Valentine's Day full of prospects

By James Bickford

Happy Valentine's Day, Hallmark Day, Lupercalia or Singles Awareness Day.

Over the years, we have gone through the time-honored tradition of observing this not-quite-a-holiday, yet impossible-to-miss phenomena. For us, Valentine's Day stems from elementary school with the self-made mailboxes decorated to receive mass-produced cartoon Valentines (hopefully with candy attached), to the high school tradition of finding a special Valentine (hopefully with a kiss attached), to the numerous Santa Clara traditions we promote today.

When sitting down to write this article and browsing through Wikipedia, I learned that until 1969, there were in fact 11 "Valentine Days" recognized by the Catholic Church.

The interwoven idea of romance and the Valentine name stemmed from a poem by Geoffrey Chaucer in 1382, which was written to celebrate the anniversary of the King of England's engagement to Anne of Bohemia. However, scholars interpreted the poem incorrectly and the name then became associated with another Valentine celebration, Lupercalia, a Roman pagan ritual of fertility celebrated on Feb. 15.

Regardless, every year I seem to have a different impression of Valentine's Day. I have celebrated with a special someone, been single, loathed the day, found myself apathetic and have even enjoyed it. So this year I have to ask myself the question again: What is my take on this day?

This year I am single and a little apathetic. However, the eighth- grade boy in me cannot help but think about sending chocolates to all of the nice girls in class.

Of course, the real question is whether or not that special someone is out there waiting for me, and will Valentine's Day make it any more likely I might find her?

I think that's what all of us singles ask ourselves shortly before the big day.

So here goes my attempt not to be too apathetic. To all you amazing women out there at Santa Clara who are beautiful in so many ways: If you are looking for that special someone who is sensitive, but not too sensitive, good looking, but not intimidating, that is adventurous, confident, not cocky, and all around a good guy, you'll probably find all of us somewhere in the Engineering building studying.

They do not let us get out much, which is why you haven't seen us. Of course I am kidding.

However, maybe someone will read this little open letter and find it irresistibly cute. If not, I can handle it; I have an ace up my sleeve. I have the trump card, the never-fail back-up plan.

Thank God for Grandma: She always remembers, and it never fails that she attaches a $10 check to a nice big Hallmark Valentine's Day card.

James Bickford is a senior mechanical engineering major.