By Diana Park, 16, La Canada HS


Sometimes I think Valentine’s Day is just so darn cute, I wish I had a boyfriend. Other times I’m sick of the whole love thing, and guys all seem like chauvinistic pigs. Either way as I grow older, I find myself dreading Valentine’s Day.

I’ll never forget the time I made a special Valentine for a boy I had a deep crush on. I spent hours and hours gluing with lace and adding extra candy to make him the perfect Valentine. I also included a little note confessing my feelings. I had hoped that he would return my affection and give me lots of candy. After I gave him the special Valentine, I found it later that day, crumpled in the trashcan! He had disregarded what I had written, eaten the candy and thrown away the Valentine. How could he be so dumb and insensitive? I eventually did forgive that friend but the memory still stings.

Just a little attention


As my friends have told me, Valentine’s Day sucks without a lover. Even my old-fashioned father acts romantic on this day. He sends my mother 50 roses at her office every year. And every year she tells me that all her co-workers complain to their husbands and ask them why they’re not romantic. If older generation females feel this way, then how do you think hormone-infested teenage girls feel? We just want a little attention from the one we like. Sure, I know that the movies make love seem unrealistically sweet. I mean, how often do you see a guy singing a love song to a girl in front of the whole school like in the movie 10 Things I Hate About You? But wouldn’t it be nice?

When I interviewed a boy at school for this article, I was really surprised at his thoughtful comments. He said, "I get mad because people think the words I love you are just words. A day to celebrate your love for one another—you can do that any day—you don’t need a freaking day to show your love. It can be expressed any day, any time."

A boy from Crescenta Valley High said, "Valentine’s Day is the reason why there’s so many November birthdays because November is nine months after February and it takes nine months to make a kid."

Strips of animal hide?


Surfing around on the Internet, I found all kinds of theories about how Valentine’s Day came to be. One idea is that we’re inspired by certain birds which search for their mates on this exact day. Another idea is that Valentine’s Day was based upon a festival called Lupercalia from ancient Roman times. On this day, men struck people, particularly women, with strips of animal hide to ensure safety from wolves and as a sign of fertility. Weird, huh?

Another version says that there was a monk named Valentine who was loved by all the children of a village. When he was jailed for being a heretic, the children threw love notes through the prison bars. He was eventually executed on February 14th.

When I’m bored in class, I often fantasize about the perfect guy and the perfect Valentine’s Day. I imagined him to be like Freddie Prinze Jr., who falls in love with his mousey girlfriend in the last scene in She’s All That. But realistically, I think I’d be content with a rose and chocolates delivered to my class from my secret crush. I doubt it will happen but a girl can still dream right?

Just a little note to all those guys out there—treat your girls special this Valentine’s Day because now you know what we want!