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Monday, February 14, 2000
8A
Valentine, Schmalentine
By Derek Prater
Kansan columnist
alentine's Day — Perhaps no holiday's true spirit has been perverted more by the rampant commercialism of modern American society.
Lovers are bombarded by the media with the pressure of forced, contrived romantic exchanges. Lost among the flowers, candlelight dinners, chocolates and Hallmark cards is the true spirit of Valentine's Day — it's a good excuse to spend time with that special someone.
Madison Avenue would have us believe that V-Day romantic gestures are a required homage to any relationship and that they should follow a set recipe. Start with a dozen red roses, add a candlelight dinner, mix in a Hallmark card and some sort of heart-shaped diamond and voila ... romance.
But real romance comes from a little creativity and individuality. So the Kansan enlisted a couple of Fine Arts students to suggest ideas for a Valentine that you won't find at Hallmark.
Tracy Huser, Fredonia junior, uses personal touches to make her Valentines special. This year, Huser is giving her boyfriend a mini-cassette tape that captures some of the intimacy of their relationship.
Huser designed a cover for the tape and recorded a poem, which she read herself, and a song on the tape.
Huser said that another Valentine's gift she had given before was a set of wine glasses that she had engraved with her and her boyfriend's names and the date.
Valentine. O'Campo said he would recommend picking out good pictures of your Valentine and you and scanning them into your computer. Then you could use a graphic design program to create a unique layout.
O'Campo also suggested a low-tech approach, using construction paper cutouts and colored pencils to create a design on paper.
"Valentine's Day is all about colors," O'Camo said. "Emotion and colors go together."
Instructions for creating your own Valentine's Day card:
What you need: Crayons, scissors, glue stick or tape, Kansas Valentine's Day card and the lucky Valentine.
What to do:
1. Cut out the heart from the center of the page.
2. Decide which message fits your Valentine and cut it out.
3. Attach the message to the card with glue or tape.
4. Decorate with crayons or as you see fit.
5. Deliver Valentine and run.
O'Campo said that the commercialism associated with Valentine's Day caused people to focus too much on a single day of romance.
"I think it shouldn't just be one day that you think about that other person, but it should be every day," he said. *
Do you have a mirror in your pants? Cuz I can see myself in them.
I'm sleeping with your best friend.
Grab my Valentine's Day package!
You're my I-wasfaking-it-every-time Valentine. "Oh yeah, bring it home. You're the king."
You're mine — and so is your mother.
Candy is dandy,but liquor is quicker!