Thank you!

Hi All–

Just a quick thank you to my “classmates” for their patience in letting me vent about my love/hate relationship with soaps–I love them all, but hate that some are ending. You all were gracious and welcoming, and I so appreciate your courtesy and kindness in listening to my opinions and letting me share my experiences of watching soaps for the last 40 years.  It was most importantly a very special opportunity for me to share a little piece of this last semester with my daughter.  Unlike in the soaps–she will not leave “the show” and return next week with a degree in medicine or law. But, she is leaving and she and I will be transitioning into a new phase of our relationship as she gets married and moves away. So, thank you all for allowing us to spend a little quality time together this semester.

Finally, I want to tell you that I finally read the Radway book–that is referenced in several of our readings. It is the book called Reading the Romance. Radway states that “the act of reading the romance is a declaration of independence” (p 7), and further quotes Smithton on page 12 who says that women “use their books to erect a barrier between themselves and their families in order to declare themselves temporarily off limits to those who would mine them for emotional support and material care.” Radway states that reading romances is a “form of individual resistance….It buys time and privacy for women….it addresses the womens’ longing for emotional replenishment.”  For me, this is what watching soaps has given me–I wasn’t trying to run away from home–just take a little break everyday. Taking this class has allowed me the opportunity to vocalize and verbalize these feelings, and this is why the end of soaps is very painful for me. I feel like this lack of understanding of this female viewpoint–is why Oprah does not “get” why the continuation of soaps is so important……….

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