psych. It was my favorite class in college.)My Bible looks like a rainbow because of the notes written in it and all of the verses I have highlighted. (I make a point to use different color highlighters each time.) I make sure to read my Bible every night for at least ten minutes because you can't witness to someone without being educated. (Which is why I also read other religous texts, the Bhagavad Gita being my favorite. I love Hinduism. Just not quite as much as I love Jesus Christ and not even as much as I love President Obama.) My point being, I had a "Footloose" moment in church this past Sunday morning.
We went to our "other" church, which is slightly bigger. There are about 75 to 100 people who attend there. I like going there because I have an opportunity to socialize more, which is important to me right now. I am an extremely social creature and being stuck out in the middle of no where with a car is killing me. I miss being able to hang out with people. I miss the fellowship. Because any time I get with my friends is a time of fellowship. Did not the Lord say "Where two or more are gathered I will be in their presence"? He did indeed. Check out Matthew 18:19-20. And anywhere I go, I praise God these days. Some of my absolute favorite times have been with my friend Charlie. We always have a great time doing the simplest things. One day we fixed shrimp and grits and listened to a Stevie Wonder album. And that is one of my favorite days in the world. Charlie and I once sang "Oh Happy Day" dressed in sheets as choir robes at the top of our lungs. I make it a point to have as much fun as possible in life. I think God appreciates that.
Then the devil got his stronghold over my life. I have always been an abnormally happy person. I smile all the time, I can't help it. People always used to wonder at that. I think that the expected me to be sad and droopy because both of my parents died when I was so young. It has not been until these past eighteen months that I hecame that sad, droopy person that everyone always expected me to be. I wasn't a lot of fun to be around. I wasn't happy, I wasn't excited, I wasn't myself at all.
PRAISE GOD! I have been feeling much more like myself since Mr. Butler introduced himself to my car. I can only blame Jesus and my faith in Him for this change. What's funny is that I know how much I have changed in such a short amount of time. But my personality has more of reverted in to the person that I used to be. I'm still me. I still love music, I still love a great party, I still love being with my friends. I just don't feel sad anymore. Not the way i did feel sad. Not like I was alone. And through this darkest of storms that has raged in my life, through this deepest pit that I sunk in to, I have discovered the true meaning of happiness and friendship. I guess that's what I mean by wagon wheel. Everything comes full circle. It's true in all religions.
I feel like I have included a lot of scripture in this blog. I feel like I should include more. So I'm just going to toss out some of my favorite verses for you:
Philippians 4:13
Ephesians 2:8-10
Colossians 3:12-17
Proverbs 3:5-6
Genesis 3:1
Romans 8:28
1 samuel 16:14-23
Revelation 2:4
Ruth 1:16
Hebrews 12:1-2
There are ten awesome verses for you. Put those in your pipe and smoke 'em.
In closing I would like to put a video on my blog. It's just funny. It made me gigge and I love to giggle.
We went to our "other" church, which is slightly bigger. There are about 75 to 100 people who attend there. I like going there because I have an opportunity to socialize more, which is important to me right now. I am an extremely social creature and being stuck out in the middle of no where with a car is killing me. I miss being able to hang out with people. I miss the fellowship. Because any time I get with my friends is a time of fellowship. Did not the Lord say "Where two or more are gathered I will be in their presence"? He did indeed. Check out Matthew 18:19-20. And anywhere I go, I praise God these days. Some of my absolute favorite times have been with my friend Charlie. We always have a great time doing the simplest things. One day we fixed shrimp and grits and listened to a Stevie Wonder album. And that is one of my favorite days in the world. Charlie and I once sang "Oh Happy Day" dressed in sheets as choir robes at the top of our lungs. I make it a point to have as much fun as possible in life. I think God appreciates that.
Then the devil got his stronghold over my life. I have always been an abnormally happy person. I smile all the time, I can't help it. People always used to wonder at that. I think that the expected me to be sad and droopy because both of my parents died when I was so young. It has not been until these past eighteen months that I hecame that sad, droopy person that everyone always expected me to be. I wasn't a lot of fun to be around. I wasn't happy, I wasn't excited, I wasn't myself at all.
PRAISE GOD! I have been feeling much more like myself since Mr. Butler introduced himself to my car. I can only blame Jesus and my faith in Him for this change. What's funny is that I know how much I have changed in such a short amount of time. But my personality has more of reverted in to the person that I used to be. I'm still me. I still love music, I still love a great party, I still love being with my friends. I just don't feel sad anymore. Not the way i did feel sad. Not like I was alone. And through this darkest of storms that has raged in my life, through this deepest pit that I sunk in to, I have discovered the true meaning of happiness and friendship. I guess that's what I mean by wagon wheel. Everything comes full circle. It's true in all religions.
I feel like I have included a lot of scripture in this blog. I feel like I should include more. So I'm just going to toss out some of my favorite verses for you:
Philippians 4:13
Ephesians 2:8-10
Colossians 3:12-17
Proverbs 3:5-6
Genesis 3:1
Romans 8:28
1 samuel 16:14-23
Revelation 2:4
Ruth 1:16
Hebrews 12:1-2
There are ten awesome verses for you. Put those in your pipe and smoke 'em.
In closing I would like to put a video on my blog. It's just funny. It made me gigge and I love to giggle.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
