Aloha UH Manoa Community! We, CCB, strive to improve student life on campus and create an awesome college experience. Through activities put on by our Recreation Board and Activities Council, we aim to create a unique experience. We love to hear feedback from the whole UH Community. Aloha, Michael Magaoay CCB President Welcome Back Students! Looking to get involved? The Campus Center Board, your student union is accepting applications to be a part of our day to day operations. KARLEANNE MATTHEWS Chief Copy Editor I’ll admit it: I’ve forgotten my wedding anniversary twice – in two years of marriage. So perhaps it’s no surprise that I don’t care about Val- entine’s Day. But even beyond my apparent lack of girlish romanticism, I object to the financial and emotional pressure Valentine’s Day places on couples. Why assign so much mean- ing to this one day? HIGH COSTS Simply in financial terms, Valen- tine’s Day is expensive. According to research done by American Ex- press last Valentine’s Day, couples spend an average of nearly $200 on their plans, almost three times what they would spend on a regular date. Even just sending flowers is pricey: According to CNN’s reporting last Valentine’s Day, the average price for a dozen long-stemmed roses is $73 around the holiday (compared to $59 the rest of the year). Furthermore, this financial burden isn’t equally distributed between men and women; on aver- age, men spend $151, while women spend $114. And 48 percent of wom- en plan on giving their partners nothing at all for Valentine’s. This suggests that our culture, as a whole, still tends to see Valen- tine’s Day as an obligation (or op- portunity, depending on your per- spective) for men to spoil women with expensive gifts and activities. Valentine’s takes up resources that could be better spent on tu- ition, books and bills – or more ro- mantic activities spread through- out the year. Why is it that on Feb. 14 you have to spend three times as much to say “I love you”? HIGH EXPECTATIONS Valentine’s is also often filled with stress. In January and Feb- ruary, we are inundated by advertising and entertainment media that raise our expec- tations to unrealistic levels, telling us that an acceptable Valentine’s includes sun- set cruises with string quartets – and that fail- ing to make elaborate plans means we love our partners less. The numerous on- line forums, newspaper articles and magazine specials on Valentine’s romance (even those included in this is- sue) are further evidence of the anxiety we have of sending the wrong message on Valentine’s. And we’ve prob- ably all known (or been) that person who expects a grand romantic gesture and gets a drugstore box of chocolates instead – leading to disappointment at best and a giant fight at worst. That’s the problem with Valen- tine’s: On any other day, picking up your partner’s favorite treat on the way home from work would be considered thoughtful. But mar- keting and media have so inflated our society’s expectations of Val- entine’s Day that we think Feb. 14 romance has to be better than rest-of-the-year romance. If you and your partner enjoy cel- ebrating Valentine’s Day, go ahead. But when every magazine on the shelf is telling you that being in love means spending Valentine’s buying chocolates, planning sexy surprises or filling your apartment knee-deep with rose petals, have the cour- age to pick up fast food on the way home from work and get started on your midterm papers. You’ve got the whole year to be in love. Forget Valentine’s Day this year Page 19 | Ka Leo | Wednesday, Feb. 8 2012 [email protected] | Boaz Rosen Editor | Justin Francisco Associate d three times ve you”? IONS so often d Feb- dated and dia c- sun- tring fail- te e on- per zine anxiety we have of sending the wrong message on V alentine’s. And we’ve prob- ably all known NICHOLAS SMITH / KA LEO O HAWAI‘I
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Aloha UH Manoa Community!We, CCB, strive to improve student life on campus and create an awesome college experience.
Through activities put on by our Recreation Board and Activities Council, we aim to create a unique experience. We love to hear feedback from the whole UH Community.
Aloha, Michael MagaoayCCB President
Welcome Back Students!
Looking to get involved?The Campus Center Board, your student union is accepting applications to be a part of our day to day operations.
KARLEANNE MATTHEWS
Chief Copy Editor
I’ll admit it: I’ve forgotten my wedding anniversary twice – in two years of marriage. So perhaps it’s no surprise that I don’t care about Val-entine’s Day. But even beyond my apparent lack of girlish romanticism, I object to the fi nancial and emotional pressure Valentine’s Day places on couples. Why assign so much mean-ing to this one day?
HIGH COSTS Simply in fi nancial terms, Valen-tine’s Day is expensive. According to research done by American Ex-press last Valentine’s Day, couples spend an average of nearly $200 on their plans, almost three times what they would spend on a regular date. Even just sending fl owers is pricey:
According to CNN’s reporting last Valentine’s Day, the average price for a dozen long-stemmed roses is $73 around the holiday (compared to $59 the rest of the year). Furthermore, this fi nancial burden isn’t equally distributed between men and women; on aver-age, men spend $151, while women spend $114. And 48 percent of wom-en plan on giving their partners nothing at all for Valentine’s. This suggests that our culture, as a whole, still tends to see Valen-tine’s Day as an obligation (or op-portunity, depending on your per-spective) for men to spoil women with expensive gifts and activities. Valentine’s takes up resources that could be better spent on tu-ition, books and bills – or more ro-mantic activities spread through-out the year. Why is it that on Feb.
14 you have to spend three times as much to say “I love you”?
HIGH EXPECTATIONS Valentine’s is also often fi lled with stress. In January and Feb-ruary, we are inundated by advertising and entertainment media that raise our expec-tations to unrealistic levels, telling us that an acceptable Valentine’s includes sun-set cruises with string quartets – and that fail-ing to make elaborate plans means we love our partners less. The numerous on-line forums, newspaper articles and magazine
specials on Valentine’s romance (even those included in this is-sue) are further evidence of the
anxiety we have of sending the wrong message
on Valentine’s. And we’ve prob-
ably all known
(or been) that person who expects a grand romantic gesture and gets a drugstore box of chocolates instead – leading to disappointment at best and a giant fi ght at worst. That’s the problem with Valen-tine’s: On any other day, picking up your partner’s favorite treat on the way home from work would be considered thoughtful. But mar-keting and media have so infl ated our society’s expectations of Val-entine’s Day that we think Feb. 14 romance has to be better than rest-of-the-year romance. If you and your partner enjoy cel-ebrating Valentine’s Day, go ahead. But when every magazine on the shelf is telling you that being in love means spending Valentine’s buying chocolates, planning sexy surprises or fi lling your apartment knee-deep with rose petals, have the cour-age to pick up fast food on the way home from work and get started on your midterm papers. You’ve got the whole year to be in love.
Forget Valentine’s Day this year
Page 19 | Ka Leo | Wednesday, Feb. 8 [email protected] | Boaz Rosen Editor | Justin Francisco Associate
d three times ve you”?
IONSso often
d Feb-dated and dia c-
sun-tring fail-te e
on-per zine
anxiety we have of sending thewrong message
on Valentine’s. And we’ve prob-
ably all known
NICHOLAS SMITH / KA LEO O HAWAI‘I
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