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Hearts Alert

Marc Johns
Be forewarned. It must be the official start of the Valentines Day marketing blitz. Walking with my dog around the neighborhood today, I was bombarded with multiple hearts sightings. A worker was stringing up heart-shaped decorations on the terrace of a local restaurant. In the window of a fitness store, they were advertising heart shakes, and a comedy club was promoting its Valentines show with, you guessed it, hearts. I’m not seriously bothered by this holiday, but the motif is so predictable, and it gets old, fast. As a remedy, I’ve been collected inspiring heart art, which I’ll be posting regularly. If you come across any great images, send them my way.

Illustration by Marc Johns

 

Discussion

7 comments for “Hearts Alert”

  1. Lew says:

    Holiday Encroachment (HE) continues! I notice it most with the onset of Christmas decorations right after Halloween. Thanksgiving (not to mention Veterans Day) gets the shaft and, I, for one, don’t like it!

    And now Valentine’s Day is usurping one of the great unsung holidays between now and the 14th. I speak, of course, of Ground Hog Day this Saturday. This is among my favorite holidays (after Thanksgiving), because 1) it’s so silly–a little critter sees its shadow and there’s 6 more weeks of winter. If he doesn’t see his shadow, there’s still about 6-7 weeks of winter as far as I can tell. 2) It’s my birthday! And, despite the silliness of the holiday, people from as far back as 1st grade remember my birthday because it’s Ground Hog Day. So there’s that.

    My suggestion is that we ignore the treacly Valentine’s Day signage, the diamond commercials on TV and, instead, focus on seeing our shadow on Saturday :).

    • wendy says:

      In honor of the holiday on Saturday, I watched one of my favorite films, Groundhog Day. It’s a near perfect film, and so was my day.

  2. Michele says:

    Ugh. I hate this time of the year. Valentine’s Day is such a Hallmark Holiday. I’ve been anti since college, oh so many years ago. I’ve been anti even when I’ve been in relationships. I’m sure that some of those men found that to be one of my more endearing qualities. I’ve always said, if I love someone I’m going to tell him every day and not just on one day of the year. And why would I want to be with someone who felt it was only acceptable to express his loving feelings toward me on one day of the year? I make a concerted effort to wear black on February 14th even though red is my favorite color.

  3. Jalina says:

    My co-worker and I decided to do a dual holiday theme. Yes, we have hearts in our office spaces, but we’re also celebrating Presidents’ Day…making little posters of the presidents with the years they served and a quote. What’s cool about that is the pictures are carictatures of the presidents. I really wanted to use the one with Taft in his bathtub, but we wanted to be more dignified!

  4. mary c. says:

    There’s really only two words to describe the redeeming reason for Valentine’s Day in my opinion: dark chocolate. If I’m not paired up, I always buy myself one red rose and a pound of the good stuff. Be good to yourselves!

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