As Valentine’s Day rolled around, there were plenty of mixed emotions. Those who had significant others of course looked forward to the holiday and were busy planning romantic outings for that special time spent with their lover. As I read various blogs pertaining to the holiday, the majority of them were positive and offered ideas of dinner recipes or suggested places to go out for the holiday. However I came across one particular blog that said “I’d rather think of Valentine’s Day itself as a massacre of another sort: hearts, relationships, and unrequited love slayed as easily as gangsters with guns hanging in a garage on a February afternoon.” I understand that this quote may be radically biased as its source is Lauren of Feministe who titled the blog Don’t Send Me No Flowers, I Ain’t Dead Yet. But why the extreme contemptuousness?
Personally, I don’t understand why people detest the Valentine’s Day so much. I have never had a significant other to celebrate the holiday with but to me it is so much more than only acknowledging your relationship with a lover. It is about appreciating all of your loved ones, including family, friends, and significant others. Some people become so bitter and angry when they don’t have a significant other to share the holiday with that they will go to such extreme measures. For example, a friend of mine said she was going to wear black on Valentine’s Day. The holiday should be a celebration of the people whom you love and who love you, not the “Singles Awareness Day” that some make it out to be.
Layal Brown
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Valentine's Day
By: Kerry ROse
Valentine's Day . . .one year ago was like any other day. My boyfriend at the time went to Northern Illinois University. My Valentine’s day went from a typical day to a day of terror. I know most of you may think that we broke up; I’m not going to be an emotional girl. This day was not filled with flowers of happiness but flowers of sorrow.
“At approximately 3 p.m. Thursday, February 14, 2008, a gunman, carrying one shotgun and two handguns, opened fire in Cole Hall on the campus of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. NIU Police officers were on the scene in less than two minutes and the gunman was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound a short time later.” In the shooting 25 people were shoot and 5 died. Daniel Parmenter 20, Catalina Garcia 20, Ryanne Mace 19, Julianna Gehant 32, and Gayle Dubowski 20 all lost their lives on a day of “love”.
This year I sat with my girls and watched a movie and drank some “soft drinks”. Many other friends of mine went out with their girlfriends and boyfriends for dinner simple things. But I could help but think about what happen last year. This day that you are supposed to show love toward family and friends could be taken away within 5-10mins. It makes me really sad that the world we live in that a gun man would come on Valentine’s Day into a classroom and unloading.
Valentine’s Day is a day to show love toward friends and family. Also it could be known as singles awareness day. Some people feel left out because they don’t have a boy or girls to celebrate it with. But then again I look at as a day where u can tell people you care about them and make them feel better about themselves. At 12 o’clock I slide high school musical Valentines under people’s doors with little notes. I hope people continue to take the day as a day of being able to tell people that you care about them.
Valentine's Day . . .one year ago was like any other day. My boyfriend at the time went to Northern Illinois University. My Valentine’s day went from a typical day to a day of terror. I know most of you may think that we broke up; I’m not going to be an emotional girl. This day was not filled with flowers of happiness but flowers of sorrow.
“At approximately 3 p.m. Thursday, February 14, 2008, a gunman, carrying one shotgun and two handguns, opened fire in Cole Hall on the campus of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. NIU Police officers were on the scene in less than two minutes and the gunman was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound a short time later.” In the shooting 25 people were shoot and 5 died. Daniel Parmenter 20, Catalina Garcia 20, Ryanne Mace 19, Julianna Gehant 32, and Gayle Dubowski 20 all lost their lives on a day of “love”.
This year I sat with my girls and watched a movie and drank some “soft drinks”. Many other friends of mine went out with their girlfriends and boyfriends for dinner simple things. But I could help but think about what happen last year. This day that you are supposed to show love toward family and friends could be taken away within 5-10mins. It makes me really sad that the world we live in that a gun man would come on Valentine’s Day into a classroom and unloading.
Valentine’s Day is a day to show love toward friends and family. Also it could be known as singles awareness day. Some people feel left out because they don’t have a boy or girls to celebrate it with. But then again I look at as a day where u can tell people you care about them and make them feel better about themselves. At 12 o’clock I slide high school musical Valentines under people’s doors with little notes. I hope people continue to take the day as a day of being able to tell people that you care about them.
