50 Shades of Twitter Trolls

If you follow Twitter and the literary world, you've probably heard that EL James was the brunt of a Twitter attack . If you don't know who EL James is, you at least know her books, the  50 Shades of Grey series. Now, I don't claim to be a fan of the books. I have read about 5 pages and wasn't impressed. However, I would never take it upon myself, no matter how much I hated a book, to brutally attack and criticize the author, especially during a Q&A they were hosting.

Sure, many people think she's not a good writer, many people don't like her books, a lot of them think they portray abusive relationships in a glamorous light. So write a book review on Amazon. Blog about it. There is no need to attack the PERSON behind the words.

Here are some of the horrible tweets...

•  does the E.L. Stand for ELiterate?
•  after the success of "Grey," have you considered re-telling the story from the perspective of someone who can write.
•  what's it like telling millions of women it's okay to be in an abusive relationship as long as he's rich.
•  Is there a safe word we can use to get you to stop writing such drivel?
•  Do you ever feel guilty that you made so much money from romanticizing sexual abuse and selling it as "erotica romance"?
•  Will you be rewriting the book from Stephenie Meyer's point of view next time? 
•  how do you feel knowing you've made your riches from convincing young impressionable girls that abuse is 'love'?
•  Which do you hate more, women or the English language?
•  Is it only ok for Christian to stalk, coerce, threaten & manipulate Ana because he's hot, or is it also ok because he's rich?
•  Do all these negative tweets sent to you seem abusive to you? I think it's romantic enough to be turned into a novel!

Um...seriously? From what I could see, the majority of tweets during the #AskELJames  Q&A were like this.

Let's take a couple things into consideration...

50 Shades of Grey is FICTION! And it's erotica. EL took people's real life sexual fantasies and
fictionalized them. Maybe they aren't my sexual fantasies or yours, but I bet they are someone's. Why else would so many copies have sold? Out of the millions and millions of books out in the bookosphere (yeah, it's a word) I'm sure there are others that glorify relationships like this, and rape, and murder, and all sorts of ugly things.

Remember the movie Natural Born Killers? I mean, I thought it was brilliant, as did others. However there were some...not so much. They felt like it glorified violence. Here's what some reviewers say...

• ...just for sickening starters, there wasn't one, single, solitary character in this entire film who was even remotely likable.
•  Phew! - What a total waste of H-Wood Talent !
•  I regret having to give this film one star- zero stars isn't an option. Neither is negative 3 stars. That would've been acceptable.
•  worst movie ever... 
•  ...I could feel my brain welling up with hatred for every individual involved in the making of this movie. 

You get my meaning? It's not real. It's fiction. It's subjective. So, like the people above, if you hate it so much, write a review. I would almost guess that they can't though because they probably have not read the books.

I'm not defending the series, I didn't read it, I have no desire to read it, and like I said, the part I did read I thought was crap. Writers are used to that kind of criticism. We have thick skin (or we learn to grow it.)  I am defending the writer. She's a person and is not defined by the books she wrote. She likes wine, dogs, chocolate, bacon and Magic Mike.  And she has feelings like the rest of us.

So step off Twitter Trolls. Go back to fawning over Harry Styles, making up new memes, posting Shia Laboeuf videos, and tweeting about hockey (this is truly what some of them do, I checked.) Just leave EL James alone.

Plus, she probably doesn't give a shit what you think anyway.

#HighSchoolTaughtMe

This hashtag is trending on Twitter today.  I like to scroll through and read what people write under the trending hashtags, sometimes I like to participate. As I read through #HighSchoolTaughtMe, I grew very sad about our youth's perspective on high school, and their lives in general.

Little do they know that when they respond to these hashtags, they are giving us a  glimpse into their view of the world. And though it's only 140 characters, it says a lot.

