Bad writing...

I was on my way to class yesterday, listening to the radio (which is out of character for me, usually I listen to my ipod) and the lyrics to some of the new songs astounded me...and not in a good way.

I'm not sure what song it was that came on, but some of the lyrics went as follows: "girl you're the whole pacakge/ you even pay your taxes"

... ... ...Seriously??? Since when is paying taxes something worth singing about? And is the IRS giving them a cut for reminding everyone that it's almost tax day? I mean, I guess finding someone who isn't into tax evasion is a good thing... but damn. Could the artist really not find something else to rhyme with 'package?' There are websites designed to help you find rhymes; and while 'package' isn't the easiest thing to find a rhyme for, couldn't we replace the word with something else? Or why are we even rhyming at all?

On another note, in class last night Bob was talking about a book he's struggling to get through called 'The Book Thief' because it's so badly written. He said he couldn't understand how the book made the best sellers list until he noticed that all of the praise for the book classified it as a young adult novel. That made him feel better, but kind of struck a cord with me. Why are we okay with sub-par writing for America's youth? Isn't that kind of like teaching tomorrow's writers that it's okay to take shortcuts? And it's so difficult to get published today... how the hell did this guy fall through the cracks?

I applaud anyone who publishes a book for young adults or children because it promotes reading at a young age. If you think about it, authors like JK Rowling and Stephenie Meyer (*cringe*) caused literacy levels to shoot through the roof because they produced books that kids wanted to read. They made reading cool. And their writing was good. Well, Rowling's writing was good.... Meyer needs some work, but had a great plot (Sara, if you're reading this, stop glaring at me. I know you like Twilight... lol) but the point is they didn't take shortcuts. And if we're letting other writers write bad, then kids are going to learn how to write badly.

I'm not sure if I made my point...I'm at work now and somewhat distracted...so I apologize if I got off track somewhere in the above paragraph.