Valentine's Day
I actually tried really hard to find something I found somewhat interested in what someone had to say about valentine’s day in their blogs, but what I keep finding is people complaining about the holiday. The number one complaint on why people don’t like Valentine’s day is because they say it is too commercialized...but there are other holidays that are just as commercialized---such as CHRISTMAS..and the complaints about disliking that holiday normally fall around the lines of “people forget the true meaning of Christmas.” In a way, can’t the same be said about Valentine’s day? So what if it is commercialized? At least it’s a great opportunity for you to spend time with those you care about. I’ve always liked the holiday..and everything associated with it—whether I am in a relationship or not. This is mainly because I’ve always viewed it in the way that is a great day to show the people in your life that you love them—whether that be your family,friends, or girlfriend/boyfriend..whomever. Perhaps I have this view because it has always been a tradition for me to send these people cards,gifts on this day, and vice versa. Obviously a majority of people disagree with me, but to each their own right One of my teachers was explaining to the class how Valentine’s day was in Korea ..and they seem to have the commercialization last long past the initial day. He said that in Korea the girls are the ones that present the chocolates and gifts to the boys basically telling them that they want to be in a relationship with them. The boys get a month to decide, and then one month after February 14th if they decided they liked the girls they let them know this day, and then they start their relationship. For the girls who get denied, and the ones who don’t express their feelings through chocolate to the boys, they wait one month after the month that the relationships start, to go out and celebrate a day of singleness. At least in American we only have one day to deal with!
by Amanda Yerby
by Amanda Yerby
Valentines Day - Dara Duratinsky
There's not much I really have to say about Valentines day. If someone wants to celebrate the holiday, the should go for it, and if they don't then that doesn't bother me either. Of course, I personally don't like the idea that if someone is in a committed relationship then they are expected to go buy a card for a few bucks and maybe flowers and candy. People should be able to show their love in other ways and not just one day out of the year.
Personally, Valentine's day just seems like a day for couples to openly express their love for each other and for single people to remember that they are still single. The day also seems to drive single people to find a "Valentine" even if they truly don't care for the person.
Of course the day is always great for getting free candy from friends and family. I am still working on a box of delicious chocolates.
By the way, the topic of whether we should or should not celebrate Valentine's day is exhausted. Who cares? It is already a day implemented into our society, not to mention, the amount people spend on gifts and candy helps out the economy if only for a few days.
Personally, Valentine's day just seems like a day for couples to openly express their love for each other and for single people to remember that they are still single. The day also seems to drive single people to find a "Valentine" even if they truly don't care for the person.
Of course the day is always great for getting free candy from friends and family. I am still working on a box of delicious chocolates.
By the way, the topic of whether we should or should not celebrate Valentine's day is exhausted. Who cares? It is already a day implemented into our society, not to mention, the amount people spend on gifts and candy helps out the economy if only for a few days.
Valentines Day: Woot!
By Chris Collins
Can't find anything bad to say about a holiday that makes February bearable. Thanks to Valentines Day, we had classroom parties during that hellish stretch between Christmas and sun, when the Minnesota landscape turned into an unforgivable moonscape filled with despair.
The Red Holiday also spurs consumer spending, helping restaurants and retail outlets survive.
That's really all I got to say on the subject; I'm not gung-ho about it. In fact, I haven't celebrated Valentine’s Day in about seven years.
This is a result of seven years spent in single status. I don't fret, though. I find new and exciting ways to escape the February cold and stimulate the economy (that's really what St. V day is all about anyway.)
Here's what I did THIS Valentine’s Day:
Went to the Udvar-Hazy airplane museum
Saw a space shuttle
EPIC!!
Took staged photographs of my aunt's cat (I was at their house, you see).
DRAMATIC!!
Dined on Indian food. With my aunt and uncle, ofcourse!
Spicy YET delicious
So remember single people, if you plan your day correctly, your Valentine's Day experiance can be equally exciting!
Can't find anything bad to say about a holiday that makes February bearable. Thanks to Valentines Day, we had classroom parties during that hellish stretch between Christmas and sun, when the Minnesota landscape turned into an unforgivable moonscape filled with despair.
The Red Holiday also spurs consumer spending, helping restaurants and retail outlets survive.
That's really all I got to say on the subject; I'm not gung-ho about it. In fact, I haven't celebrated Valentine’s Day in about seven years.
This is a result of seven years spent in single status. I don't fret, though. I find new and exciting ways to escape the February cold and stimulate the economy (that's really what St. V day is all about anyway.)
Here's what I did THIS Valentine’s Day:
Went to the Udvar-Hazy airplane museum
Saw a space shuttle
EPIC!!
Took staged photographs of my aunt's cat (I was at their house, you see).
DRAMATIC!!
Dined on Indian food. With my aunt and uncle, ofcourse!
Spicy YET delicious
So remember single people, if you plan your day correctly, your Valentine's Day experiance can be equally exciting!
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
By Maite R
When I was young, I thought Valentines was a day where everyone ate chocolate and candy. Up until sixth grade, Feburary 14th, consisted of decorating a shoebox with hearts and buying Valentines candy for my classmates. In middle school and high school, it was all about getting a rose with a little note for my friends that the Student Government would sell and hand deliver it while one was in class. Last year I went out for dinner with my boyfriend at the time and this year I went shopping and saw a movie. So Valentines for me is not a holiday that lasts the whole day but just a couple of hours and then it's like any other day.
