The Ongoing "Twilight" Obsession

Let me preface this post by saying I realize how incredibly dated this issue is - the Twilight craze has been going on for months (years? when did that first book even come out?). That being said, I'm just now giving in to the phenomenon myself and I've been thinking a lot about the whole series and amount of attention it has gotten.

Why is every girl in America so obsessed with this series?  I'm not just talking high school girls (which is the age-range of the characters in the books), I'm talking my 22-year-old, senior-in-college girlfriends.

I've asked my friends this question and their answers have varied, usually involving something along the lines of how amazing Edward (the vampire) is, and how the author has created a perfect leading male character for girls to fall in love with.  So is that really it, just extremely good character development?  Was the buzz intensified by the well-timed release of the movie and the hype of movie sequels?  Does Stephenie Meyer just have a really good publicist?

I avoided the craze for awhile but my mom got me the first book for Christmas and I got into it pretty quickly.  I can't really put my finger on what's so enthralling about the series, but I'll admit it's pretty addictive (especially further you get into the series - I'm just starting the second book).  What do you think, is there something so unique about this series that has caused such a frenzy or is the buzz just building on itself and sucking people in because they're so curious?  Why is everyone suddenly so obsessed with vampires?

Course Expectations

Every semester, I get so excited about my classes during the craziness of the first week.  I love getting syllabi, buying books, and getting organized with new school supplies (I know, slightly dorky).  I realized though, that usually my perception of a class during the first few days turns out to be pretty different than how the rest of the course ends up (do professors do this on purpose?).  So I thought I would take a minute to write down some thoughts about my classes so I can look back at the end of the semester and see how right I was.

• PR Campaigns - I'm really excited about this one.  It's our capstone class for a Public Relations degree, applying everything we've learned so far to a real campaign.  Our class is working with entities concerned with combating poverty in the Athens-Clarke County area.  I've also volunteered to be one of the class leaders (for Honors credit) so I feel like it will be a great experience.
• Journalism & Mass Communication Law - Okay, who really gets excited about this class?  It's definitely important information, but I know it's going to be really hard work and a lot of reading.
• Rhetoric & Pop Culture - I wanted to take a fun class for my last arts & science credit, and I'm pretty sure that's what I'll get with this one.  The professor seems really cool and the subject matter is really interesting.
• Strategic Management - Another capstone class, this one is the last one I need for my Management degree in the Terry College of Business.  I'm expecting a lot of theory but it should be helpful information that I can apply to any job I have in the future, management-related or otherwise.
• Entrepreneurship - I've been waiting for years to take this class! Our professor told us we could miss class if it's a nice day outside but not if we have a job interview - he wants to encourage us to start our own business rather than "work for the man".  Although I'll probably be "working for the man" in about 5 months, it's always been a dream of mine to eventually start and run my own business (hence the Business degree).  We get to come up with a business plan for our company, so it should again be a great hands-on learning experience.

So I guess I'll be looking back on this post to see how accurate I was about which classes I loved/hated, but at this point I'm pretty optimistic about all five...