Here's another interesting review of the Twilight series, written by a friend of mine from back in college - Emily Hinton Dunbar, currently living in Hastings, NE.

Stephanie Meyer’s incredible popular and lucrative Twilight book series is very scary. And not on account of the vampires and werewolves. It is scary to think that the two main characters, Bella Swan (human) and Edward Cullen (vampire) are the new standard in romance to millions of teenage- and, Lord help us, tweenage girls. The series is a sexually charged though technically chaste, beauty and the beast tale in which the beast is prettier than the girl. There’s a lot of longing and heavy breathing, but no action—except the action action (fast cars, fights, superhuman feats, etc). It is no wonder it is as popular as it is; however, its subtext about teenage girls and ideal relationships is truly frightening.

I don't have a land line, it's just my cell.  And sometimes I lose it in my house or articles of clothing.  I feel kinda dumb IMing a friend and asking them to call me so I can find my phone. 

Here's one way to solve that dilemma - for free, AND without anyone finding out what a doofus you are!

 This post is reprinted with permission by the author, Miss Sarah Drosendahl, age 16.  You can check out her personal blog at Sarah in Real Life.

Spoiler Warning: I will talk about the plot and ending to the books. If you haven't read them yet but plan to, don't read this if you don't want to know how they end.

So I finished reading the Twilight books about two months ago, and I've been thinking about them quite a bit since. As a teenage girl, I enjoyed them immensely, because of the romance and the perfect happily-ever-after. Really, I can't help but love them and want to read them over and over again. They're the perfect way to drown from reality, exactly my brand of heroin :P. However, as works of literature, I have to say that they were not at all worth reading. Now, I will proceed with my big long rant on all the reasons why these books were bad, and I wish I could just stop thinking about them, but alas! I am a very obsessive creature by nature, and can think of little else, once I am obsessed. Perhaps this will get it all out of my system and I can go back to living my life. These are sort of in order from least important to most infuriating, but not totally.

I have disparaged the use of rose vestments and those who wear them.  I have failed to keep my personal sense of humor and cynicism in check and have hurt others with it.  In so doing, I have harmed the reputation of Higher Things and those of my friends in it.
 

I'm sorry.

I've been tryin' to get down
To the heart of the matter
Because the flesh will get weak
And the ashes will scatter
So I'm thinkin' about forgiveness
Forgiveness
Even if, even if you don't love me anymore 
(Don Henley)