What are you doing for Valentine’s Day? Do you have a significant other? Do you think it is a “Hallmark Holiday”
Madeline Mobarry, Psychology Major
“Probably just stay at home if I don’t have work. [No significant other] at the moment, too busy for that. Yeah, it’s kind of just become ‘Singles Awareness Day,’ or SAD, if you will. I just call it ‘Singles Awareness Day’ because it’s like, you have to do something for your couple, you have to do something because you’re a couple. As much as Valentine’s Day is nice, that should be every day, not just one. . . Originally it was the Roman holiday, where it wasn’t exactly about love, it was more about fertility and such, but it became more commercialized and acceptable by society’s standards.”
Scotty MacPherson, Business Administration Major
“I don’t really plan anything for that day. No [significant other], not really. I have more of a crass outlook towards it, to be honest. I understand that it has some significance on a holiday of when a supposed saint was decapitated . . . but I don’t really see how that somehow translated to, buy chocolates [and so on]. I don’t have anything against [Valentine’s Day], I just don’t view it as a holiday that I celebrate. I feel like there [are] better moments to actually celebrate, like an anniversary or something like that—focus on something that’s actually personally meaningful.”
Joshua Tobler, Business Administration Major
“Nothing. No [significant other], [but] yes, if [a relationship] happens it happens. I believe a lot of our holidays in America are like that—[they] have become corporate holidays and have lost a lot of their traditional values, but I do understand [Valentine’s Day] has a more significant meaning. Hallmark’s main goal is selling chocolates and candies, so they’re going to push the fact that you’re alone on Valentine’s. You know, get with somebody, anybody just to celebrate the holiday. Society’s pressures are intensified in terms of matrimony in February, absolutely, [especially] society’s need to conform.”
Connor Zak, Marine Biology and Veterinary Major
“For Valentine’s Day, I’m either going to be spending it home alone, or going out with friends and just doing our thing. [My current relationship] is kind of complicated because I’ve known her for a while but we’re not at that stage yet, we’re more like friends. I think the older you get, the more of a corporation holiday it is. Because back then, you used to give that special card to the one you liked in the second grade, and now today it’s like, ‘Okay, I have to go buy some valentine, because if I don’t, my significant other will get angry because they’re going to come home and say how their friends got chocolates and this big bear and roses and [they] didn’t get anything,’. . . Some people don’t really care about those things, some people care more about staying in bed and snuggling, just enjoying their day. . . Yeah I like [Valentine’s Day] because that’s one of the days when you can see people enjoy each other.”
Angela Benton, Communications Major
“Probably going to the gym. Not really [looking for a significant other], I’ve given up on that. I think it is pushed by corporations, but at the same time I think there are a lot of people who want it, too—because everybody wants somebody. So it’s maybe about one third of that because there’s people who have given up, there’s people who really want it, and there’s the corporations who are pushing it—so it’s about one third on everybody, I really feel that way. . . It is about love in my opinion, but at the same time, I think some people are so wrapped up in their day that if corporations didn’t push it, we wouldn’t have that reminder [of when the holiday is]. It’s a little bit of [corporations] pushing to get that money, but at the same time it’s a reminder—I personally need it. It can go in either direction. It’s how you view it—do you want to be bitter or do you want to happy?”
- Britt Coffman, Early Childhood Education Major
“Probably just going to chill at home. [No significant other], not at this time. We’re in the processes, I’m talking to somebody right now. If it’s homemade stuff, yes [I like it], but by actual corporations, yes, sometimes they overdo it. Yeah I would say I would rather have something homemade for Valentine’s day than bought, so I feel like the [corporations] making it so much bigger than what it is, is forcing people to actually go buy the stuff instead of making it. I’m a teacher so it has to be one of the big holidays, not personally, but in academics, yes. I teach Kindergarteners.”
Reporting and photos by Maggie Stacey