Tuesday February 14, 2012
Volume CXXXIII Issue 4
Valentines Day: Holiday Revealed Chris Heale
Staff Reporter Valentine’s Day can mean very different things to different people. To some, it is a chance to express their love and romance in wooing a member of the opposite sex. To others it is a blinding reminder of just how single you are. Even within relationships the consensus is divided, some love having a special day to celebrate with their partner, whist others feel guilt tripped in buying gifts and being sappy. In 2010, $14.1 billion dollars was spent on Valentine’s Day in the U.S. alone according to the National Retail Association, with the average consumer spending $103 on their partner. That means it is big business, and retailers like Hallmark love to push products upon the general public. However, what are the origins of Valentine’s Day, and when did customs such as chocolates, cards and flowers come into being? Valentine’s Day was originally a pagan festival called Lupercalia. It was a hugely popular fertility festival in its time, celebrated on Feb, 15 each year and continued well into Roman times. However, the church is believed to have taken the festival and attributed it to the legend of St Valentine with Pope Gelasius I making it official in 496 AD, As the story goes Emperor Claudius II would not allow young men to marry in an attempt to strengthen his army. However, the
young Valentine rebelled and held marriages in secret, for which he was executed on Feb. 14, 270 AD, thus becoming a martyr. The oldest living valentine’s poem originates from the 15th century and was written by Charles, the Duke of Orleans. It was said to be written in the Tower of London after his capture at the battle of Agincourt and was sent to his wife in France. In fact Valentine’s Day can be seen throughout history with mentions by Shakespeare, Chaucer, Peyps and many other writers of their day. Handmade ‘valentines’ were noted as being sent from one person to another regularly during the mediaeval period. However, it wasn’t until the 1840s that Valentine’s Day cards were produced commercially in the U.S. in response to the surge in popularity of handmade cards sent in England during the 17th and 18th centuries, the very first of which were created by Esther A. Howland, a Mount Holyoke graduate and native of Worcester, MA. Howland was intrigued by a valentine sent from a business associate of her father’s and began to import lace and floral decorations from England to start up a business of her own. During the second half of the 20th century, chocolates and roses became popular gifts given by the masses. Even so, roses have been a symbol of love a long time and were said to have covered the floor of the palace bedroom when Cleopatra first received Mark Anthony.
www.gift2valentine.com
VALENTINES DAY IS THE one holiday of the year meant for love...but do we even know why it exists? It has grown to be a multi-billion dollar business from kindergarten to couples married for 50 years. Later still, the diamond industry got involved in the 1980s promoting the giving of jewellery and now with the advent of the internet, e-cards have become another way of showing your affection despite long distances. So if you are feeling short-changed about
having yet another holiday to spend money on, rest assured that this one at least has a long and proud history and although it may have lost its original intentions, Valentine’s Day was designed to express your thoughts and feeling for that special someone in your life, provided you don’t forget!
Hispanic Community Action Summit Daniel Morgado
Guest Reporter On Friday, Feb. 3, Mr. Richard Stickney, the Director of the University Office of Diversity Initiatives, and Daniel F. Morgado, a College of Business Student, attended the White House Hispanic Community Action Summit in Tampa, FL. The event, held at The University of Tampa and hosted by 12 White House officials took eight hours of intensive group discussions in order to solve many issues in our nation which affect Hispanic immigrants.
Stickney had the honor of opening the first session in the first table of the summit. His session discussed the full spectrum of education financing, but covered many other topics on the table. With the presence of Alejandra Ceja, the Under Secretary for the Chief of Staff for the Department of Education, the group seized the opportunity to discuss bullying at public schools and buses. As an example, the group discussed the case of the female student from Orlando who was violently beaten on her first day traveling on a school bus, just because she asked one of her classmates to move over so that she could have a seat. Other issues such as adult edu-
AVION
DANIEL MORGADO, A BUSINESS Administration Major and Homeland Security Minor, and Mr. Richard Stickney, Director of the University Office of Diversity Initiatives, represented Embry-Riddle at the White House Hispanic summit.
cation, internet access for households with students, scholarships, summer programs, summer jobs, and bi-lingual education were also discussed. As an educator, Stickney is very dedicated in fighting for education rights of not only the Hispanic communities, but for every other community as well. In addition to the opening speech, Stickney gave the one at the end of the event, mentioning what conclusions had been accomplished during the group’s discussion. In the first speech, Stickney introduced himself and our University as “The number one and most prestigious aviation university in the World.” He concluded this addressed by mentioning some students to show that Latinos can become successful graduates of our nations’ top Universities. “Adly Espinosa, Meriam Castro, Adriana Osegueda, all Aerospace Engineering. Yes it is rocket science, and yes, Latinas can do rocket science” said Stickney. After a long applause, he continued by saying that he was honored as a veteran, as an American citizen, and as a bi-lingual person to have a voice and to be chosen by the White House to inform them of what needs to be changed in our education system for the benefit of our students. “I am proud that the United States White has allowed us to have this voice, to network with one another,” said Stickney. “Si, me siento orgulloso.” After his last speech, José Rico, the Executive Director for the WH Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics, ended by saying “I couldn’t have ended this event any better than the way you did,” before
thanking everyone for their presence. Other sessions hosted by some of the chosen community leaders involved discussions on entrepreneurship and business development, civics education for Hispanics, issues affecting the older communities, international trade, lack of funding for adult education, best practices and success for enrolling children in health insurance, the Dream Act, early childhood development, and cultural contributions of Hispanics in Florida. Also, immigration reforms were discussed in a session held by five community leaders in which they came to a conclusion the term Illegal Immigrants had to be eliminated from our vocabulary and be substituted with the term Undocumented Immigrants. Other than Alejandra Ceja from the Department of Education, other White House officials were present including Esther Olavarria, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy of the Department of Homeland Security, to whom Stickney and Morgado mentioned the success of the Homeland Security degree program at ERAU. Stickney and Morgado are very thankful for being able to have a voice on the improvement of the Hispanic communities and for being able to represent Embry-Riddle and the Volusia County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce at this summit. They were the ones who traveled the longest to be at this event and were able to create new relationships with many community leaders, especially with Mrs. Carolyn Vega-Melendez, the Hispanic Outreach Coordinator from the Office of U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, who did not hesitate to schedule a visit to our campus and to the Hispanic community of Volusia County.