A dim light fell on the country this weekend, as Stephenie Meyer's first book in the "Twilight" series went to the cinema and dazzled 16-year-old girls across the country and people who act like them. For the rest of us, bewildered is probably a better word to describe what happened.

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Meyer graduated from BYU in 1995 with a bachelor's in English. Because of this inside angle, The Daily Universe requested an interview with the 34-year-old author last week However, we were snubbed. After a few hours of searching, our reporter finally tracked down Meyer's publicist's e-mail address. But the publicist sent us an e-mail telling us Meyer was on much deserved time off. That's publicist-speak for "She's not going to grant you an interview, so don't bother us."

I'm willing to give Meyer the benefit of the doubt. I'm sure her publicist didn't even pass the message along that her alma mater's newspaper requested an interview. If Meyer has time for a self-indulgent cameo appearance, she has time for a 15-minute phone call.

We don't fault Meyer for being a little self-indulgent. She has achieved a degree of success few thought possible after J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" turned normal people into ravenous fans. We would, however, fault Meyer if she thought she doesn't need to talk to us. We may not be ABC or MTV or some of the national media outlets that have interviewed her, but we are her school. It'd be a shame if all her new-found fame and fortune has made her too cool for us. After all, some might call her books a fluke.

Then there's the possibility Meyer is just embarrassed to talk to us. For characters who are supposed to be chaste, Bella sure didn't look like she wanted to wait for marriage when she had her pants off for Edward. They only actually kissed, but they did it with her pants off. The entire film is just as sexually taunting, with Bella and Edward continually tempting themselves for more. I'm not sure I would call that chastity.