This is what some of them said about #HighSchoolTaughtMe:

• that many teachers do more of the parenting than some actual parents do.
• to cheat in exams.
• that even the ones you look out for the most could turn their back on you.
• it's okay if you're unhappy and completely miserable, so long as you have good grades.
• that people will like you only if you're hot & popular.
• some people are only going to be nice when they need you.
• that most teachers don't care, they're just there to get paid.
• that if you dont have stunning looks or you're not good in a sport than you're a nobody.
• that I don't have a right to my opinion.
• that sophomores post nudes.
• how to hate people.

This is sad, yes? It seems to me that as adults we've gone wrong somewhere to make our children feel this way.  Behave this way. Perceive their world in this way.

Don't get me wrong, They weren't all negative, there were a few positives, like these:

• that we should be happy,we need to be happy, we deserve to be happy .
• that no one's opinion but your own is important in the end.
• to be responsible and free at the same time. How to have fun yet how to not fail my parents.

Um, yeah, the positives were hard to find.

I can't say I blame these kids. In many ways, our public education system is struggling.

Teenagers deal with crap at school every day - drama, peer pressure, violence, bullying. Top that off with those that have the added pressures of sports, music or other activities, then homework on top of that. It can be stressful. Think how you felt at that age, how all your problems seemed like the end of the world. I know from personal experience that the school systems don't know how to handle some of today's teen problems.

In some ways, schools feel like prisons, with on sight cops, drug testing, drug sniffing dogs,  students wearing badges or picture IDs, random sweeps for drug paraphernalia, security cams. I'm not saying these are bad ideas. I'm sure in some areas security like this is necessary and I'd much rather have my kids be safe than me be sorry. But I can understand how a child could feel like an inmate in a school that takes those times of security measures.

Then we have the state of the facilities themselves. 44% of public school principals reported that problems with the school buildings themselves interfered with student's education. Heating and air condition, which I can attest to. I remember when I used to volunteer in the elementary school, the rooms were either freezing or like a sauna, no happy medium.  Size and configuration of the rooms also appeared to be a problem. And then there are the portables. These seem to be a major problem, from noise control to air quality to their overall physical condition, these seem to be a major interference in the education process.

I'm not going to blame the teachers here. I believe teaching is one of the most unappreciated professions on the face of the planet. Yes, there are bad ones. Yes, some don't know their subjects. I read that less than 15% of Math, English and Science teachers have neither majored in nor received a certification in those subjects. However, more than half have a master's degree or higher.  Not bad. Pupil teacher ratios are also good. Luckily we have more teachers in the country, so we have about 16 students per teacher. YAY!

Getting back to these unhappy children...especially the one who stated teachers act more like parents than parents...sigh...there are the kids that deal with shit at home. I know kids with parents who are addicts, who live with other family members. Kids from broken homes, which as mainstream as it is these days, still affects them profoundly. You don't know what else goes on behind closed doors, they could be dealing with abuse, whether it be verbal, emotional or worse.

We need to protect all these kids -  these kids who have it bad at home, these kids who have it bad at school, who hate the learning process for one reason or another. We have to let them know that it's not that bad. 


There are over 3 million high school dropouts annually. That number has gone down in the last few years, but still, 3 MILLION!?! 

 These kids won't go to college. Many will be teenage moms. Half the people on Welfare are dropouts. These are also our future criminals! 75% of crimes are committed by high school dropouts.

This is our responsibility as a society isn't it? To make sure these kids graduate? The signs are all there. These are the kids who skip school, who  do poorly in class, who get in trouble, who have obvious trouble at home.

What can we do? According to the Parents Association we can do this:

• Arrange for help making up missed work, tutoring, placement in a special
  
  program or another school.
• Help with personal problems and/or arrange for professional help.
• Help them schedule work and family obligations so there is also time for school.
• Help them understand the choices they make - marriage, parenting, failing, behavior, suspension, expulsion - and how those things can disrupt their ability to finish school.
• If a student becomes pregnant, help them find school and social programs to help meet their needs.
• If all else fails, help them find a GED program and encourage them to stick with it until they finish.

