1. Tia DeHaan!
Racquet Article: The Love Crusade!
Week of: February 6, 2015
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The Love Crusade!
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! It’s that time of year again, during the slow and painful transition from the bitter winter
snowstorms to the slushy springtime rainfalls, when the walls of our local grocery and chain
stores have become embellished with hearts, flowers, and chocolate. You know it: Valentine’s
Day. While the day of February 14th can be a cheerful, depressing, or uneventful day, it does
provide those in a relationship a day to treat their partners. Or does it? What kind of message
does it send to those dating or in relationships that we should treat our lover on only one day of
the year? And to those who are single - how do they feel on a designated national celebration of
love?!
! Not only are we constantly receiving messages from the media about how we should
look, feel, and act in any variety of situations, but we are also fed explicit and subtle messages
about romance and love on a daily basis. Messages that are relayed from movies and media
alike can set a number of ideals that can be difficult to replicate in “real-life”. !
! Freshman Mitch Nielsen acknowledged that the bar can be set elusively high for
Valentine’s Day, explaining,!
! “There is pressure to come up with some romantic idea or do something that the person
will find romantic. I know I have all this stuff planned around Valentine’s Day, so hopefully it will
sweep up in the moment, but that doesn’t always work.”!
! On the other hand, for all of the single hopeless romantics of the world, there exists a
certain persuasion to have a date or make a move on Valentine’s Day. It wasn’t that long ago
that the students on campus were just little ones, running around on V-Day stuffing overly
decorated mini-cards into everyone’s locker or mailbox. As an Elementary School student I
remember feeling surprised at all of the Valentine’s I would receive. Granted, I’m sure every
student received the same amount, but I was slightly confused because some of the cards I
received were from people I didn’t even realized liked me. Why was I receiving appreciation on
only this day, when normally these people hardly even mustered a ‘Hello’?!
! Junior Olivia Rose Yorton stated, !
! “I know a lot of people who really like Valentine’s Day, and some who don’t. People and
Hollywood expect you to do all this big, awesome, Valentine’s Day stuff, when really, you should
be doing stuff like that everyday. I mean, when you’re in a relationship you don’t pick just one
day to do special things or spoil someone, you should do that the whole time.” !
! I couldn’t agree more, and I think that media can be somewhat flawed in this way.
Communication Studies Professor Dena Huisman and I discussed this topic,!
! “The things we talk about in Interpersonal [Communication Classes] is how important
everyday maintenance is for relationships, and when you have something like Valentine’s Day, it
starts to feel like you only have to express your love on this day, and then you can just go back
and be lazy about it…The reason I am mistrustful of Valentine’s Day is because I think it is kind
of a copout of the hard work relationships should be.”!
! In conclusion, Valentine’s Day is a funky “holiday” that presents different opportunities
and challenges. Rather than rely on this day as a way to treat your significant other in lieu of
regular dates, instead use it as a reminder to demonstrate how much you care. While the
messages sent about Valentine’s Day are debatable, my goal for all of you is to challenge the
Hollywood & Hallmark clichés and standards that exist, and instead create your own standards
of behavior. If you are in a relationship, treat your partner wonderful on this day of romance, but
treat them like this every other day of the year as well. To those who are single, use this day to
appreciate yourself and embrace your relationship status, as you would any other day of the
year. !

2. Tia DeHaan!
Racquet Article: The Love Crusade!
Week of: February 6, 2015
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