The idea of love in the romantic sense has been a topic that has fascinated me for as long as I could remember. This may be because I am a self diagnosed hopeless romantic and watch romantic comedies semi-religiously.However, I have noticed a trend throughout my life of love heavily influencing culture and how people generally treat each other. This idea largely sparked recently when I read the article, “Romantic Regimes” written by Polina Aronson who is a Russian sociologist who moved to America as a teenager. In this article, Polina breaks down her experience with love as a teenager and the daunting differences she noticed with how love is viewed in both Russia and American culture. For example, Russian culture largely perceives romantic endeavors through what the author calls the “Regime of Fate”. This is Romeo and Juliet and an extreme perspective towards love by claiming that true love requires some sot of detrimental sacrifice. This is what Polina was raised on. However, she experienced an incredible culture shock when she immigrated to America and was introduced to the “Regime of Choice”. American society describes love as far more focused on each partners individual needs and less stress on commitment. This potentially further morphed into polyamory and the growing and necessary stress on consent.
American society puts an abundance of pressure on the dreaded “L-word”. This is primarily because of how the media portrays healthy relationships especially in movies and television shows. These programs create what I refer to as “the list”. This is the checklist that slightly varies from person to person but generally consists of the rules of how each individual should act in a relationship. Polina briefly explains this in he article as well. For example, she quotes Ellen Fein and Sherrie Schneider’s writing, “The Rules: Time-tested Secrets for Capturing the Heart of Mr Right” they break down what a person should if they want to attract a man. Admittedly this is a rather old fashioned belief that is extremely outdated. It can practically be summed up as not paying attention to a man so they would be attracted to you and make the first move.
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Abe's Bloggy World 
I like the sources that you go in depth on, and how you sum up the authors’ points in a clear, relatable way. I am not too certain what the thesis/pitch is but I think its prioritized on “love heavily influencing culture and how people generally treat each other.” I like the integration of the “L-word”.
I like the font you chose as it makes the writing easy to read. In Unit 1 you had an image of an illustration you had done, and I am interested in seeing if you will go back to the drawing board, pun intended, for the Unit 2 portfolio.
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Hey Abe, I thought that your topic was very interesting and enjoyable to read. The only advice I would give is to maybe break up your paragraphs a little bit or add some pictures so it looks a little less intimidating. Also, you should address your audience somewhere in your introduction. Other than that, great job on this and I’m excited to read your final draft!
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I really enjoyed reading what you have already and I think you have chosen a really good topic. I would just be sure to create a solid thesis statement that you will be able to argue. And also make sure to use a variety of sources, maybe consider quoting one of the romantic comedies you mention at the beginning. As far as blog structure it looks really good, as far as I can see. Make sure to continue citing sources
-James Clements
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