I do not have anything against it and I actually like the holiday of Valentines even though I do not make a big deal about it. I feel like it is an excuse to eat candy and be all lovey-dovey. Those who don’t like valentines day are just upset that they do not have someone to be with or don't want to put in the effort to do something nice for someone else.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
A Modern-Day St. Valentine?
By Zoe Leverant
Valentine's Day was downright awful for me. I spent seven hours at work watching attractive men dote upon their impossibly beautiful girlfriends, leaving me sullen and with no recourse but to listen to Edith Piaf and wish I was incredibly drunk. In the interest of preserving my decency, this blog post is not about me; it's about the origin of Valentine's Day and what I think we need to learn from it, something much more substantial than the bag of chocolate I ate alone in my dorm room last Saturday night.
Although there are three Saint Valentines, the one with which I'm concerned is St. Valentine of Rome, a priest living under the reign of Claudius II. When Roman authorities caught him illegally marrying Christian couples, he was stoned and beaten to death ca. 270. He was martyred for sanctifying love between two members of an ostracized and persecuted minority, making the ultimate sacrifice in the name of romantic commitment. Pretty daring and awesome, if you ask me.
Back to the present: can you think of a group of people for whom Valentine's Day is always bittersweet, whether or not they're in a long-term relationship? I think we need to remember on this day of romance that gay couples are still almost uniformly denied the right for state recognition of their commitment to each other. I find it ironic, too - it's the very people for whom St. Valentine died that are now denying others the right that Valentine granted them when it was illegal (by "people" and "them" I mean conservative Christians). Doesn't anyone think about history anymore?
Apparently not, which is why we should take a minute to appreciate someone modern who defied authority to grant dignity to couples in the same way Valentine did to Roman Christians - San Francisco's mayor, Gavin Newsom, who provided same-sex marriage licenses five years ago on Valentine's Day after deciding that denying them to gay citizens violated the city's equal protection clause. I know that things are different now than in Rome: laws have been passed, voters have spoken, and people that I'd like to punch out condemned some of my dearest friends for simply being who they are (not to mention that Gavin Newsom's no saint himself). But I drove by San Francisco City Hall that day in 2004, and seeing couples lined up around the block for marriages was one of the most beautiful things I have ever witnessed. After the heartbreaking passage of Prop. 8 last November, many have forgotten where this nationwide uproar started. I personally thank Gavin Newsom for doing what he thought was right despite the bigotry surrounding him. Whether you already knew who he was or have just learned, I hope you take a minute to appreciate his bold move towards equality. Let's use Valentine's Day as an opportunity to encourage love everywhere, especially in the places we need to fight for it most.
Valentine's Day was downright awful for me. I spent seven hours at work watching attractive men dote upon their impossibly beautiful girlfriends, leaving me sullen and with no recourse but to listen to Edith Piaf and wish I was incredibly drunk. In the interest of preserving my decency, this blog post is not about me; it's about the origin of Valentine's Day and what I think we need to learn from it, something much more substantial than the bag of chocolate I ate alone in my dorm room last Saturday night.
Although there are three Saint Valentines, the one with which I'm concerned is St. Valentine of Rome, a priest living under the reign of Claudius II. When Roman authorities caught him illegally marrying Christian couples, he was stoned and beaten to death ca. 270. He was martyred for sanctifying love between two members of an ostracized and persecuted minority, making the ultimate sacrifice in the name of romantic commitment. Pretty daring and awesome, if you ask me.
Back to the present: can you think of a group of people for whom Valentine's Day is always bittersweet, whether or not they're in a long-term relationship? I think we need to remember on this day of romance that gay couples are still almost uniformly denied the right for state recognition of their commitment to each other. I find it ironic, too - it's the very people for whom St. Valentine died that are now denying others the right that Valentine granted them when it was illegal (by "people" and "them" I mean conservative Christians). Doesn't anyone think about history anymore?
Apparently not, which is why we should take a minute to appreciate someone modern who defied authority to grant dignity to couples in the same way Valentine did to Roman Christians - San Francisco's mayor, Gavin Newsom, who provided same-sex marriage licenses five years ago on Valentine's Day after deciding that denying them to gay citizens violated the city's equal protection clause. I know that things are different now than in Rome: laws have been passed, voters have spoken, and people that I'd like to punch out condemned some of my dearest friends for simply being who they are (not to mention that Gavin Newsom's no saint himself). But I drove by San Francisco City Hall that day in 2004, and seeing couples lined up around the block for marriages was one of the most beautiful things I have ever witnessed. After the heartbreaking passage of Prop. 8 last November, many have forgotten where this nationwide uproar started. I personally thank Gavin Newsom for doing what he thought was right despite the bigotry surrounding him. Whether you already knew who he was or have just learned, I hope you take a minute to appreciate his bold move towards equality. Let's use Valentine's Day as an opportunity to encourage love everywhere, especially in the places we need to fight for it most.
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