But here's where I started.

‏@MeganBostic 

#HighSchoolTaughtMe Never live in fear of failure, true friends are the ones that are there when things suck, and nothing lasts forever.

How I feel about the most overused words of 2013

There have been numerous articles about what words were the most overused last year. While I would agree, some of them are annoying and those still using them must be stopped, to others, I just say, meh.  So here we go, my feelings about the most overused words of 2013...

Twerking. This word was around before Miley Cyrus, however it steamrolled over the interwebs after her performance on the VMA's. This is the fault of the media, not Miley Cyrus. Plus, it was a stupid word before 2013 and it's a stupid word now and we should just invent a new dance already and move on.

 YOLO. Um. I'm torn. I'm like the hip, cool mom, and essentially this is what my first book is about, but honestly, teenagers aren't saying this anymore. Dorky parents who think they are hip and cool are saying this. I still think it's pithy and fun. You see my conundrum?

Artisan. This used to be a legit word. It used to mean something. Now, everyone is an artisan. I make bread, I'm an artisan. I make candles, I'm an artisan. I fart in a jar, I'm an artisan. Yeah....no. 

Infused. Infused was cool when nothing was being infused, but now everything is being infused. Let me give you a ride in the wayback machine to a time I made candy corn infused vodka. That was before they were making all these vodka flavors they're selling now. I actually soaked candy corns in vodka for weeks, I didn't just put some chemically enhanced flavoring in the stuff. Infused. Not cool.

Handcrafted. To me this is a bit like artisan. Handcrafted, making things with your own hands. At a time before Ebay and Etsy and mass produced patterns for EVERTHING, this was a cool thing. Now, if you go to an arts and crafts show, everything looks the same. And if you try to find something cool online, the market is so saturated with handcrafted crap, it's just not cool anymore. And I'm sorry, some of it is crap. It's hard to find things that are unique anymore. I'm not saying it's impossible. I mean, I have a friend who makes some amazing bags, and I find a gal who makes some amazing steampunk inspired jewelry, but it's hard to find anything that isn't made from a pattern sold at Joann Fabrics.

Brand.  Now don't be dissing on the branding. This is very important to us marketing people. Brand is how businesses are recognized. It's how we roll people. Get over it.

Gluten free. I would like to poke a gluten free pencil through my ear next time I hear this phrase. They do make those, right?

Hipster. Did Hipsters actually make up this term "Hipster"? Because that seems exactly the thing a Hipster would do, but then they'd blame it on society because that would be so mainstream. I don't care enough about Hipsters to care about their title. If I see them on the streets I probably just call them douchebags.

Totes. I'm okay with the shortening of words and the use of acronyms. I really am. I do it a lot just to make fun of teen slang, like I think I used the word "obvi" in my blog yesterday. I think FOMO is funny because I know people like that. But totes makes me want to kick a kitten.

Anything ending in 'agedden' or 'pocalypse'. I think these are still funny. I don't care what anyone else says.

Meh. Come on! One syllable and three letters is the best way to tell people how apathetic you are about a subject without saying absolutely nothing.

#Hashtag. Meh.

Twittersphere. Twitter is God.

Mister Mom.  I personally have not heard a soul utter this in 2013. Is this really a thing?

T-Bone. They're talking about the car wreck here, not the steak. And for realsies? This was overused in 2013? See Mister Mom.

Obamacare. And now we can't talk about politics. No, lets just bury our heads in the sand. That's a great idea.

Whatever.  I love using whatever. I've been proudly using it circa 1985. Again, another way to show someone how apathetic you are to what they're saying. i.e. trying to piss them off without showing anger or violent behavior.

Selfie. I love selfies. I love saying selfie. I use selfie all the time. I take selfies all the time. No one takes better pictures of me. If you take selfies away I will run you through with a samurai sword. (okay, maybe not that last one)

 How do you feel about these overused words? Any words you are tired of hearing not mentioned here?