Valentine's Day Special

Here's the show notes for February 14, 2020:

Hello, I’m Jennifer Chambers, and this is The Resilient Podcast Network.

This episode is being release of Valentine’s day, so today is all about L-O-V-E.

My first story today is about the practice of sending valentine’s day cards. Though the practice of sending lots of cards did originate in Victorian times, actually the 1850’s, Valentine’s day as a holiday and the practice of love poetry and songs is thought to have started in the late 1300’s when Chaucer wrote a love poem to celebrate the engagement of Richard II. It wasn’t made just by Hallmark after all. Here’s a different take on what kinds of cards got sent…. They were not all happy. Here’s what Weird history had to say about it:

“Yes, many Victorian valentine cards were adorned with a sweet and sentimental mass of Cupids, flora, lace, and sentiments like "True love of mine, my heart is thine." Valentine's Day also, however, was a chance to anonymously send nasty notes to unbeloved ex-mates, employers, neighbors, lawyers, suffragettes, educated women, pompous men, or anyone deemed worthy of disdain and criticism. Called "vinegar valentines," these missives were hate mail at its taunting and caustic worst.

As with other myths about Valentine's Day, it's also not true that Victorians were mushy sentimentalists when it came to love and letters. The cards, which weren't even folded cards but rather postcards or single sheets of cheap paper, featured a few lines of derisive verse paired with unflattering illustrations. Men and women were both targets of vinegar valentines, also called mock, satirical, or comic valentines.

Adding even more sting, in the days when receivers rather than senders paid for mail, the unfortunate card recipients had to pay to be insulted.

One card had a picture of a snake hearing a top hat, which he gallantly was tipping, and it said this fun rhyme:

“I’m not attracted by your glitter

For waell I know how bitter

My life would be, if I should take

You for my spouse, a rattlesnake,

Oh no, I’d not accept the ring

Or evermore would prove the sting.

Ouch! Another one has a picture of a victorian woman offering a huge lemon to her suitor with these words:

“Tis a lemon that I hand you,

And I bid you now-- skidoo!

Because I love another

There is no chance for you.

Yikes.

Some of the new valentines are a bit different. I saw one that says

“I love you with all my butt. I’d say with all my heart, but my butt is bigger.

Oh my! There are some funny ones that are more tame, like “I love you more than the first cup of coffee,” or one with two t-rex dinosaurs that says “Id hug you but my arms are too short.”

I have a new friend who told me recently he and his wife went on a “dangerous date” with tattoos, bar food, and a gun range. That sounds exciting. I myself am chaperoning a middle school dance tonight, but it’s with the one that I love, so that’s just where I want to be. We might top off the day with what has been traditional for us, a heart-shaped pizza. It doesn't matter what we do, just who we’re with, right?

Some other interesting things happened on Valentine’s day in history. For me one of the most important ones is that my state, Oregon, became a state in the United states in 1859. According to History.com, in an article by BY CHRISTOPHER KLEIN,

With the stroke of President James Buchanan’s pen, Oregon was admitted as the 33rd state in the Union just two years before it would be torn apart by the Civil War. Oregon had spent 11 years as a United States territory, and it would take more than a month for news of its admission to cross the country from Washington, D.C. by a combination of telegraph, stagecoach and steamship.

4. Alexander Graham Bell applies for telephone patent: 1876

In the year of America’s centennial, a lawyer representing Bell filed his telephone patent application at the U.S. Patent Office in Washington, D.C., just hours before the attorney for Elisha Gray filed a caveat announcing his intention to file a claim for a patent for his version of a telephone. Presented with both applications, the Patent Office ultimately decided on March 7, 1876, to issue the first patent for a telephone, United States Patent No. 174,465, to Bell. Three days later in Boston, Bell successfully transmitted speech over telephone wires when he said these words to his assistant, “Mr. Watson—Come here—I want to see you.” The legal wrangling between Bell and Gray lasted for years.

7. Jimmy Hoffa is born: 1913

While the labor union leader’s ultimate fate remains unknown, there is no mystery surrounding the start of his life. Hoffa was born on Valentine’s Day in Brazil, Indiana. Hoffa disappeared from the parking lot of a Detroit restaurant on July 31, 1975, and has never been seen since.

On to some fun Valentine’s day facts and then a story: These are from 1800flowers:

It’s estimated that the U.S. alone is going to spend $3.3 billion on flowers for loved ones this year.

The only other day that beats Valentine’s Day in floral sales is Mother’s Day.

Of the 124.6 million households in the U.S. it’s predicted that 43 million of them will purchase flowers.

And the most likely flower to be purchased? Red roses of course!

Would you believe that young people are leading the trend in floral sales? In 2016, 63% of floral-buying households were under the age of 35.

Who says you can’t be your own Valentine? In 2015, 18% of women send themselves flowers.

Ordering a bouquet? Have it tied in lace. The word “lace” comes from the Latin laques, meaning “to snare or net,” as in to catch a person’s heart.

And here’s a funny story: “The lingerie store where my aunt works was crowded with shoppers selecting Valentine’s Day gifts for their wives. A young businessman came to the register with a lacy black negligee. My aunt noticed that the next customer, an elderly farmer, was holding a long flannel nightgown and kept glancing at the younger man’s sexier choice. When it was his turn, the farmer placed the nightgown on the counter. ‘Would you have anything in black flannel?’ he asked.” — Contributed by Christine A. Pandolfo, Reader’s Digest

Valentine’s Day can bring a lot of pressure, but I like to think of the concept of universal love for everyone. It doesn't have to be partnered love, it can be self-care, familial love, or caring about friends.

On that note, I wanted to share what I’m working on that week. I’m taking a business class. As part of that, we came up with a concept in my small group about how to combat things like being afraid to launch your own program, or being anxious about your ideas coming out into public view. I have a wonderful group of peers in the business class, and we’re all working on different projects, but the thing that brings us all together is hope to create something new for ourselves in our worlds.

So I figured out how to put that concept of a t-shirt. It says “Action > Fear.” There is a sun with rays going upward, the suggestion of trees at the bottom, and the logo in block letters. Firstly I love that I live in a time where you can do that. But I love the idea of wearing something that espouses something you believe in. I have tattoos too, so maybe I should think about that concept a little more. For the inspirational/resilient part of today’s show, I’d like you all to see what action you can take to further your goals this week.

As always, feel free to email the show at resilientpodcastmail@gmail.com, and please give us a 5 star review wherever you listen to your podcasts. We have some great interviews coming up in the next few weeks- a maker and a musician, to name a couple. Oh- and just a production note- we’ll be coming at you on each Friday this season, with occasional bonus episodes I’ll throw at you once in a while. Thanks for listening. See you next time.