The heart-warming day of  Valentine’s day in which lovers celebrate the undying love they have for one another has an origin that not most know of.  Valentine’s day originally was celebrated as the Roman festival, Lupercalia (which all of you Latin students should be able to translate the root meaning of the word) coming from the word lupa, lupae meaning “she-wolf”. Look, Latin is totally useful! Anyway, the purpose of Lupercalia was to celebrate the coming of spring, but on a not so bright thought, women were also paired off to men by a lottery and were to remain coupled for the duration of Lupercalia.  This was later deemed as “un-Christian” at the end of the fifth century according to Pope Gelasius. He later declared that the official day of Valentine’s Day would be held on February 14th instead of the original February 15th. Keeping the Roman theme, Valentine’s Day is commonly depicted with Cupid, Roman god of love. Now there are some interesting stories that have emerged about Valentine’s Day for various origins.

As one story goes, a  man named Claudius II, who was emperor of Rome in the 3rd century, and he outlawed marriages of young men because he believed that they made for better soldiers than those who are married, whatever logic that is.  Yet, this one saint, who goes by the name of Valentine, was put to death, basically martyred, for performing marriages in secret anyway. Another story goes that a Valentine in prison, for trying to save Christians from Roman prisons, sent one of the jailor’s daughter a “valentine” after falling madly in love with her. She continued to see him until his death, which in the last letter he wrote said “From your Valentine.”  

This saying has been forever adopted today, though the origins of these stories may not be completely true. Also, it is not clear how, but after the declaration that Pope Gelasius made Valentine’s Day became associated with love.  

Not only is Valentine’s Day celebrated in the United States, but also in the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Canada, and Mexico.  Mostly by the 18th century it became customary for friends and lovers to send handwritten notes in these areas. Also, printing a large number of cards, like the ones you buy for your mom and dad today, were being printed especially for this occasion in the 19th century. 

There are also ways that you as an individual can celebrate black history in February as well as every month (https://naacp.org/latest/28-ways-celebrate-black-history-month/): 

• Support a Black business

• Visit a Black History or Civil Rights Museum in your local area

• Attend a Black film marathon

• Wear your hair out in its natural form to school, work or a social event

• Read a book by a Black author

• Cook a soul food meal

• Attend or host a Black culture event in your community

• Learn about an unsung hero of Black history

• Study the African Diaspora

• Explore Black Music

• Call out racism and prejudice in your community

• Engage in healthy conversations about Black history on social media Learn the lyrics to Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing

• Read Dr. King’s I Have a Dream Speech

• Decorate your home with Black Art

• Read a biography of an influential Black figure

There are many things that we can do in our community to celebrate Black History Month!

As many of you know, 2020 is a leap year. "Leap year" refers to when we add an extra day to the calendar, February 29, nearly every four years. To determine whether or not a leap year will occur, check to see if the current year is divisible by four. Although we consider a year to equate to 365 days, scientifically speaking, it actually takes approximately 365.2421 days for the Earth to complete its orbit around the Sun. Sure, this minuscule difference seems like nothing, but as this quarter of time adds up over the years, it will add up to create a 366th day! Adding in this extra day to our calendars will ensure that they stay consistent and in order to the astronomical year.

Leap years often spark this interesting question: if someone was born on February 29th (often referred to as a "leapling," "leaper," or "leap-year baby"), when would they celebrate their birthday: February 28th or March 1st? Well, I'll let you be the judge of that.

As soon as news surfaced that the Korean mega-group BTS was working on their next album, A.R.M.Y (their fandom name) has been excitedly waiting for the release. After their record-breaking “Map of the Soul: Persona”, fans were curious to see how the group would follow up this widely loved album. The BTS members have been teasing the fact that they were working on new music for a while but, it was not until January of this year did their label, Big Hit Entertainment, begin to release official teasers for the newest project. On January eighth, an official schedule for the comeback was released and fans let their excitement officially begin. 

The official comeback trailer for the album was released on January tenth in the form of a solo track, “Interlude: Shadow”, performed by the group’s main rapper, Suga. The song’s focal point is based on the “shadow” part of the psyche which is where one stores all of their rejected traits that they do not wish to share with the outside world. Suga, or Min Yoongi, mixes this idea with his own experiences of finding who he is and who he wants to become to create his solo song. This darker theme immediately hooked fans in and built their curiosity as to what the rest of the album would sound like. The mood continued in their next publication put out on January seventeenth, titled “Black Swan”. This first single was released alongside an art film performed by dancers from the MN Dance Company. The track highlights the group’s fear of falling out of love and losing not only their connection with music, but themselves as well. This theme is perfectly portrayed in the art film that showcases an interpretive dance to the orchestral version of “Black Swan” and beginning with the Martha Graham quote, “a dancer dies twice-once when they stop dancing, and this first death is the most painful.” Other than these tracks, BTS also announced a global project, titled “Connect, BTS”, which set to connect artists all over the word to contribute their own artistic visions that resonated with the group’s philosophy of self-love and self-discovery. Unfortunately, I will not focus on these projects here but, I encourage anyone who is curious to look into the works produced by these amazing artists. Now, back to the music. The next song that was released was “Outro: Ego” performed by J-Hope, one of the rappers. As the title suggests, this song is based on the idea of the “ego” which is believed to be a part of the psyche that one will reach once one realizes and accepts who they really are. J-Hope, or Jung Hoseok, uses this idea, the progression of the different eras that BTS have gone through, and his own adventures to produce this upbeat outro for the album.

Valentine’s Day is incredibly overwhelming. The smell of roses given by lovers to one another wafts through the concrete hall, the fragrance of vanilla perfume that radiates off girls in red miniskirts and matching white tops sifts through classrooms, all while the sickenly-sweet scent of overly-sugared buttercream frosting, in the shapes of hearts on cupcakes of course, circulates around the small, happy groups of people, clustered around the concrete circles at the front of the school- gushing over some heartfelt gift given to some “lucky girl” from her charming boyfriend. Yikes- right?

Because let me tell you, that whole elegant, fairytale, heart-wrenching crush fantasy everyone seems to live in- it’s definitely not for me. I planned for the fastest Valentine’s day of my 16 years- I’d be in and out before the aroma of the day could surround me. I would walk straight and fast and somehow make it out of this battlefield unscathed.

And, of course, you had to show up.

With your too-full smile and messy hair and cleverly extraneous little comments that could light up any room, no matter the size, and make me smile bigger than anyone I’ve-